I received a very kind email about my review of “A History of Violence,” asking me about the martial arts styles that I detected in that fine film.

I replied that I saw a lot of my art, Kenpo Karate, present.

But as I moved from scene to scene in my discussion, I pointed out a number of subtle martial arts techniques that may have escaped the attention of everyday film buffs as well as martial artists.

Tom Stall, who is the main character, has three confrontations with bad guys.

In the first and second confrontations, perceiving the threats before they have turned overtly violent, he tries to clear the scene of innocent bystanders, who could be used as hostages or be hurt.

The ability to perceive threats and to calculate their magnitude and then to take swift but subtle action, is a very high act of martial artistry. No fancy hand strikes or spinning rear kicks are required.

Even more subtle, but no less effective is how Stall STALLS.

He slows time down, in order to put his adversaries in a semi-trance. You can see how he speaks and moves at a glacial pace, his facial expressions and hand gestures becoming languid, as he prepares to take action.

One of the problems with confrontations is that they seem to accelerate until they spin out of control. Like combustion, that ignites an entire scene, people burst into violence.

Slowing down the particles, reducing the heat, enables you to prepare ever so slightly for the blaze to come, if it is inevitable. A precious second or two, purchased this way, can be life saving, as you’ll see when Ed Harris’ character is about to plug Stall at point blank range.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com

My first thought for this article was to focus only on the film, “Ronin,” starring Robert De Niro, but I found, after meditating on its real appeal to me, that “Ronin” is just one element in a career that puts De Niro into the role of a warrior.

And seeing this fellow’s work as a whole teaches us more about the martial artist than looking at the individual pieces.

To be sure “Ronin” is great work, a tense and enjoyable action picture set in France. De Niro plays an ex-CIA operative who is out of work and looking for a gig. He signs on with a crew that is tasked, by whom we aren’t sure, to recover a case, which contains something super-valuable, but we don’t know what.

There is one of the best car chase sequences ever put on the screen, and I recall reading that the film company crashed a few hundred vehicles in the process. You’ll believe it, when you see it.

Jean Reno, currently featured in the film, DaVinci Code, is also in “Ronin,” playing a good natured sidekick to De Niro. They make a great team, and you’ll enjoy watching them as their respect for each others’ skills and styles grows.

It occurred to me that De Niro is substantially the same guy in a lot of films, but in his case, like that of John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and even perhaps, Tom Hanks, it wears well.

Basically, what I see in De Niro is the ethos of a battler, a warrior, and a martial artist.

Watch him, as I did last night in the film, “Sleepers,” where he plays a priest in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. He’s the same, thoughtful man of action that you see in a picture he directed, which I also commend to you, “A Bronx Tale.”

He’s someone who has a moral compass, a code by which he’s steering his life. While he may be the young Vito Corleone, a criminal in Godfather II, he’s a family man, and he’s also a man’s man, taking care of his pals.

De Niro is a guy that can keep a secret, won’t rat on his friends, will come through in a jam, and can take a hit, and the pain that comes along with it.

Circumstances surrounding De Niro’s characters are always ambiguous. There is no black and white, morally, when he steps into the frame.

But he stays the same, amidst the flux.

In “Ronin,” we’re treated to an update of The Samurai’s Code, where honor and duty are uppermost. In a lot of other De Niro features, we see the Code of The Streets, specifically of the neighborhoods in which he grew up.

Are they the same thing?

Check out a few of De Niro DVD’s and have your own private film festival, and then decide for yourself.

And either starting with or ending with “Ronin” is a good idea!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com

I’m sure by now you’ve seen the so-called "reality based" fighting like the UFC and the other fights on pay per view.

And maybe like me, you spend a lot of time each week glued to the TV watching these competitions and enjoying every second of it.

Only problem is, while some of the best fighters in the world often compete in these tournaments…if you try to mimic them and learn from them…you’ll find yourself in a heap of hurt on the street if you should ever get in a real fight.

Why do I say this?

Because, even though all these television programs claim to be showing you "no rules" fights…they’re far from it in reality.

You see, to truly have "no rules" competition it’d have to be a two on one (or three, four, or five people on one) competition to make a mass attack possible…there’d have to be weapons available…and hurting, maiming and even killing someone else would have to be allowed.

Obviously, that’d be a bit too gruesome for the networks.

So what’s my point?

By all means, enjoy watching these shows, and let yourself be inspired to better your fighting skills.

But whatever you do…do not imitate these guys. Do not copy them. Do not try to pull off anything they do in a match in a real fight on the street.

Reason why is because these fighters — while extremely well conditioned, tough and skilled — are using tactics that fall way short of what it takes to survive a real street fight.

Sifu Matt Numrich is one of only a few people in the world with Full Certification in Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and the Filipino Martial Arts. He’s been published in Black Belt Magazine and his students include US Air Marshal instructors, the US Navy, and dozens of local, state, and federal law enforcement agents. For a free lesson on how to win brutal street-fights go to: http://jkdondvd.com

The first time I saw “Dead Man” was by sheer accident. I was channel surfing as it came on.

