Look.  I realize that this is a movie.  And I make allowances for the blunders of Hollywood for dramatic effect.  But you just could not imagine how many people, both young and old and look at a fight scene of a movie and will try to imitate it in real life.

Back in 1971, this was the being of the era of martial arts fascination, headed by the king of kung fu, Bruce Lee and others.  Before this time, no one had ever seen a fight scene with a kick to the head.  This was novel.  Notwithstanding, let us examine this clip for a reality-based fighting scenario.

The 7 Dumb-Ass Mistakes Billy Jack Makes In The 1971 Classic Fight Scene

by Charles Prosper

Dumb-Ass Mistake #1 – He Takes Out His Boots – And Goes Bare Foot - What the…?  You can kick ass much harder with boots on than without them.  Say nothing of all the dangers you expose your bare feet to.

Dumb-Ass Mistake #2 – He Allows Himself To Be Surrounded - Nice for cinematic effect, but you never allow yourself to be surrounded in a real fight against multiple attackers.  They should allow be in front of you – almost single-file if possible.

Dumb-Ass Mistake #3 – He Relies Too Much On High Kicks To The Face - Kicking someone in the face makes about as much sense as bending over and punching them in the foot.  Low-line kicks, nothing above the waist, is what works best in real street fight situations.

Dumb-Ass Mistake #4 – He Uses Spinning Back Kicks To The Face - Just  a notch up the stupido-meter is attempting spinning back kicks to the face – and in the midst of multiple attackers.  The assumption of the spinning back kick is that person whom you are trying to kick won’t move – that his face will still be there by the time you complete your turn.

What happens if he moves as you are spinning and turning around?  Yes, you guessed it.  You will kick air and fall on your derriere.

Dumb-Ass Mistake #5 – After He Kicks The First Guy To Face And Down To The Ground, He Doesn’t Follow Up - He just knocks the guy to the ground and doesn’t take advantage of this momentary combat window by following up on him with continued strikes.  He allows him to recover.

Dumb-Ass Mistake #6 – He Relies Exclusively On One-Strike Kicks And Uses Hand Strikes Little Or Not At All - He  executes one-blow kicking strikes that magically down each of the 5 attackers who approach him.  What happened to his hand, fist and elbows.

Dumb-Ass Mistake #6 – He Walks Out And Eagerly Takes On Too Many People – Unarmed! - Hey, at least go out there with axe, a club, a knife – or a gun!  There were over 5 guys he had to contend with.

In the very last scene of this park fight, he does wind up getting his ass kicked as all 5 guys manage to grab him and take turns beating the crap out of him.  This was classic martial arts movie making madness of the ’70’s.  Great entertainment.  But it was meant to be that and nothing more – just great entertainment.  This was not a lesson in Reality-Based Street Fighting.

Please, leave me your written comment and feedback.  Thanks.

Before you read my analysis below, I want you to look at the above clip one more time and see if you can catch the 7 BIG fighting mistakes that Carrey’s character made.

Okay, here goes.

The The 7 Reality-Based Fighting Mistakes in the Bar-Fight Scene of Jim Carrey’s Movie “Yes Man”

Mistake #1 – Carrey Got Drunk – Look, this is a little common sense here.  If you know you can’t hold your liquor in a public place – simple advice – don’t drink!

Mistake #2 – When The Aggressor Grabbed Carrey’s Shoulder, This Was The First Moment of An Immediate First Strike – Listen to me.  Don’t  you ever, ever let anyone put their hands on you in anger without striking immediately.  Go look at the movie clip again.  That kind of aggressive grab was deserving of an eye jab or a punch to the throat.

Mistake #3 – Carrey Points His Finger Close To The Aggressor’s Face Without Taking Advantage of That Proximity for A Preemptive Eye Jab – Carrey missed a perfect opportunity to eye jab and follow up with a series of other debilitating blows: a knee to the groin, a nice strong head butt to the nose, or just grabbing and biting him on the cheeks, ears or nose.

Mistake #5 – There Is One Part In The Bar Argument Where Carrey Lets The Guy Turn His Back On Him, and Carrey Misses Out On This Opportunity To Hammer-Fist Him in The Back of the Neck – The guy’s girlfriend says something stupid, and he turns his head in amazement to look at her.  Man!  What a missed chance to hit him from behind!

Mistake #6 – He Allows The Guy To Turn And Walk Outside – The guy says to Carrey, “Hey, I think we better step outside.”  Hey, for the reality-based trained fighter, the fight at that point has already started!  The idea is to let the guy walk in front of you, then you attack him from behind before he walks out the door.

You can grab him from behind, and kick your right foot hard behind the back of his right knee as you slam his back to the floor from his shoulders.  Baby, he’s going to hit his head hard on that floor.  I promise you.  Follow up with knee-stomps and ankle-stomps while he is on his back, so that he is unable to get back up.

Mistake #7 – He Accompanies The Guy Outside, And Once There Carrey Is Totally Unaware of His Surroundings – Carrey’s character has absolutely no situational awareness.  He has no idea who is around him nor who is behind or beside him, and of course, in his inebriated state, he doesn’t have a cue about the angles or openings of his also very unaware opponent.

In the last part of this video clip, Carrey’s character says with a drunken slur, “We have to establish the ground rules, and the ground rules are – there are no ground rules!” He got that much right, but he of course did a very poor job of executing it.  Still a funny movie, but not to be copied.

Now, after you read my 7 mistakes that he made, look at the above clip one more time, and see if you can spot any more mistakes.  He actually committed 3 more blunders, but for fun, I’ll let you find them.  Enjoy.

Respectfully,

Charles Prosper aka “The Street Fighting Sifu”

I appreciate your written comments and feedback.  Without knowing you care, I wouldn’t have any motivation to continue.

Thanks again.