Only the Strong (1993) | Region-Free (Blu-Ray)

Title: Only the Strong (1993)

Genre: Drama, Action

Plot Synopsis
Former Green Beret Louis Stevens returns to his hometown of Miami only to find his old high school overtaken by gangs and drug dealers. He begins teaching a group of at-risk students the Afro‑Brazilian martial art capoeira in a bid to give them discipline, purpose, and hope. As his students improve and outshine expectations, the local drug lord, who is also a capoeira master, reacts with violent retaliation—forcing Stevens to confront him in a climactic capoeira showdown to protect his students and reclaim the school’s future.

Cast and Crew

• Director: Sheldon Lettich

• Writers: Sheldon Lettich; Luis Esteban

• Cast:

  • Mark Dacascos as Louis Stevens

  • Stacey Travis as Dianna

  • Paco Christian Prieto as Silverio Oliveiras

  • Geoffrey Lewis as Mr. Kerrigan

  • Todd Susman as Mr. Cochran

IMDb Link: Only the Strong (1993) 

Reviews from Letterboxd

1. FakeVoorhees – ★★★½
   “A childhood favorite. Yeah, it’s basically just Dangerous Minds of the Karate Kids except it ends more like a typical martial arts movie with Mark Dacascos taking on an entire gang of drug dealers. Nostalgia influenced or not, I still enjoyed the hell out of this.”

2. Jamelle Bouie – ★★★
   “This movie is goofy as all hell — why don’t the drug dealers just shoot the weird capoeira teacher! — but I had a great time watching it. Mark Dacascos is a real one.”

3. Justin LaLiberty – ★★★
   “all too easy to pigeonhole this as The Karate Kid meets Dangerous Minds, and it is that, but it’s also a surprisingly competent action movie in its own right — I had expected this to mostly feature martial arts bouts but the last act is basically Dacascos taking on a neighborhood gang of 50+ dudes with pipes and machetes single‑handedly; not bad for something that otherwise resembles an after school special”

4. HeWhoCanDigIt – ★★½
   “Something of a crash course in Brazilian martial arts and how to do the right thing when you’re a kid on the road to doing the wrong thing. Featuring Mark Dacascos, who has more fancy moves than the script. Easy to piss all over this film, there is some cringeworthy stuff in here, but the ten year old me would probably have loved this. And capoeira looks really rad and stylish, so the fights still have their moments of wow. The guy responsible for the fight choreography is Frank Dux.”

Meta Description:
Former Green Beret teaches capoeira to misfit students to transform their lives and face off against a criminal capoeira master in this 1993 martial-arts drama.