Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98219 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Customer Reviews

AT LONG LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After almost 12 years of looking hopelessly for this edition of Ring of Fire on VHS and DVD, and even asking people online and searching the web to see if someone taped a copy off of TV, the real deal is finally here on DVD! If you don't know what I'm talking about, there was about 4 minutes of sex and nudity cut out of all versions of this movie on VHS and DVD and was only shown on premium channels back around 1991 or 1992. After almost 12 years they finally decided to release it with the nudity. Even if you already own a previous edition on DVD or VHS this is still a MUST BUY for Maria Ford fans. You won't be disappointed and the movie's (finally) great now!!

"Romeo & Juliet" with Kickboxing... Fun!
Isn't it ironic that one of the best Don Wilson films doesn't have a lot of Don Wilson in it? Hold on, I take that back: Don is indeed a starring character, but when it comes to the actual fighting, he takes a decidedly supporting role this time around. While this may be cause for dissent among the Dragon's hardcore faithful, I think this makes for a much more enjoyable kickboxing movie for all the rest of us: nothing against Wilson as a legitimate kickboxer and international champion, but when it comes to staging his physical talents in movies, you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody less convincing than ol' Don. With other star martial artists picking up the reins until the climatic finale, it's easier to enjoy the sheer cheesiness of one of the most defining `90s fight flicks that still thinks it's in the `80s.

The story: Los Angeles has become the battleground for two feuding factions of martial artists - the predominantly Caucasian union led by the disillusioned Chuck (Vince Murdocco, Kickboxer 2) and his dangerous best friend Brad (Dale Jacoby, No Retreat No Surrender [VHS]), and the Chinatown clan headed by star fighter Terry Woo (Steven Vincent Leigh, Sword of Honor), cousin of the physician Dr. Johnny Woo (Wilson, Bloodfist series) who wants nothing to do with their violent hate antics. However, when he begins an unsuspecting relationship with Julie (Maria Ford, The Key to Sex) - Brad's sister and Chuck's fiancé - tensions between the warring factions rise to the point that they can only be permanently resolved in the ring.

Yes, this is as close to a legitimate romance flick that Don would ever come, and that's probably for the best: while it's refreshing to see him exchanging tender words rather than devastating kicks, and while it's cool that the film examines something as modernly relevant as interracial relationships, his romance with B-movie queen Maria Ford is one of the silliest love stories I've ever seen put to the screen...although this may be on account of everything they do together is serenaded by a very syrupy soundtrack that attempts to explain their drama for them. Then again, most everything about the film is so painfully 1980s in style that it may as well be a cousin to that other gem out of another time, "No Retreat, No Surrender" - starting with alumni Dale Jacoby's atrocious dangly earrings.

While the martial arts content isn't quite up to par with the aforementioned classic, it's far more respectable than the lackluster fight scenes that Don's movies had and would serve up. There are about six real fights among a peppering of smaller scuffles, and these not only feature the talents of the kickboxers I've already listed, but also predominantly Gary Daniels (Fist of the North Star), Ron Yuan (Mask of the Ninja), and the amazing Master Eric Lee as a literal drunken boxer. While occasionally gimmicky, the fights are technically sound, well- paced, and bloody, and therefore pretty fun to watch. Mind you, there's a bit of annoying quick-cut editing to all of them, but this isn't done to excess so that it ruins the fight...that is, of course, until Don Wilson steps up. I really don't know why, but it seems that just his presence alone discredits and keeps any fight from looking cool through a sudden reduction in quality choreography and camera angles. Seriously, his final two-on-one showdown isn't worth watching; you mist as well stop the film five minutes before the end.

Then again, you get to see Don dress up as the phantom of the opera and utter such inspiring lines as "You can find hate everywhere, but the important thing is finding love", so in a way, I'm glad he's in the film. It could just as well have been made with someone more entertaining to watch, like Phillip Rhee or Robin Shou, but even back when the movie was released, fans of the Dragon had to take what they could get; it's good that every once in a while, even they get something as decent as this.

"Have some of Bruce Lee's favorite drink-WAAATAAHHH!!!!!"
RING OF FIRE is one of Don "The Dragon" Wilson's best movies. It features also some of the biggest legends in professional kickboxing- Eric Lee (a frequent collaborator of Don's), Ron Yuan, Dale Jacoby, and Vince Murdocco(FLESH GORDON).

It is true that Don has only one major fight in the film. The rest of the time, he does a bit of sparring with his cousin and finds time to romance Maria Ford.

But his one fight in RING OF FIRE is still damn good, and by itself is worth the rent/buying price. Check it out.