How Did The Original Street Fighter Movie Become A Cult Hit?
Some of the greatest cult hits become popular and remain that way not only despite their flaws but because of them, and one of the best examples seen on a range of pop culture t-shirts is the 1994 film adaptation of Street Fighter.
With the announcement of several cast members for an upcoming film in the franchise, including professional wrestler Cody Rhodes as American hero Guile, the first attempt to bring the arcade fighting game and its colourful cast of characters has possibly never been more beloved.
This is remarkable in no small part because almost every aspect of the film is wrong; the flashy special moves of the games were absent, there was little actual fighting in the streets and the casting choices were interesting, to say the least.
Effervescent Australian pop star Kylie Minogue played the stoic British assassin Cammy, whilst the Muscles from Brussels Jean Claude Van Damme played Colonel Guile at the request of video game studio Capcom, the latter of which was particularly miscast despite his martial arts ability.
Whilst savaged by critics at the time, the film has managed to retain a strong cult following, and a major reason for this is that this is the last film starring actor Raul Julia, who plays the megalomaniacal M. Bison.
Interestingly, Mr Julia was playing against type; best known for playing intense but largely warm-hearted renegades and most famous for playing Gomez Adams in The Addams Family film adaptation, he took the role largely because his children loved the video games.
His performance, despite suffering from the stomach cancer that would eventually take his life, was legendary, and whilst he steals every scene he is in, by far his most famous is “For Me, It Was Tuesday”.
Aided by a very capable Ming-Na Wen (before her breakout role as Mulan) as news reporter Chun-Li describing the day he killed her father, Raul Julia’s captivatingly cruel retort is to simply diminish the day that changed her life as simply another day.