Jean Claude compared to Arnold.

Note August 2005: This article was written by me in 1999, and later I made some additions. Some info may be out of date, on the other hand, there are much mare agreements between Jean Claude and Arnold than listed here. This page will be updated soon.
 


Arnold and Jean Claude were both born and grown up in Europe.
In July 1947 Arnold was born in Austria. 13 years later, in October 1960 Jean Claude was born in Belgium.
(Also Dolph Lundgren was born in Europe, Sweden). Conclusion: real action heroes come from Europe!

Because Arnold and Jean Claude came from Europe you can clearly hear an accent. They don't speak stainless English. Especially in Arnold’s first movies you can clearly hear it.
When Jean Claude arrived in the US he took first English classes.


How they became famous.
You can have a pretty face, but that doesn't mean you will become famous. It must be their muscles. It's not for nothing that both were made famous by action movies. Just look at their first movies. Arnold's movie 'Conan' is one long pose of him showing his muscles. The same counts for Jean Claude in 'Bloodsport'. This movie became famous because of it's hard violently fight scenes.

You can see Jean Claude in 'Bloodsport' more without than with t-shirt... But not only 'Bloodsport'. In (almost) every movie of Arnold and Jean Claude are shots which shows them without t-shirt. I have to notice that in Arnold last movies he did not show his breast chest. Maybe this has something to do with his hart-operation? Also their drawers goes out in some movies. Jean Claude have at least 9 movies in which we can see him naked. The same counts for Arnold in the Terminator-movies, 'Red Heat' and others.

Both became well known in the 80's.  Arnold in 1984 with 'The Terminator'. Jean Claude four years later in 'Bloodsport'. (1988) Because of their muscles Arnold and Jean Claude are popular by magazine's to cover them. Both did stand on the cover of 'Muscle and Fitness', 'Cinema', and many other magazines.



     



Of both actors are made thousands of photos and posters. Even the poses and looks are sometimes the same!



                   



With blote hands you can cause real damage. In 'Red Heat' Arnold beats a man to dead. Jean Claude did the same in 'Black Eagle'. To think about: In 'Red Heat' Arnold get beats back before he can 'finish' his opponent.In 'Black Eagle' Jean Claude is the only one who beats, so who's a better fighter huh? Funny detail: both Arnold and Jean Claude were wearing scarcely clothes during these fight scenes.



Arnold beats a man to dead:
       


Jean Claude beats a man to dead:
       



You just read and see that Arnold and Jean Claude beats men to dead. (Of course only in their movies).
How do you get such extreme power? Well, you have to train very hard. 



 



Only training is not enough. If you take an office-job then you can forget a body like Arnold or Jean Claude.
Better is to work in the open air. For example: pitch into wood! Or take a tree trunk on your shoulder and walk a little.
Arnold did this! It's not for nothing that Arnold has as nickname: the Oak! But... Jean Claude also did this.

Pitch into wood:				Walking with a tree trunk:

In '9 of the 10' movies Arnold and Jean Claude plays the 'good' guy. Rarely they act in a movie as bad guy. But if they are bad: then they are real bad!  Arnold in 'the Terminator'. Sturdy, no emotion, kills without twitching his face. Jean Claude was a wicked man in 'Karate Tiger' a.k.a. ' No Retreat, No surrender'. He breaks someone's leg without any reason. If you have seen the final fight of that movie you pray you'll never meet him: kicking without sense, like a machine which you can't turn off. Other movies in which they play the bad man: Arnold in 'Batman', Jean Claude in 'the Replicant' and 'Black Eagle'.

Talking about 'Karate Tiger'... In 'Karate Tiger' Jean Claude played a Russian man. Arnold also played a Russian man once: in 'Red Heat'. Even their first-name in both movies is the same: Ivan. Also speaking English was a crime, because it were one of the first Arnold and Jean Claude movies.

Something else. 
Both Arnold and Jean Claude made movies about Cyborgs. Arnold in the Terminator movies, Jean Claude in 'Cyborg'.
Two total different movies, but the same idea. (If you do not know: a cyborg looks like a human, but inside it's a machine.)

Both Arnold and Jean Claude have short hair. But there was a time that they both had long hair

In the last past years cloning is a hot item. So who's Arnold without a movie about cloning? Who is Jean Claude without a movie about cloning? Arnold made 'The Sixth day'. Jean Claude made 'the Replicant'. It means double action: Arnold vs. Arnold-clone, Jean Claude vs. Jean Claude-clone. They both played a double role. In 'Double Impact' and 'Maximum Risk' Jean Claude also played a double role.

