Gymkata is terribilarious

I was in 6th grade when this movie came out, and loved the film more or less equally to the other mid-80s, cold war "so bad it's good" action stuff. The conveniently chalked high bar in the town of Karabal, on the Caspian sea, and the conveniently located pommel horse were a couple of my faves, as well as the guy in the assless robe, and the guy who cuts off his own hand. I also found it interesting at the climactic end of the chase scene through the village of the crazies that Jonathan was able to shinny up between the buildings 20+ feet, but not the last two that got him on the roof.

Not sure how deep you'll dig back into the film, but for my money, the fight scene between Thorg and Hao features some really over the top Foley. If Thorg punched Hao in the stomach hard enough to make those noises, his fist would have went cleanly through Hao's back. There's also the scene featuring "The Finish Line for you is right here, Cabot." where Thorg appears to be hiding behind a sapling due to an out of focus tree in the foreground.

I was going to play off the absence of the cache of sophisticated weapons to the betrayal by Stork, but I can't imagine that they weren't still around. perhaps he destroyed them to keep them out of Jonathan's hands.

I will say that I went through considerable difficulty to get my hands on "The Terrible Game," the book on which the film is supposedly based. In particular, I was curious about what Thorg did in Munich, and how Jonathan knew Gomez. The book has just about nothing to do with the movie. I posted some details in another thread, but none of the characters had the same name, the country wasn't called Parmistan, and the game was totally different. They had to shoot antelopes with bows from horseback, and had to compete in Turkish wrestling (a real sport where men grease each other up from head to toe, and reach down the back of each other's pants to get pretty much the only grip you'll get). No Khan, no Zamir, no Thorg, Gomez, Hao, or beloved Eastern Trainer or Western Trainer. Tamerlane was the name of a horse.

In closing, I will say that it's always a fun party game to flick your finger at the screen just as one of Jonathan's escorts into Karabal, on the Caspian Sea says "There's just a little Anti-American sentiment running around, but I think----" Good Times.