 Screema and stick fighting is almost synonymous with Filipino martial arts. However, the Kali 6 are also staple and primary weapon used in American Kempo. So, what's the difference in the usage? We have special guest senior master Jess Speakman with us today to talk about how the sticks are used in the art of Kempo and how they were highlighted in this 1991 film, The Perfect Weapon. Explosive action, movie fun facts, and Kempo sticks in motion. Let's do it. Today I want to ask and start off with the first question. And it's an observation of mine that I've noticed that many Kempoists seem very, very drawn to the use of Kali sticks. And we have it in Form 7, but it seems to be the go-to weapon even though we don't typically see it often trained as in techniques or a lot of Kali sticks in class. But I was wondering if you could explain to us why Kali sticks seem to be a favorite weapon for Kempoists, and how is it different in Filipino martial arts and how the stick is implemented into Kempo and customized for its use? Good question and well said and let me jump into it. So, first off, I would say in terms of weaponry would be the knife, would be the primary known and knowledgeable weapon for us to be able to use in the art of Kempo. And I would put the sticks on a second plateau from that. But independent of that, the stick form and the knife form are way up the puja and those are actually Form 7, which is taught for a 4th degree black belt and Form 8, which is the knife form, which is taught for a 5th degree black belt. So you're going to be there a long time before you really get into those, although in Brown Belt, and even before Brown Belt, you have some stick defense techniques in Brown Belt, but especially in the 5.0 system, is where you have the knife defense techniques. If it's true, and I believe it is, that Kempo is primarily a street defense art, then the weapons idea stick slash knife slash gun would be so very rare that you would have to use that skill set. So we're going to spend a lion's share of our time on doing empty hand preparation and techniques and fighting. Then we're going to get into the stick and then we're going to get into the knife. Now keep in mind, please, that the 5.0 system has a huge amount of ground fighting that puts another layer of really intense information into the empty hand section of the system of Kempo, which is huge. It's an enormous amount of our training. But you're not going to pick up the stick and pick up the knife until much later on, as opposed to some of the other arts. You start with the stick and a knife and then you say, and the application of these movements without the stick and the knife are this, we do it the other way around. And then we will go into, but if you are confronted with stick knife gun, here are the techniques and the ways that you're going to do that. And we see this in the perfect weapon, which is interesting because as we get closer to the end of the film, the comics, the film, the warehouse scene, the sticks come out. Your character brings out the sticks. But we also get a quick glimpse at the beginning in Kim's shop when you're taking on the Korean mafia and Jeff is staying there with the sticks and you get this little smirk on your face like they just gave you a weapon to work with. Can you describe how the sticks are used in the film and how you approached it, other techniques in that regard? Yeah, absolutely. One of the points I think that would be our jumping off point would be that we refer to them as Kempo sticks, as opposed to Screamer or Kali, because this was, and I think I mentioned this earlier, one of Mr. Parker's main points with law enforcement is, you know, somebody who's 6'5", wears a different size shoe than somebody who's 5'8". So shouldn't the weapons they carry on your body fit your body as opposed to one weapon fitting everybody? So the baton that they carry with a handle on it is called the PR24 because it's 24 inches long. So he would argue for different length batons or PR24s to fit the height of the person that's using it. So you follow that into the sticks and we do the same thing. We use the bottom of the elbow all the way to the tip of the hand and then add two fingers and that's where you're going to cut your sticks. So you're probably going to cut that much or even more off of a classic typical Filipino stick fighting stick or a hand stick or whatever would have you, because then those sticks fit my body and then I'm going to be able to use them more effectively and more efficiently because they're an extension of me. It's easier for them to be looked at as an extension of me. So the sticks are different for Kempo and that was one of the things Mr. Parker really wanted to highlight in the movie The Perfect Weapon as sort of a sidebar side note advanced material of Kempo but what was ironic and surprising for me at least was that the movie poster had me moving around with a pair of sticks which was sort of meant to be a sidebar to the empty hand thing. So it brought a lot of attention to the Kempo stick fighting thing which again is not our main focus. Our main focus is empty hands and then weapon second and the main focus in Kempo 5.0 is empty hands and how to use it on the ground and then go to stick and knife after that. Taking a quick look at form seven for viewers who might not be familiar with the form. It's a bunch of our self-defense techniques with the sticks in our hands which changed the dynamic of the technique as you said now the stick becomes an extension of our own body. What is the thought process here? How did the techniques change with that dynamic? Yeah great question and form seven has several techniques in it that are only Kempo stick techniques so you're completely correct they are Kempo techniques now using a stick and then there are four or five techniques in there that don't exist outside of form seven but in either case you will notice when you learn form seven there are many different foot maneuvers that you really haven't done before so the foot maneuvers utilized to accommodate for the distance and range extended from the empty hand all the way through to the end of the stick so I might need to create a greater distance between myself and the target because of the extension of the stick I might be in the process of doing a front crossover step out to create distance so I can more easily hit the target. Time for a quick shameless plug if you would like to represent in your art in a colorful blast or on a grandmaster please check out the shirts and canvases on our website it's a great way to help this channel plus the holidays are coming up and they make fantastic gifts check out the card right here or the link in the description now we're talking about more of a stealth mission at the end of the film where it's a warehouse full of enemies but you're