Double roles:

There are much more movie agreements in other films.
- They both played as cop, Jean Claude in 'Death Warrant', Arnold in 'End of Days' and many other movies.
- In 'Death Warrant' Jean Claude played a cop who was undercover. Arnold did the same in 'Raw Deal'.
- In 'Sudden Death' Jean Claude is fireman. Arnold is it in 'Collateral Damage'.
- Arnold stars as twin in 'Twins', Jean Claude played a twin in 'Double Impact'.
- In 'The running man', Arnold stars as prisoner. Jean Claude is prisoner in 'Nowhere to run'.
  In both films we see them escape from imprisonment.
- The topic of the 'Terminator' has something to do with the end of the world. The same thing counts for 'Cyborg'.
- In 'The Terminator movies' Arnold travels true time. He comes from future into our world. Jean Claude travels true time in 'Time Cop'.
- Arnold hang on a cross in 'Conan'. Jean Claude in 'Cyborg'.
- Arnold traveled in 'Total Recall' in a cab without human driver. Jean Claude did this in 'Time Cop'.
- Arnold's daughter is kidnapped in 'Commando'. Jean Claude's daughter is kidnapped in 'Universal Soldier: the Return'.


In the movies of Arnold and Jean Claude, general, the plot is very simple. Take 'Commando', or 'Raw Deal',
'Wrong Bet' or 'Desert Heat'. Any child can understand the movie stories. The only thing that counts in these movies is action.

Action shots:

Did you also mention that in their movies it often seems that 'our heroes' has to fight alone against the 'whole world'?
For example: in 'Commando' Arnold have to fight against tons of men. This also applies for Jean Claude in 'Hard Target'.

Fighting against woman? That sounds not clean. But it seems that Arnold and Jean Claude knows no mercy. In 'Total Recall' Arnold beats a wife. In 'Double Impact' Jean Claude says to a woman: 'I do not fight against woman', but a few seconds later he changes his mind and kicks her into pieces. Also in 'Karate Tiger' Jean Claude does not behave good to a woman: he pulls her hair almost out of her head. Killing woman? Arnold kills in 'the Terminator' two Sarah Conner's. Jean Claude did it in 'the Replicant'.

Beating woman:

Guns. If you see Arnold with a gun, then it's not 'just a gun'. It's almost always a super big gun. Maybe your surprised, but also when Jean Claude uses a gun, the gun is big. But also without guns you can make great action movies. Arnold, but especially Jean Claude, has movies with big action, without guns. Think of 'Conan', 'Bloodsport', 'Kickboxer', 'Wrong Bet', and other movies.

Big guns:

If you are Van Damme fan, and you follow the news about him, then you must know the story that Jean Claude once was arrested for drunken-driving. Also in his movies Jean Claude often drinks too much. 'Double Impact', 'Kickboxer', 'Wrong Bet' and 'Desert Heat' have scenes showing Jean Claude van Damme drunken. Do you think that Arnold knows better how to behave? Forget it. He was drunk in the movie 'Twins'.

But, drunken or not, Jean Claude is a good driver. He even rides a bus in 'Universal Soldier' and that with handcuffs on! Arnold did drive a bus in the movie 'Red Heat'. Motorcycles also are very popular by both men. Not only in their movies but also on many photographs of Arnold and Jean Claude while they are posing on a motorcycle.

Driving in a bus:		Motorcycles:

Other conveyance.
Horses. Arnold rides a horse in 'True Lies', one of Arnolds most famous scenes. Also Arnold rides a horse in 'Conan', and 'Red Sonja'. Jean Claude rides a horse in 'Hard Target'.  Jumping out of airplanes? Arnold did it in 'Eraser'. In 'Double Team' Jean Claude did the same. And also in Commando Arnold jumped out of a plane into a pool. 

Riding a horse:		Jumping out of an airplane:

Talking about water: in 'Double Team', we find Jean Claude in a swimming bath. And in 'Commando' we see Arnold in a swimming bath. More water we find in the movies 'Red Heat' and 'Nowhere to Run'. In 'Red Heat' Arnold is taking a shower, Jean Claude does it in 'Nowhere to run'. Detail: Both men were attacked while taking a douche. Arnold by a Russian criminal, Jean Claude by a crazy police officer.

Swimming:		Taking a shower:

In 'Predator', both actors had a role, Arnold as 'Dutch', the hero of this movie. He had to fight against the Predator, an ugly monster, first played by... Jean Claude, but he skipped after a couple of days for different reasons. Also in 'Last Action Hero' they did some work together. In this Arnold movie, we can see Jean Claude's face for a few seconds.