No Retreat, No Surrender

No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)

101 mistakes

(1 vote)

Revealing mistake: At the beginning, when Ivan and the two New York businessmen approach the school, the three are seen through a window from inside the school. If you pay close attention to the reflection of the students in the window, you can see that they are in no way doing anything related to what is being heard inside the school. After the class is dismissed and starts to leave, we see Ivan and the two businessmen begin to enter the school, and if you look in the window, the class is still going hard. (00:03:00)

Continuity mistake: When Jason is trying to kick a sandbag whilst one leg is suspended in a noose, the sand bag starts the scene about waist high, then is hoisted to the ceiling by Bruce Lee. Jason succeeds in hitting the bag in the next shot, but the bag is back at waist height. (01:03:35)

Factual error: During the karate tournament towards the end of the movie if you'll notice the American flags in the background you'll see that they are displayed improperly. Whether flags are being displayed horizontally or vertically, the stars should always be on the left side of the flag.

Continuity mistake: In the tournament at the end of the movie, when Dean and Ivan meet in the center of the ring before the match, we can see that Ivan's stance has his back to our view. However, when the shot sweeps over the crowd and judges, and then back to Dean and Ivan, we can see that Ivan is now facing us.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jason does his own training by kicking and dodging the moving sandbags hanging down, he finishes by kicking each bag individually. Look closely - one of the bags is only being held together by a thread, so when Jason kicks it, the bag splits open quite easly. (01:06:45)

joanne moore

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: For what it is worth, it is said (but I don't know the original source) that it was not intentional and it ripped open on its own during that take and it was left in the movie, so the movie prop was not created with that purpose but just wore out on its own.

Sammo

No Retreat, No Surrender mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When RJ sits on Jason's midriff he is eating a Popsicle with chocolate on it but in the next shot the chocolate its completely gone. (01:05:30)

ozwal13

Revealing mistake: When Jason is doing a two fingered push-up on the table in the park, a wire can be seen on his back lifting him up. The mistake has been fixed with proper framing in recent home video versions.

Gavin Jackson

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bruce Lee is teaching Jason how to kick while his other foot is being held in a noose, Jason is wearing a grey jumper and black pants, however a shot is shown of Jason tightening the noose around his ankle while wearing a yellow tank top and a wrist band. Cut back to Jason and Bruce talking and not only is Jason wearing his grey top again but the noose has somehow managed to loosen itself. (01:04:35)

Continuity mistake: This mistake is in the scene where Jason finally manages to kick the sandbag with his foot in the noose. Before Jason performs the kick, there is a clear knot in the rope, however, in the slow motion shot, the rope is not knotted. Afterwards, the knot is back. (01:04:35)

Continuity mistake: Scott wets only a small part of RJ's shirt with the hose, but when he gets to Jason's place the whole shirt is wet. (00:17:50)

ozwal13

Continuity mistake: Just when Jason gets to Seattle and is playing with the punch bag, 3 wood pieces fall to the floor, then Jason sets one in it's place but in the next shot the one in the middle is back in place by itself. (00:10:20)

ozwal13

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jason's dad is bar tender pouring a beer for a customer. The level of the beer in the glass and the head size of the beer changes at least four times by the time he reaches the pool table. (00:59:10 - 00:59:50)

Mr Manchester

Continuity mistake: When Scott bullies RJ outside the burger place, Scott is in one side of the table and is kicked by RJ in the stomach, RJ falls to the floor and in the next shot Scott is now beside him.

ozwal13

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: We lose sight of Scott for long enough that he could have gotten around the table.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Mr. Stillwell limps his way into the parking lot after work, his jacket on his shoulder. He gets blindsided by an ugly dude who punches him away and...the jacket is gone, lost forever, not on the ground, just vanished. (01:08:00)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Van Damme flies out of the ring (handspringing like a pro-wrestler), the surprise and cheer from Ian's cornerpeople is different across the two shots (for instance, Dean leans in to look at two very different times). (01:35:40)

Sammo

Revealing mistake: When Jason does his backflipping move that wins him the match...you can actually see it's Corey Yuen dressed as him that does it. (01:35:25)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Van Damme rips his shirt off and drops the gloves. Starts circling his young opponent. You can see the items he drops but a couple of shots later they are in the corner in different position, which will change again when he brutalizes the opponent against the ropes. (01:34:00)

Sammo

Revealing mistake: During the final fight, Ivan the Russian forgets completely how to fight and never, ever pulls guard. Look no further than the moment when right at the beginning Jason charges at him; Van Damme blatantly drops the arms on purpose to be hit. (01:32:30)

Sammo

Other mistake: The timekeeper stops the clock when Jason charges in saving Ian, but kept it going just fine for a minute when the official for the match was roundhouse-kicked to the curb, a fat kid bit an athlete and everything was obviously not legitimate in any way or form.

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Ivan in his rage puts Ian through the ropes flipping him; to be flipped, Ron Pohnel is holding the ropes; the second one in the first shot, the top rope in the second shot. (01:32:55)

Sammo

Ivan: So it is you, son, is it not?
Jason Stillwell: But this time it will be different. Russian.

More quotes from No Retreat, No Surrender

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.