| | | | Best of the Best
(1989) |
s a once-devout student of Tae Kwon Do, having spent nearly five years in the "dojang", and as a fan of martial arts movies in general, "Best of the Best" is simply that. Combining a talented cast with a dramatic storyline, this film is one of the best darn martial arts movies out there.
South Korea holds the sport of Tae Kwon Do in very high regard. Just as America prides itself on sports like baseball and football, the Koreans treat Tae Kwon Do much like a national past time, and are considered to be the very best in the world at it. Every three years, they select a team of the five best martial artists in the country, to compete in a full-contact tournament.
Their opponents: Team USA, five martial artists gathered from every corner of the country. Though the story itself encompasses the entire team, the main plot revolves around only two of the five members. Alex Grady (Eric Roberts), a veteran fighter, serves as the team's captain, having come out of retirement after a severe shoulder injury to compete in the tournament, with the blessing of his young son Walter (Edan Gross), of course! Also leading the squad is Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhee), an extremely gifted martial artist with a haunting past, which begins to unravel much later in the film. Joining the two captains are Travis Brickley (Chris Penn), a hot-tempered southerner, Sonny Grasso (David Agresta), a former street-fighter from Detroit, and Virgil Keller (John Dye), a mild-mannered Buddhist from Rhode Island.
As might be expected from such a motley crew, the members don't get along too well at first, but fortunately, Coach Frank Couzo (James Earl Jones) is there to keep law and order. With a commanding presence and strict edicts, he goes all out to whip his team into shape in the scant few months before the competition, even recruiting a skilled personal trainer in the form of Katherine Wade (Sally Kirkland), who lends her vast knowledge of yoga and meditation to ensure that the team will be fully prepared. For both she and Coach Couzo know just how dangerous the Korean team can be.
The story takes a shocking turn when Tommy Lee discovers that his opponent in the tournament will be none other than Dae Han (Simon Rhee), who despite being one of the most feared martial artists in the world, also killed Tommy's older brother in a similar competition fifteen years before. Still tormented by the loss, not knowing if he'll be able to stand against his brother's killer, Tommy ultimately quits the team. Likewise, his co-captain Alex Grady receives an emergency call from his mother (Louise Fletcher), and must return home to tend to his comatose son, a move which violates Coach Couzo's inflexible terms of training and results in Grady's ejection from the team. With the competition in jeopardy, the members of the U.S. National Karate Team must search within themselves to decide what's more important: Themselves, or the squad.
In the end, the team ends up proving Coach Couzo's own philosophy. A team is not a team, if you don't give a damn about each other...
 Don't forget that Best of the Best is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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As much about teamwork as it is about martial arts, this movie is fairly wide in scope as far as these movies go.
It truly captures the idea that being part of a team is not something to be taken lightly. All the spectacular fighting scenes aside, the level of drama in this film is what really makes it worth watching.
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Phillip and Simon Rhee had a higher standard to live up to than the rest of the fighters. They are the sons of Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, who is known as the "Father of U.S. Tae Kwon Do" for having introduced the martial art to the United States.  -Thanks to Rafael Orduna
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Eric Roberts is the real life brother of hollywood superstar Julia Roberts. -Thanks to Andrew Ellis
When you first see Phillip Rhee in his Dojo teaching Karate to kids, he's actually teaching Tae Kwon Do, and is using Korean language words. -Thanks to Anonymous
Phillip Rhee, who played Tommy Lee in the movie, went on to reprise his role in both sequels to Best of the Best. Eric Roberts and Chris Penn also co-starred alongside Rhee in Best of the Best 2. Simon Rhee, Phillip's real-life brother, also plays a role in the second film. Phillip has an official world wide fan site, which can be found in the links section of this page.
Philip Rhee also starred in a third sequel for Best of the Best, in which he plays a different character - a cop who is sent into a prison to investigate why inmates are being violently killed. It ends with a fighting tournament to the death as his colleagues try to save him. -Thanks to Jon Gibson
"Best of the Best 2" features the same image on the cover of the UK VHS release as the first film. All they have done is simply removed the other 2 cast members and added a plain green background. This is a bit weird as it shows Eric Roberts as still having his ponytail. In "Best of the Best 2", Eric Roberts does not have a ponytail, Philip Rhee has a larger build and (the late) Chris Penn has gained more weight - a shadow of his former self in Footloose. -Thanks to Luke Beaman, Uk
The Korean spectators in the tournament scenes are chanting "Korea! Korea!" for the benefit of the English-speaking American audience. In Korean, the nation's name is "Dae Han Min Guk" and at sporting events, this is chanted to support the team. The equivalent would be like a French movie about the French National American-style Football team coming to America to play against the American National Football team, and spectators chanting "Les Etats Unis!" instead of "U.S.A.!" -Thanks to Eugene Whong
Simon Rhee kicks a little ass in Lethal Weapon 4. He is credited only as " Thug"! -Thanks to Arjun Medhi
Chris Penn, who played Travis Brickley, sadly died of an enlarged heart in 2006. -Thanks to Kara Victoria
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Rediscover your favorites! If you like
Best of the Best or 80's Martial Arts classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Karate Kid ..... Last Dragon ..... Karate Kid II ..... Big Trouble In Little China ..... No Retreat, No Surrender 2 ..... No Retreat, No Surrender ..... Bloodsport ..... Sakura Killers .....[More]
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Phllip and Simon Rhee held the fight at the end of the movie for real, to prove which of them was better at martial Arts. However, with Phillip's victory, the ending had to be rewritten. The Koreans were supposed to win, with Dea Han giving Tommy Lee his medal in apology for killing his brother. The scene in which Tommy Lee storms out was also real. Phillip Rhee lost his temper and kicked the box. The machine truly broke, and the directors decided to write his storming out into the movie.
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|  |  |  | | Best of the Best
Locations |
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South Korea was used for all winter training scenes.
The Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles was used for the location of the Tournament scenes in Korea.
The American try out tournament was filmed in the city of Devore CA and training scenes for the five American team members were filmed on location in the city of Burbank. [Thanks to Simon Rhee]
Can you help? Do you know any of the S. California (or any other) filming locations used for Best of the Best? [Please send them in]
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Update: The soundtrack used to be very difficult to get, as it was only released in Europe. However, it is now remastered on CD! [Thanks to Mark Dewhurst]
1. "Tales of Power" by Jim Capaldi
2. "Best of the Best" by Stubblefield and Hall
3. "American Hotel" by Kirsten Nash
4. "Something so strong" by Jim Capaldi
5. "The devil made me do it" by Golden Earring
6. "Radar Love-Live" by Golden Earring
7. "Backroads" by Charlie Major
8. "Original score medley" by Paul Gilman
9. "Someday I'm gone ride in a Caddillac" by Charlie Major
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Soundtrack Available:
On CD
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| | "A Team is Not a Team if You Don't Give a Damn About Each Other."
| |  | | The legendary Phillip Rhee |
Year:
| 1989 | Studio:
| Kuys Entertainment | Director:
| Robert Radler | Starring:
| Eric Roberts,
Phillip Rhee, James Earl Jones, Sally Kirkland, Chris Penn,
John Dye, David Agresta, Tom Everett | | - | - | Genre:
| Martial Arts | | | | + | Dramatic story, memorable characters, and a touching ending. What more could you ask for? | - | Unless you're not a fan of martial arts films, there's really nothing to nitpick about. |
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The best links we've found for Best of the Best.
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Phillip Rhee's official site.
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