Scene of the Week: Billy Blanks vs. James Lew
Video stores were booming in the 80’s and 90’s with Blockbuster being at the top of the heap. Long before Netflix or Amazon Prime, video stores were the way movie lovers watched movies at home when and where they wanted.
But video stores back then needed content, just like the streaming services of today. And the action entertainment industry was more than happy to provide their brand of content to video stores.
For action fans who could not wait for the next big theatrical release from Arnold or Van Damme or Seagal, they had movies starring Jeff Wincott, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock, Michael Worth, Gary Daniels and Olivier Gruner to choose from. While these stars may not have been household names, they were making a living and the action community loved them.
Two more names you could add to the list above are featured in this week’s Scene of the Week… Billy Blanks and James Lew.
Blanks was another of the many martial artists who got to be an action hero in direct to video movies. James Lew was an actor/stunt man who cashed a lot of paychecks thanks to the direct to video industry. Lew’s roles were often minor supporting roles and if he did have a bigger part it was as the bad guy like in this week’s Scene from the 1996 movie Balance of Power.
Enjoy this battle between Billy Blanks and James Lew and for more on Balance of Power, click here for my review!
