MovieChat Forums > No Holds Barred (1989) Discussion > Thoughts on the film and DVD

Thoughts on the film and DVD

posted 13 years ago by jsl_99
3 replies | jump to latest

I bought the No Holds Barred DVD and watched the film this week for the first time in quite a number of years. As a kid and big Hulk Hogan fan I thought this was like one of the greatest films ever when it first came out.

Looking back at it 23 years later I view it as a so bad it's actually good type of film. If you watch it in the right frame of mind it's actually pretty entertaining. First you have to pretend that pro wrestling is a legit sport. Plus with some of the things they do over the course of the film you have to think that both Rip and Zeus are super human. Acting wise, Hogan has a few embarrassing moments but for the most part I thought his acting was ok. He basically was playing his wrestling character with just a few changes. Tiny Lister comes off worse acting wise. He has maybe three or four lines of dialogue and spends the rest of the movie making animal type noises. It's also interesting to see Kurt Fuller and David Paymer in this movie. Both are actually good character actors now.

As for the DVD I'm not sure how much of a clean up job WWE Studios did on the film itself. The picture quality is pretty good but I don't think they did a major clean up job on it in terms of film grain and things of that nature. They did do a good job with the sound though. The film is now in 5.1 Surround Sound so the audio is very good. Also I'm glad that WWE didn't alter the opening at all since Rip was defending the WWF title. The old WWF logo is still on the turnbuckles and even on the banner that used to be hanging above the ring. I know at one point with DVD releases WWE was distorting the turnbuckles and banners so the old logo wouldn't appear due to the suit with the World Wildlife Fund.

The only change I noticed is that the final shot is a bit different. If I remember correctly the movie originally ended with a freeze frame of Rip and Randy together. Now the last image is from the beginning of the movie with Rip giving the Rip sign. I actually kind of like that image better to end the movie with. As for extras the only thing that was included is a photo gallery. It's basically stills from the movie but a few of them are stills of deleted scenes such as Zeus in prison. It would've been cool if WWE had actually been able to include the deleted scenes. It also would've been neat if WWE had included some clips from Zeus' brief run with the company where he was in about four tag matches with Hogan on the opposing side. But even having said that I still recommend getting the DVD if you are an old school wrestling fan who has memories of watching this movie from many years ago.

[–] ArchStanton101 13 years ago

For some reason only the Attitude-era "scratch" WWF logo (the same as the one today except no F of course) has to be blurred. The one before that is fine.

I can't figure out why they didn't throw on some extras either- at least they could've thrown in the tag team cage match that was paired with this film as a PPV special- a special that apparently did pretty well.

This movie is so bad, but strangely entertaining- it's not boring. I think the brother is the worst character in the whole deal, and I love how they ripped off Rocky's trainer. Good stuff!

Tiny Lister sure went on to have one heck of a career, didn't he? From what I've heard, he's very grateful and humble about it as well.

[–] sam_orozco2002 12 years ago

i remember as a kid watching and thinking this is pure cheese, and now watching it as a adult, i feel the same way. but i like cheese, and i tend to like hulk films. i love surburban commando, and i like this film. plus that samantha girl is pretty hot. i'm surprised they showed her nearly naked a few times in the film and that hulk actually got a love scene in the film. crazy to see the hulk in a love scene.

i agree, they should of have some more extras. that was a great idea about putting that summerslam match. i would of loved a commentary too, deleted scenes, and maybe so of those vh1 like pop ups during the film.

[–] Fluke_Skywalker 12 years ago

I hadn't seen NHB since it was originally released, and I'd been hoping to come across the VHS at a thrift store for several years now. So imagine my surprise when I see a brand spanking new DVD at my local library a few days ago. "Whaaaaa...?". I figured with DVD sales on the decline there was no way they'd ever bother releasing this now.

I watched it last night with the lowest of low expectations, and those expectations were met. The movie is pretty awful. Even the wrestling is bad and unexciting. It was a nice nostalgic trip down memory lane, but not one I'll be taking again any time soon.

I will say it looked better than I thought it would. It wasn't until after it was over that I saw the "Digitally remastered" on the box. I was expecting a straight rip of the VHS, but it looks and sounds as good as you could hope for a movie of this ilk. I'm with you guys, would it have been that much trouble to include the "Movie match" PPV (I've never seen it, but I read about it on the NHB Wiki)?

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