Worst fight scene of all time? Mr. No Legs
The original film title was ”Pushers Die Hard” but the producers soon realized that the best part of it was a legless mob enforcer, a new title was in order. The result was "Mr. No Legs" (1979), with martial artist Ted Vollrath in the title role.
Martial artists of a certain age may remember Vollrath for his breaking and self defense demos at Aaron Banks' Oriental World of Self Defense, broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Although the movie has a distinctly and unintentional comedic aspect, Vollrath was for real.
If you need to understand the 1970s, this is a solid place to begin.
The central hitman, Lou, has no legs and travels in a motorized wheelchair decked out with double-barreled shotguns. Lou's trusty sidekick, is played by Rance Howard, who acted in dozens of films from Cool Hand Luke to Chinatown to A Beautiful Mind to Nebraska. Rance has appeared in 16 films directed by his son, director extraordinaire Ron Howard. Mr. No Legs co-stars an African-American dwarf, accomplished stuntwoman Courtney Brown, and Flipper's Luke Halpin. Adding to the unusual nature of the film, it was directed by Ricou Browning, the Olympic swimmer best known as the man inside the suit of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
However, as noted, Vollrath was for real.
Ted Vollrath, was born in 1934 in Harrisburg, PA, and served in the US Marines, fighting in the Korean war. Vollrath had to have both of his legs amputated at the age of 19 because of severe injuries received in combat. He began training in the martial arts in 1967 and was the first person to earn a black belt in karate while training out of a wheelchair. Vollrath eventually became a karate Grand Master and acquired black belts in several different styles of the martial arts.
In 1971 Ted founded the Martial Arts for the Handicapable Incorporated; this organization is dedicated to teaching the martial arts to disabled people. Vollrath made his sole foray into feature film acting with a solid performance as Lou, a vicious and lethal enforcer for a drug dealer in the positively low-budget action exploitation oddity "Mr. No-Legs." Ted put on an impressively vigorous and exciting display of his martial arts prowess in a simply incredible protracted set piece which occurs halfway through the picture. Vollrath also appeared in the documentary "Let Me Live in Your World."
Vollrath died on November 18, 2001.
Source: IMDB
