PM goes full-contact in Vegas!
This week on
The PM Entertainment Podcast, we’re diving into
To Be the Best (1993), a high-kicking, neon-drenched tournament brawler that’s part family drama, part underdog sports flick, and all PM-style action.
When a ruthless gambler threatens to rig the World Kickboxing Championship and steals our hero's woman, it’s up to
Michael Worth as Eric Kulhane — along with his alcoholic, coach father (
Martin Kove) and his punchy brother (
Phillip Troy Linger) — to fight for honor, redemption, and justice in and out of the ring.
Directed by
Joseph Merhi, with hard-hitting fight choreography from
Art Camacho and beautiful, lush camerawork from
Rick Pepin, this one brings training montages, bowling montages, love montages - so many montages - Vegas sleaze, dumb and doughy mafiosos, flying kicks, and helicopter explosions together in glorious 90s fashion.
We’re joined this episode by
Chris Kacvinsky, action movie expert from the
Bulletproof Action website, blog and podcast,
to break down:
Tournament movies as a PM subgenre
The gambling plot meets family melodrama
The many montages
And the film’s place in PM's output
PLUS — we sit down with
Michael Worth himself to talk about the making of the film, working with
Merhi and
Camacho, and what it was like kicking and acting his way through one of PM’s most fight filled entries.
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pmentpod@gmail.com
