Member Chinatown Kid Posted March 11, 2008 Member Share Posted March 11, 2008 I wonder what ever happened to Jeff Speakman? He started off promising with The Perfect Weapon and seemed to have alot of potential but all his follow-ups seemed to be a letdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jesse Smooth Posted March 15, 2008 Member Share Posted March 15, 2008 I wonder what ever happened to Jeff Speakman? He started off promising with The Perfect Weapon and seemed to have alot of potential but all his follow-ups seemed to be a letdown. He's still teaching. I know one of his students has a school in Phoenix (where I'm at). He had a 5 film deal with Paramount but I don't know what happened. However, there is one film that I would love to see..."Land of the Free", which co-stars William Shatner as the bad guy. http://www.jeffspeakman.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted March 15, 2008 Author Member Share Posted March 15, 2008 Thanks for the info and link Jesse, good to hear that Jeff is still active in the martial arts and teaching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jesse Smooth Posted March 16, 2008 Member Share Posted March 16, 2008 Thanks for the info and link Jesse, good to hear that Jeff is still active in the martial arts and teaching. Not a problem. I also like this because kenpo is an art that is HARDLY ever seen on the screen. I did a bit of research. Kenpo is a whole art in itself. However, it seems as if Ed Parker took out all grappling/groundfighting techniques in his version. Intresting since there's several styles of kenpo out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted March 17, 2008 Author Member Share Posted March 17, 2008 I agree it is a cool art to see on screen because it's rarely shown. I had heard Kenpo has a reputation for "overkill" when fighting as they usually throw so many rapid fire strikes and they keep on striking after the opponent/assailent has already been subdued. Don't know if this is true though having never studied the art myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted July 3, 2008 Administrator Share Posted July 3, 2008 I know this thread is old, but I just had to throw in my two cents. I was one of the nineteen or so people who saw THE PERFECT WEAPON in a movie theater. The fast techniques cut to that song "I Got the Power" in the TV commercial totally grabbed my attention (and, as mentioned earlier, made for a kick-ass start to the movie). The crowd and my friend and I loved it (and she had to repeatedly point out that he was "hot")- back before there was really a lot of mainstream "martial arts" movies, and I thought this guy was going to blow up. This film features some of my favorite escrima stick fighting in any movie. The arnis are, in his hands, what the nunchaku were in Bruce's. Jeff has an every guy look, yet still has a quiet cool. When he fights the three guys in the gym he throws this one super fast snap kick to his oponent's temple (without any telegraphing or obvious kick set-up) that still makes me say "Damn!" every time I watch it. His speed and precision were awesome. It totally looks like he nailed the guy! If any of you haven't seen it, it's well worth checking out. Also, for an American made martial arts flick, the fight scenes are fairly lengthy. This introduced me to Kenpo, which was one of Speakman's goals. He said in an interview (that I hope will someday appear on the DVD that we hope will someday appear) that he wanted to "...honor the spirit of Kenpo and properly represent the art in a way that would make Mr. Parker proud." and I certainly think this must have been the case. I know I raced down to Philly's Asian World the next day and bought my first pair of fighting sticks. I even cut a silkscreen for THE PERFECT WEAPON so I could sport the film on a shirt! I should really print myself up a new one of those and picket Paramount for a 2 disc special edition DVD release. STREET KNIGHT had some great fight scenes including Jeff doing his stick attack on a guy, except using lug wrenches instead! Brutal- with fantastic, impact appropriate sound FX. Funny note: all the guys that play the villains in this movie look really strange. They each have some kind of bizarre weirdness to them. One guy has tons of white, curly, back, neck and shoulder hair. The main baddie looks like an evil version of TV's Fraiser Crane, and has the craziest forehead crinkle I've ever seen. I got an overseas DVD of this one. Maybe it's from Australia, can't remember. Full frame- blah. But still cool for the action. I made a DVD for myself from my PERFECT WEAPON VHS so I could slow-mo the fights and stuff without finishing off my source tape. Most of his other films were pretty bad, especially the one where he played a convict being transported in a sci-fi movie. No martial arts at all. Anyway, I thoroughly endorse this Jeff Speakman person to one and all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 The UK VHS of The Perfect Weapon was uncut. Decent film, should've lead to better things for Speakman. The romantic interest, Mariska Hargitay, is now in Law & Order: SVU. Street Knight wasn't as good from memory, but it's been eons since I saw it. The US R-rated version was censored, but it's uncut on UK VHS (and European DVD, AFAIK). Beware of possibility of forced subs on budget Euro discs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted July 3, 2008 Administrator Share Posted July 3, 2008 The US R-rated version was censored? What was missing? I remember it being fairly violent and there was some nudity... