Lionheart is a 1990 American martial arts film directed by Sheldon Lettich, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Deborah Rennard, Harrison Page, Lisa Pelikan and Brian Thompson.
[2] Van Damme plays a French Foreign Legionnaire stationed in Africa, who must desert to the United States and enter the underground fighting circuit to raise money for his murdered brother's family.
Lyon escapes the Legion in a daring breakout and sets off across the desert, until he reaches a dockyard on the coast, where he finds work aboard a tramp steamer headed for the United States.
Arriving in New York City with no money to cross the country to Los Angeles, Lyon is attracted to an illegal street fight being run by a tramp named Joshua Eldridge.
Cynthia agrees to sponsor Lyon, dubbing him "Lionheart" and setting him up in a no-holds-barred fight against Sonny, a fighter known for heavily taunting his opponents.
Lyon defeats Sonny easily, then leaves with Joshua to find a phone booth to call Hélène, fending off an attack by a local street gang of punks.
Through Cynthia, he joins the local street fighting circuit and has the profits delivered to Hélène in the form of checks, with Joshua claiming that her husband subscribed to life insurance prior to his death.
Lyon defeats a number of high-profile fighters, including a dirty-fighting Scotsman, a wrestler in a squash court, and a martial artist in a shallow swimming pool.
The Wrong Bet followed a similar template, pairing a somber hero with a shifty yet endearing manager (respectively played by Charles Bronson and James Coburn in the classic film).
As Imperial regular Eric Karson was originally slated to direct, screenplay duties were assigned to his friend Stefani Warren, the writer of his previous movie Angel Town.
Incidentally, Angel Town actor and Imperial contract player Olivier Gruner was a former French marine commando in real life.
[3] While her story was too slow-paced, Van Damme still hoped to show a more emotional side in the picture, as he had been hurt by previous criticism of his acting limitations.
For this reason, he and Lettich decided to eschew the revenge plot common to many martial arts films, and never have the hero find his brother's killers, in order to focus on more uplifting themes.
Jeff Speakman served as line reader, substituting for Jean-Claude Van Damme during the film's casting sessions but, as he was trying to make his mark in acting without flaunting his martial arts skills, he only appeared in a non-fighting bit part.
However Qissi's brother Abdel, who had remained in Belgium and dismissed the pair's pursuit of a Hollywood career as a pipe dream, saw their success and asked Mohammed for a role.
The tussle with Jeff Langton in the underground car park was originally one of the film's athletic showpieces, but Van Damme wanted to surprise the audience and suggested ending it quickly with a hit to the groin.
However, Imperial brass saw the film's potential and extended the budget to give it a full orchestral score by British veteran John Scott.
While it incorporated some of the composer's jazz background,[13] Lettich expected more of that urban vibe, and did not feel Scott's work was a good fit for some scenes.
[3] The domestic cut supervised by Universal is different from the so-called "international version" which, not accounting for edits mandated by local censors, was the one seen theatrically in foreign territories.
[20] In addition to a trimmed M-rated VHS that matched the country's theatrical cut, Australia received an uncut R18+ reissue from Palace Entertainment and Roadshow.
"[27] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly had a slightly more favorable opinion of the film, saying that it "is nicely shot and edited, and it comes about as close to being a real movie as you get in this genre.
[29] Subsequent reissues by German label DigiDreams include the licensed song "No Mercy" by Bill Wray, which features in the film but was omitted from the Intrada version.