Plot Summary

Gymkata is the 1985 martial arts film that should have swept the Academy Awards. It stars U.S. Olympic Gymnast Kurt Thomas as Jonathan Cabot, who in such a wonderful script, is also a gymnast. Cabot is recruited by the government to go to the third world country of Parmistan, so the U.S. Government can set up a missile base there. It seems simple enough, but any who enter Parmistan must play The Game. The Game is a rigorous obsticle course in which competetors survive deadly obsticles and all thoughout are chased by ninjas.

Cabot is trained to survive the game by the western trainer (Sonny Barnes) and the eastern trainer (Tadashi Yamashita, in a career making role). He is also taught to "not trust anyone" by the Princess Rubali of Parmistan. While his fighting skills increase, so does his love for the princess. He combines the fighting skills of the west with the martial arts skills of the east to become a master of gymkata. Right before he leaves, he gives into the urges and makes love to the Princess in an unforgetable scene of passion, expertly handled by Clouse.

Before he can get into Parmistan, he has to make a stop over in Karabal, on the Caspian Sea. While there, he is given some James Bond type weapons, but doesn't bring them along because of the great punishment for having weapons in Parmistan. Cabot and the Princess have a night on the town with bodyguards, and end up getting into fights where Kurt Thomas shows off his newly acquired fighting skills.

I'm not going to give away the details of the rest of the movie because it is too unbelievable. The ending is amazing and totally unexpected. It is ironic, yet coincidental. I like to think of it as a metaphor for life.

I give Gymkata 9 stars. It would be 10, but the mentioning of Starwars brings it down from te overall level of enjoyment.

Filmed in picturesque Yugoslavia, Gymkata has somee of the most beautifully choreographed fight scenes ever imagined. Since the great actor Kurt Thomas did all his own stunts, they didn't need to cut scenes to get rid of stunt doubles. Some may consider him the Jackie Chan of the 80's. I like to think he is better than Jackie Chan, because he is obviously a method actor, like Gary Oldman or Marlon Brando. Who can forget the highbar scene in which Cabot uses his gymnastic skills to ward off bad guys. Or the stone pommelhorse in the town square in the village of the crazies. Or the five minute slow motion chase scene. Some say that the reason the chase is in slow motion is because the camera broke, but I know it is due to Robert Clouse's masterful direction.

Coming soon, whenever I get around to it:

Gymkata movie clips
Gymkata sounds
My Gymkata picutes can be found by clicking on the link

Links
Since some people have been complaining that waiting for all the links to load takes a long time, I have put them on a separate page. You can find them here.

Since I like movie sounds, I keep them on my main page. I know this isn't technically the main page, but I don't care.

I only have three .wav files which I consider good enough to put on my page.
Heineken.wav 76k This is what I consider the best line ever spoken in the history of cinema. Dennis Hopper expressing his beer tastes

Full Metal Jacket.wav 465k This is a "conversation" between a seargant and one of his troops from Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket

Why Mr. Pink.wav 292k This is a great line from Reservoir Dogs. Steve Buscemi wondering why he is Mr. Pink

Click here.All of my American Ninja sounds can be found here.

Click here. All of my American Ninja 2 sounds can be found here.

Random Links
I hope that by using buttons, you will visit some of these

It is coded in html, so you must be using netscape 4.0+ or i.e. 4.0+. And for maximum enjoyment, set your display to 320x200 or whatever you feel like.
I don't think anybody will be there, but go ahead and look.
Unlike those theorems you hear in math class all the time, these relate to everyday life.
. For those who loved the old school version. So it was written, so it shall be done.
What Gymkata page would be complete without a link to the internet movie database.
my page has not won.
A counter increaser that I discovered that uses html 3.2. It doesn't work very well with modems, but with ethernet, it kicks ass.
This was also discovered by me. This script just keeps opening browsers.
You probably don't care, but the link will remain. I removed the link to my web server on my computer because during the summer I wont have a static ip, and more importantly, no ethernet connection.

This page sponsered by Billy Beer

I want more banners like these that i put on this page.

I have seen Gymkata

times. Isn't that cute how I incorporated my counter into a Gymkata theme?

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page

Plot Summary

My Gymkata picutes can be found by clicking on the link

Links

Random Links