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'''''Only The Strong''''' is a 1993 live-action film starring Mark Dacascos and distributed by [[Twentieth Century Fox]].

Louis Stevens (Dacascos), having completed his tour as a Green Beret in Brazil, returns to his old Miami neighborhood to find that the local high school has been overrun by drug dealers. He intervenes in a dispute with one of the more prominent dealers, an act that ends with the gangsters being forced off campus. Seeing this, Louis' old teacher Mr. Kerrigan (Geoffrey Lewis) brings a proposal to the principal of teaching Capoeira (which Louis learned while in Brazil) to several of the school's worst at-risk students as a means of instilling discipline into them.

However, Louis' earlier intervention with the drug dealer does not go down well with the local drug kingpin Silverio, who is himself a Capoeira master and proceeds to viciously beat Louis as a warning not to interfere. Louis eventually recovers, but what follows is a fight to liberate the neighborhood from Silverio's influence.

{{tropelist}}
* [[Badass Boast]]: Between Silverio and Louis during their second confrontation:
{{quote|'''Silverio:''' This time, I play for keeps.
'''Louis:''' And this time...I don't play. }}
* [[Badass Teacher]]: Louis himself, although technically he's not a member of the school faculty.
* [[Benevolent Boss]]: Silverio is this to his henchmen and a good deal of the people in his section of the neighborhood. As Orlando says about his cousin, "They're either scared of him or they think he's Robin Hood."
* [[Berserk Button]]: Silverio does not take it well when he learns that {{spoiler|[[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|Louis has wrecked his chop-shop]]}}.
* [[Big Bad]]: Silverio.
* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]
* [[Cool Teacher]]: Louis. [[Cool Old Guy|Kerrigan]] and [[Hot Teacher|Dianna]] qualify as well.
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Silverio does this to Louis during their first meeting.
* [[Dreadlock Rasta]]: Silverio's [[The Dragon|enforcer]] sports the hairstyle.
* [[Drugs Are Bad]]
* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]: Orlando, Silverio's cousin, has to choose between his respect for Louis and his loyalty to his cousin. {{spoiler|He chooses the former}}.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Donovan}}.
** Or [[Senseless Sacrifice]]... heading back in to save {{spoiler|a musical instrument}} and then dying of smoke inhalation.
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: Louis is perhaps better known to TV viewers as [[The Crow|Eric Draven]] or [[Brotherhood of the Wolf|Mani]]. Also, Ryan Bollman (who played Donovan) had earlier appeared as the [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Children of the Corn|Children of the Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice]]''.
* [[Hot Teacher]]: Dianna.
* [[Inner-City School]]
* [[Police Are Useless]]: It's justified, though, as a cop indicates that Silverio's history of intimidating potential witnesses who would otherwise give testimony against him has left the police unable to arrest him on any solid charges.
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: Plenty.
* [[Pretty Fly for a White Guy]]: Donovan.
* [[Race Lift|Style Lift]]: So, you're filming a movie all about Capoeira and its heritage. Who do you hire? A guy who's only ever studied Tae Kwan Doe.
** He did learn Capoeira specifically for the movie and does a pretty decent job for someone who practiced the art for less than a year, but in plenty of fight scenes his style still is barely, if at all recognizeable as Capoeira.
* [[Retroactive Recognition]]: Yup, our kickass teacher is Mani from ''[[Brotherhood of the Wolf]].''
* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Louis goes on one against Silverio's operatives {{spoiler|after Donovan's death}}.
* [[Save Our Students]]: The point of the movie.
* [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him]]: [[The Dragon]] thinks Silverio should do this to Louis. However, Silverio refuses on the grounds that doing so will make Louis a martyr in the eyes of the neighborhood and thus cement his positive influence, which would undermine Silverio's power in the process.
* [[X Meets Y]]: ''[[Dangerous Minds]]'' meets ''[[The Karate Kid]].''

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Sports Stories]]
[[Category:Only the Strong]]
[[Category:Martial Arts Movie]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
[[Category:Film]]