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 STREET KNIGHT: The R-rated version was cut to remove bloody bullet impacts in shootings. The HK DVD is uncut but has burnt-in Chinese subs. French DVD only has French audio. (Sacre bleu!) If you can play PAL tapes best bet is the Uncut UK VHS. THE PERFECT WEAPON No DVD available. The UK and US VHS should be uncut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted July 4, 2008 Administrator Share Posted July 4, 2008 Thanks! You know, I first saw this as a screener. This was back in the days when they would occasionally put out the theatrical version on the screener tape, then before the official VHS was released, edit it or change songs, ect. I still have the screener somewhere (because it had trailers for something I liked), so I'll have to compare it. I'm new to this whole forum thing (only posted once or twice before-maybe a year ago), but it's really cool. Like-minded people sharing info and their passions for cool films. Thanks to everyone that's been so friendly and helpful! Ha! "I've got the power" just played from the TV in the other room for a sec (used in the commercial for the new Eddie Murphy movie). Irony? Or the spirit of Speakman? You decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member dionbrother Posted July 4, 2008 Member Share Posted July 4, 2008 I saw STREET KNIGHT at a cinema in Biloxi, Mississippi. How's that for obscurity. The villain was played by Christopher Neame, who had been in some Hammer movies. Speakman claimed they tried to get John Woo to direct STREET KNIGHT. Instead they got PURPLE RAIN's Albert Magnoli, who had just ghost-directed TANGO & CASH. A bit slow moving but some of the action is good. He came along when every studio wanted their own Steven Seagal, since Seagal's movie were very low budget (by studio standards) and made tons of money, especially in foreign markets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member daisho2004 Posted July 18, 2010 Member Share Posted July 18, 2010 I'll tell you I like Jeff Speakman but he just fell off the map! I do hope that some of his movies get a legit release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Karlos Posted December 14, 2011 Moderator Share Posted December 14, 2011 Street Knight is currently on youtube in it's entirety: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24QMWLjOUXY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Flashlegstan2009 Posted December 14, 2011 Member Share Posted December 14, 2011 I Have got street Knight on dvd ? Its that version with the extras as a trailer showcase of speakmans other movies Picked it up a while ago, strange havent looked at the print but it looks a lot better than whats playing on youtube definately Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Haven't seen Street Knight in almost 20 years. Think I'll check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted November 16, 2017 Member Share Posted November 16, 2017 Born: November 8, 1958 in Chicago, Illinois. Known for his fast hands in the art of Kenpo Karate, Jeff Speakman actually first earned a black-belt in Goju-Ryu Karate under Lou Angel before transitioning to Kenpo Karate under the legendary Ed Parker. It was while he was training under Parker that Jeff began to study acting, which would lead to both his first major role in 1989's Side Roads. But his breakout role was that of Jeff Sanders in The Perfect Weapon in 1991. He would go on to star in many more action films until 2006 with Striking Range. Speakman is now a 7th-dan in Japanese Goju-Ryu Karate and an 8th-dan in Kenpo Karate. Today, he teaches Kenpo 5.0 and is a certified Defensive Tactics Instructor for the Dept. of Justice. He currently lives in Las Vegas, where he oversees the American Kenpo Karate System, the largest Kenpo Karate organization in the world and has his Kenpo Karate 5.0 schools in 20 countries. http://jeffspeakman.com 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted November 17, 2017 Member Share Posted November 17, 2017 The Perfect Weapon is one of the all-time American martial arts films. The movies he made after that, namely Street Knight; The Expert; and Deadly Outbreak have their moments. His other films are less interesting. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted November 18, 2017 Member Share Posted November 18, 2017 (edited) A few shots from A Perfect Weapon(1991). Edited November 19, 2017 by DragonClaws 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted December 21, 2017 Member Share Posted December 21, 2017 Ed Paker with Jeff Speakman. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted December 21, 2017 Administrator Share Posted December 21, 2017 When my friend and I left the theater after seeing THE PERFECT WEAPON I immediately bought some sticks and started training with them. I thought Kenpo looked amazing, and wanted to train in it. With respect to Ed Parker, Jeff Speakman, and Kenpo practitioners, despite it having many merits as a fighting system, personally I found it to be a bit over-complicated. The myriad strikes looked beautiful on-screen, but didn't seem as practical in real-life applications. When I trained in Shinowara Ryu Jujutsu, for a time our class shared space with a Kenpo school. We were eager to learn from one another and compare our styles. We asked one of the top students to show us a one-handed take-down. He demonstrated this with multiple strikes and balance breakers, listing a string of imaginatively named techniques as he showed us for about three minutes, and it looked like a whole workout routine. He asked what we'd do to achieve the same results, and we showed him- it was a single strike-to a controlling grab. It took half a second to demonstrate. This sums up my feelings about the system as far as it being practical or not for me. In real life dangerous situations it's best to be direct and not too complicated. My Sensei would often tell us "Simple is safe; fancy is fatal." But damned if Kenpo doesn't look cool in action! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted January 14, 2018 Member Share Posted January 14, 2018 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted July 30, 2020 Member Share Posted July 30, 2020 It's depressing that the only Jeff Speakman films available on DVD in Brazil are Timelock, Striking Distance and Running Red. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted September 30, 2020 Member Share Posted September 30, 2020 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member kingofkungfu2002 Posted September 30, 2020 Member Share Posted September 30, 2020 A new Jeff Speakman tribute video, that I made recently... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted October 11, 2020 Member Share Posted October 11, 2020 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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