Jean-Claude Van Damme’s First Action Classic is Streaming for Free

*Bloodsport*, the 1988 film that made Jean-Claude Van Damme a star, is streaming free with adverts on YouTube. The article argues that the film helped define Van Damme’s career and shaped mid-budget action films, with a hero who can be hurt and make mistakes.

Van Damme plays US Army captain Frank Dux, who goes absent without leave to enter an underground martial-arts tournament in Hong Kong. The story draws on martial artist Frank Dux’s account of winning a 1975 tournament, but the article says the event and many of his claims are widely considered fabricated. The film runs for 92 minutes and features Bolo Yeung as champion Chong Li, with a young Forest Whitaker among the cast.