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Fight Scenes in The Stone: Real Capoeira?

posted 17 years ago by Sfreakout66
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Am I the only one who feels the fight scenes in this episode bear little or no resemblance to Capoeira? When Moses Gunn's character takes on the three local toughs in the opening scene he is using kicks and punches that look more like karate than anything else. And when he fights Caine towards the end, the only move that even remotely resembles something that would be executed in Capoeira is the somersault kick which he counters with after Caine knocks the gun out of his hand; otherwise it looks more like karate, once again, with a judo move thrown in for a bit of variety. Of course, when this episode first aired in '73 very few people, if any, in the US had any clue as to what Capoeira was so perhaps the producers thought they could get away with calling the techniques used by Moses Gunn's character that. Can't imagine anyone even attempting to get away with that now.

[–] cryptkeeper3000 17 years ago

It is capoeira, but imperfectly portrayed. Though the grappling and hand-fighting techniques used are unusual in capoeira, they had a place when it was taught as a practical martial art, rather than the exhibition sport it has evolved into. Additionally, Moses Gunn is portraying a former slave...many of the maneuvers he uses can be put down to good old amateur fighting.

The biggest thing I see wrong with their portrayal is that Moses Gunn never even tries to dance a ginga.

[–] Sfreakout66 11 years ago

Was there another episode that featured a black man skilled in martial arts?

I swear seeing an episode circa 1980 that featured a very similar opening scenario; in this one the black man takes on three local thugs and defeats them with a dizzying array of karate kicks. Unless memory playes out much different than the reality and it was actually this particular episode.