The_Phantom_Projectionist While PM Entertainment – that glorious company of action and excess – had already made action movies featuring martial arts, RING OF FIRE is the studio's first genuine karate flick, as well as a triumph for martial arts of the B-movie scale. It's also a pretty unique vehicle for star Don Wilson – possibly one of his best, which is ironic given his limited input to the action content. As a genuinely exciting kickfest that's powered by a real plot and investable characters, I deem this a must-have for fans of low budget action and just about all of the performers involved.The story: In the middle of a violent gang rivalry in Los Angeles, a doctor and cousin of the Asian gang's leader (Wilson) falls in love with the sister and fiancé of the Surfer gang's leaders (Maria Ford).I believe this is the perfect role for Don Wilson, who I find enjoyable though not for the quality of his other movies. In an all-time low count for a feature advertised with his name, Wilson has only a single fight – the finale – and spends the rest of the film interacting with others in a dramatic way, opposed to a physical manner. Don is naturally likable and gives a smooth performance, all the while acting well with costar Maria Ford. Ford's acting ability is often underrated in favor of her sexuality, but here it is clearly at the forefront of her performance. Together, she and Wilson make a sound dramatic duo and a believable couple.Thematically, the movie may not be particularly strong, but I say that it's as significant as the viewer allows for. It's obvious that this is a take on "Romeo & Juliet" with kickboxing, but it's also one of only a handful of films at the time that addressed interracial romance from an Asian perspective. Race relations would be a non-factor in most of Wilson's films to come, so it's all the more significant that he sets such a positive standard for a masculine Asian-American who perseveres for the sake of love. I haven't seen many western films wherein an Asian male is portrayed as desirable and romantic; Wilson makes the absolute most of the opportunity to be both, and delivers one of the best performances of his career.The action content is both ample and solid, with approximately eight full-length matches providing a good stage for a supergroup of film fighters: Steven Vincent Leigh, Dale Jacoby, Vince Murdocco, Eric Lee, Gary Daniels, Ron Yuan… (And those are only the performers with additional acting scenes.) Admittedly, many of the matches are a bit too heavily edited for my taste, but the occasional creativeness of the choreography and the consistent athleticism of its performers shine through, making for a cumulatively enjoyable adrenaline package. Even the final showdown featuring Wilson (and even more editing) can be considered among Don's personal best, making it worth waiting for.The film bounces along with an agreeable pace and hums with a level of energy that PM would frequently try to recapture and often fail at. It's enjoyable, and despite its imperfections, that is the most I can ask of a movie. If you know this is your kind of picture, I encourage you to check it out.

kurciasbezdalas This is probably the best Don Wilson's movie. The plot was even too good for a kick-boxing movie and also a good directors work. The fighting scenes were sometimes great and sometimes getting to slow and not taking itself seriously but that's OK because it still was enjoyable. There were also a few funny moments and that appeared unusual to me because usually this kind of movies are taking itself too seriously and even if they try to joke it's just doesn't work. I rated it 10/10 because as a 90's American martial arts movie it was surprisingly good. Not like many other this kind of films, this one really has a plot, now that's a big plus. The movie may look sometimes naive but that's OK if you like 90's American martial arts films you should watch it.

Frank Markland Don 'The Dragon' Wilson stars as Dr. John Wu (No relation of course to Hong Kong legend John Woo) a doctor who falls in love with Julie (Maria Ford) John is Asian, Julie is white both their siblings run rival gangs and hence West Side Story is turned into a ridiculous martial arts clunker. For a movie called Ring Of Fire there sure is very little action, even Don Wilson doesn't get into the ring until the climax and while this fight sequence is admittedly well choreographed the rest of the movie is completely dulls-ville with a nauseating love story that never develops any spark and action sequences that lack the overall edge a Bloodsport or Kickboxer might. I still can't believe that somebody thought that putting Don Wilson and Maria Ford in a romance plot angle was a good idea. I also can't believe that Don Wilson didn't even fight until the climax. I also can't believe how bad this movie was.* out of 4-(Bad)

Ecks WOW, this movie was garbage, by looking at the cover and reading the back of the box, it looked sorta cool... but no, no it was not. I would not recomend this movie to anyone... I may as well have rented Titanic, although that seemed a bit more interesting than this, the only good part to this movie was the 30 second old skool Thai fight scene with the ring of fire and tar/glass hands wraps... that is all!!! Garbage... oh yeah, did i mention that this movie was garbage?!