not fighting them all at once you're going from one location to another to another what would your first impression if we just jump into the scene what notes or what memories pops your mind when you guys were approaching that scene the idea was Kempo people will be able able to actually see quote-unquote Kempo techniques done with a stick like gathering clouds is a technique that we in Kempo know very very well and then you see me do exactly that same technique it's the constant theme you're still going to need to accommodate the sequence of movements from the extended natural weapon to the target so you're always using your foot maneuvers to create that distance or with the sticks as opposed to the knife you'll actually use the stick in a jab kind of emotion to hit the guy in the stomach to move him back and then by moving him back you can now continue to use the weapon as opposed to you moving back so you're going to either move him or you're going to move but the primary focus is about how to accommodate the distance and the striking from the weapon to the target if you start introspecting about it and you learn this principle that allows you to have the correct distance for example then you start thinking well that's the same principle that I used in a technique in orange belt to create the right distance for me to be from the weapon to the target then you should be able to take those principles and concepts in their application and figure out how to utilize those same principles and concepts in a completely different format because Kempo is how you think of things it's how you approach things it's a scientific analysis and application to ancient chinese fighting techniques so if that's true then we should be able to bring all of those principles and concepts and use them just as easily on the ground when you're on your back and somebody's trying to sit on top of it upon your face and isn't there that same language aren't they the same thinking patterns that are gonna allow me to check that line of entry or because I now have a knowledge base of what's going on on the ground when I feel a hand come in and do this or when I feel a hand go to pull and take my arm out of the way I already know where he's going and because of that I can counter that move so if you take the principles and concepts of Kempo with the essential basic knowledge of how to fight on the ground you can create Kempo on the ground which is exactly what we did good and using that as leeway into Kempo 5.0 we talked in the first episode about the gym scene how there are already little seeds planted that eventually became some of the basis and foundation for Kempo 5.0 we can kind of see a little bit of that in this warehouse scene as well because you're talking about utilizing knives and sticks and there's a lot of weapon use in this scene but there's a part I believe you actually deliver the technique reigning lance when an attacker comes at you with a knife and then you take the knife and that right there you facing another opponent and you both have knives that's also a thing that's explored in Kempo 5.0 that's not in the traditional curriculum are knife on knife techniques what made you decide to put that into effect right well just because of the reality of what life offers we added six new techniques to that brown belt first degree black belt area well those six new techniques are I have a knife and you have a knife which is a completely different scenario than I have empty hands and you have a knife um the gentleman who was the stunt guy and the great big guy who came at me first that I did the reigning lance that was actually a very good friend of mine by the name of Jim Diggs who happened to be visiting on his set that day he I pulled him in at the last second because interesting movie side note here the guy who first came at me with the knife in the stabbing short blade position like that um it was a knife where of course like all of them the blade retracts inside to the handle and you're hitting somebody so it looks like you're stabbing some of the knife but you're not because the knife retracts in the handle it's a gag knife so what happened was the first guy who came at me I did exactly that move came around stuck it in his leg jump back to do the spinning pick and he had slid all the way down already he wasn't supposed to slide down until after I did the kick so I jump back and I stop and I look and there's the knife stuck in his leg it did not go into the handle it malfunctioned so when I came around and grabbed the knife and stuck it in his leg it really stuck in his leg about three inches so he's laying down grabbing his leg screaming in pain and I just went medic you know and of course they came rushing in and he was fine and he came back and worked the next day in a completely different scene and scenario and uh it was it was it was horrific I mean that knife went in so easy I didn't even feel it oh man so again if you were to redo this scene today now in the context of 5.0 and with the ground fighting and with the current method of fighting MMA popularity you now have a really really rich environment that's not just an open area it's not a bar full of people but it's like it's open and closed you've got corners you've got obstacles you've got multi levels how would you rechoreograph that film today any particular techniques that you would you would choose use instead or any particular shots that you think would work better what would that scene look like in the 5.0 lens in this particular case because it was meant to highlight stick a knife I wouldn't take anything to the ground I would stay on my feet and try to use the weapons effectively in fact I probably I might choose some other Kempo knife or stick defense but I wouldn't I would definitely not go to the ground that is not a place you want to be where your opponent has a sharp edge weapon especially it's just like every other scene in the movie there's so much detail in there especially if you're a Kempoist there's a lot of cherry picking you can find a lot of Easter eggs a lot of techniques so it's really cool to see them in the perspective of the behind the scenes view of it but in the next episode we're going to talk about the final battle and how it's both the most Kempo fight and also the least Kempo fight at the same time so I look forward to talking to that talking to you about that conversation and thank you so much for joining us today you bet thank you again and that's a brief look at how Kempo incorporates stick fighting and how it was used in the perfect weapon now right here check out our discussion on how Kempo addresses multiple attackers and next time we're going to look at the film's final battle and when that episode is available you can find it right out here as always we thank master speakman for sharing his time with us