Watch Ring of Steel For Free
Ring of Steel
A champion fencer accidentally kills an opponent in a match. Disgraced, he is blackballed from the fencing community, until a mysterious stranger saves his life one night from a gang of muggers. He soon finds himself caught up in the world of underground illegal swordfights, where combatants fight to the death.
Release : | 1994 |
Rating : | 4.9 |
Studio : | Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Production Design, |
Cast : | Carol Alt Henry Brown Joe Don Baker Darlene Vogel Jim Pirri |
Genre : | Drama Action |
Watch Trailer
Cast List
Related Movies
Reviews
Absolutely the worst movie.
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
When star fencer Alex Freyer (Robert Chapin) accidentally kills an opponent, he finds himself cast out of his beloved sport. After being assisted in fighting off a mugging by a mysterious stranger (Joe Don Baker), Alex is invited by him to take part in the titular 'Ring of Steel', an underground sword fighting club. With the lure of easy money and chance to prove himself again, Alex quickly finds that the stakes are raised beyond his control and is soon fighting for not only his life, but that of his girlfriend's Elena's (Darlene Vogel) as well.Despite the somewhat familiar set up, Ring of Steel is actually well worth a look. It has a sense of fun and an undoubted energy missing from many action movies of the era. Certainly, the plot is daft and the dialogue often cheesy, but it has a lot of charm. The always watchable Joe Don Baker is terrific as the villain and along with the sultry Carol Alt, raises the standard of the otherwise slightly corny acting on show elsewhere in the movie. Most importantly, the sword fights are well choreographed and are highly enjoyable.Although it's undoubtedly silly stuff, Ring of Steel is nevertheless an enthusiastic slice of low budget fun that's a cut above similar '90s DTV fare.
OK, the plot was a bit predictable, but I loved the sword fights in this movie. It's every "what if" a bunch of martial artists could come up with (OK, who would win in a fight: a barbarian or a ninja?). I especially liked the fight between Alex and Brian as an homage to The Court Jester, and the bit with the auditioning roll-player.Interestingly enough, although Robert Chapin (the star) is credited with writing the movie, it's not widely known that his version was a dark psychological drama in which Alex gets sucked so deeply into the world of drugs, money, women and blood sport, that when he is finally reunited with Elena, he doesn't even recognize her. When MCA bought it, they deemed that version WAY too dark. So they hired a "writer" to clean it up, and they turned it into the sanitized hero plot that we see here.So, go easy on the guy. He had to watch someone else re-write his story, and then he had to actually SAY those predictable lines. Overall, it's a fun sword flick!
Not even the "swordsmanship" of this dog could keep me from laughing out loud at the truly forgettable and entirely laughable attempts at writing, acting and directing.OK, I get it, you aren't suppose to watch "Blood Sport" for the acting, but there is a definite standard of acting and story that have to be present, even in pure action flicks. And it just wasn't here.My recommendation, invite some friends over, rent this lame-o flick, drink a lot and MST it to death (don't worry, it won't take much effort).Oh yeah, and the swordplay is really not that great. Mainly there to appeal to the Ren Fair crowd that think that wearing a dull costume blade, and watching Highlander repeatedly, constitutes their unlimited knowledge of the blade.
While the only two known names in this film are Joe Don Baker and Carol Alt, it certainly is not lacking in talent. Robert Chapin and Jim Perri and fabulous together. Their swordfight in the ring is athletic, funny, difficult, excellent! The end left the door wide open for a sequel. Well, Bob, we're waiting...