Review of No Holds Barred (1952) by Matthew D — 01 Aug 2008

Well, in honour of Tommy "Zeus" Lister, today I watched the movie that made him famous. And it was okay. I mean, Hulk Hogan movies are well known for being some of the most godawful films in existence (Mr.

Nanny, Santa with Muscles etc.) but compared to his later films, Hogan's first movie is not that bad. Its a guilty pleasure really. Hogan's acting is terrible as is the script. And there's really nothing I could criticize about this film that hasn't already been said a million times.

But the man who steals the show is of course Zeus! Every scene in the movie with him is awesome because he's just an absolute wrecking machine. He doesn't even say more than five lines in the whole movie but his facial expressions and awesome presence are all he needs to be the perfect evil badass to challenge Hogan in the movie.

The Hogan-Zeus fight at the end is amazing, although I don't think it was necessary for Zeus to die. When I first became a serious full-time wrestling fan this movie was coming to theaters and Zeus actually came into the WWF to get his revenge on Hogan in real life.

Incredibly stupid, yes, but it was effective and it did sell a few PPVs. Plus, all of us kids believed it was real so in that sense this movie and wrestling feud hold a special place in my heart. I'm not going to watch any other Hogan movies anytime soon, but I'm glad I watched this one, and you should too.