No Holds Barred (1989)

Mind you, it’s not supposed to be, but it is. As a wee tot, I watched this movie in the theatre (Being a huge wrestling and Hulk Hogan fan). All I remember from the night is we were the only ones in the theater, and that I didn’t really like it very much. I blacked the rest out, and for good reason.
A poor film on par with the greats like “Gymkata” and “The Pumaman,” “No Holds Barred” is a movie set in the high stakes world of pro wrestling. Well maybe the stakes aren’t all that high…and quite frankly I feel dirty just calling these people “professionals” at anything. And really, except for the first scene, there’s no wrestling to speak of. So I guess movie is about the marginally low stakes world of amateurish beating-the-c***-out-of-people. Sounds good, right?
Hulk Hogan plays Rip, the champion of the WWF (Never let it be said that Hulk Hogan was typecast, this and movies like Thunder in Paradise showed how he challenged himself with deep roles that really pushed the limits of his talents). Essentially he’s playing himself, but with a wardrobe that’s more black and blue than the Hulkster’s red and yellow. He also has this hand gesture he does. It’s kinda like the ozzy devil sign people make at rock concerts, except you stick your thumb in the air, and you curl your index finger in. My friend claimed that it was supposed to look like an “R.” Try and see for yourself. If that looks like an “R,” well, then, Mars needs women. But anyway.
Kurt Fuller, with his overacting detector obviously on the fritz, plays a TV exec with his slightly homoerotic heart set on getting Rip, who’s evidentally bigger than Elvis, on his network. He won’t have any of it (And exits the office with a triumphant hand gesture to no one but the camera), and so the movie follows Fuller trying to boost ratings and get back at Rip. He does so when he creates his brilliantly titled “Battle of the Tough Guys.” Marketing genius, this guy.
From the numerous hand gestures, to the rather idiotic fight scenes (All played as if wrestling is very real and deadly serious) to the overacting, to the far too frequent shots of Hulk in nothing but undies, this movie has everything you’d ever want in a dumb movie. It’s frivolous, not too taxing on the mind, violent, and includes the phrase “What’s that smell?” “DOOKIE!” “Dookie?”
A classic for all time.

A poor film on par with the greats like “Gymkata” and “The Pumaman,” “No Holds Barred” is a movie set in the high stakes world of pro wrestling. Well maybe the stakes aren’t all that high…and quite frankly I feel dirty just calling these people “professionals” at anything. And really, except for the first scene, there’s no wrestling to speak of. So I guess movie is about the marginally low stakes world of amateurish beating-the-c***-out-of-people. Sounds good, right?

Hulk Hogan plays Rip, the champion of the WWF (Never let it be said that Hulk Hogan was typecast, this and movies like Thunder in Paradise showed how he challenged himself with deep roles that really pushed the limits of his talents). Essentially he’s playing himself, but with a wardrobe that’s more black and blue than the Hulkster’s red and yellow. He also has this hand gesture he does. It’s kinda like the ozzy devil sign people make at rock concerts, except you stick your thumb in the air, and you curl your index finger in. My friend claimed that it was supposed to look like an “R.” Try and see for yourself. If that looks like an “R,” well, then, Mars needs women. But anyway.

Kurt Fuller, with his overacting detector obviously on the fritz, plays a TV exec with his slightly homoerotic heart set on getting Rip, who’s evidentally bigger than Elvis, on his network. He won’t have any of it (And exits the office with a triumphant hand gesture to no one but the camera), and so the movie follows Fuller trying to boost ratings and get back at Rip. He does so when he creates his brilliantly titled “Battle of the Tough Guys.” Marketing genius, this guy.

From the numerous hand gestures, to the rather idiotic fight scenes (All played as if wrestling is very real and deadly serious) to the overacting, to the far too frequent shots of Hulk in nothing but undies, this movie has everything you’d ever want in a dumb movie. It’s frivolous, not too taxing on the mind, violent, and includes the phrase “What’s that smell?” “DOOKIE!” “Dookie?”

A classic for all time.