The fact that it stars Johnny Depp in the title role, made it promising, and he’s very good in the film.

The first sequence shows him as a passenger on a train, arguably the best-dressed, or at least the most formal. As the journey continues, the passengers change from being family types to gritty frontiersmen, who take a second or two to raise the windows and shoot at stampeding buffalo.

Depp is headed toward Machine, the end of the line; a one-company town, where he has been offered a job at the foundry as an accountant. Upon arrival, he learns from a crusty toady and even from the gun wielding boss himself, played menacingly enough by Robert Michum, that he’s too late.

The post was given to someone else, a month before. It seems his invitation, at this point is two months old. (Depp had to bury his parents before leaving Cleveland, that’s all we’re told.)

Retiring to the saloon, where his small change will only buy him a pint of whiskey, Depp meets a local flower girl who sells paper creations; the implication being that nothing as delicate as real flowers can take root in muddy, grimy Machine.

She invites Depp back to her room; they’re discovered by her errant beau, whom she insults, and he plugs her with a bullet as she throws herself in front of Depp, either to save him or because she’s ready to move on.

Depp returns fire, felling her boyfriend, played by a twitchy Gabriel Byrne. Then, Depp notices that Byrne’s bullet passed through the girl and entered his slowly bleeding chest, where it is now lodged perilously near his heart.

Depp flees on Byrne’s pinto. Every lowlife in the west is lured into hunting for Depp based on a $500 reward offered by Mitchum. We’re told Byrne was Mitchum’s boy, and Mitchum is pissed about that loss, but perhaps even more incensed about losing his prized pinto

An unconscious Depp is found and nursed by a Native American who has people call him, Nobody.

Nobody treats Depp as if he’s already dead, speaking to him about the spirit world, and taking Depp deep into Native country to find a proper send-off into the world beyond.

The key question that the film raises for the martial artist is: “What kind of life do we live when we consider ourselves already dead?”

And, is it helpful to think of ourselves as dead, though we’re still breathing and eating and functioning in this world?

Arguably, to be a martial artist, you need to accept and to confront the inevitability of death, which can happen on the mat, through a simple mistake, or out on the street, at the hands of a foe.

Theoretically, when you know you’re dying, or think of yourself as already dead, you can let go of holding back.

Depp’s transformation is worth seeing, and this movie adds yet another interesting view of what the Wild West was about.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 600 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com

What if a distant civilization, threatened by an evil empire, received TV transmissions from Earth that carried old “Star Trek” episodes, and instead of interpreting them as entertainment, they thought they were “historical documents,” that Captain Kirk, Spock, Sulu, and Scotty were real warriors, the best in the universe?

Why, they’d try to get these battlers to come to their rescue, wouldn’t they?

This is the premise of “Galaxy Quest,” the 1999 movie starring Tim Allen as the Kirk-alike.

Make no mistake, this is a comedy; but it is a comedy with a lot of heart, and it is something that the martial artist can definitely relate to.

Imagine this scenario. You’ve been a student of the martial arts for years and your neighbors have occasionally seen you come and go in part of your uniform. (Following dojo rules, you never wear your belt on the street!)

One evening, while you’re watching a video, your neighbor bangs on your door and tells you her ex-husband is on the way over to kill her, and well, she knows you know how to handle yourself, so please protect her!

“No, hold it a second,” you want to reply, “I study martial arts, sure, but this is REAL; I mean he could kill BOTH OF US!”

And you’re just about ready to cop out, when you see her fear is real, and it’s crunch time.

You need to step up, and fast.

Or, turn her out, plug up your ears, and try to get back to life as usual, though that uniform and your training will never feel the same.

Comedy aside, can you count on yourself to step-up?

This is the question EVERY character in “Galaxy Quest” must answer, and frankly, some of the replies are hilarious. Sam Rockwell, as “Guy,” the crewman so insignificant that the TV writers dispensed with his last name, that Guy, is hilarious and not to be missed.

Sigourney Weaver does a fun turn while trying to hide her crush on Tim Allen.

Alan Rickman, not generally known as a comedic actor, is incredibly funny as the Spock-type, but instead of pointy ears, his head looks a little like the Florida Marlins logo.

This movie has it all, and you’ll undoubtedly get a kick out of it, while its deeper message might provide you with a kick in the pants, if you’re a martial artist

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 700 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

The Middle East is flaring up again with kidnappings in Lebanon and the West Bank, missiles being fired on Haifa, for the first time in history, provoking aggressive reprisals by the Israeli military.

What better time than to view the Stephen Spielberg movie, “Munich,” about the murders of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, and the countermeasures they spawned?

What this film accomplishes is very significant. It raises these key questions for the martial artist:

When can individuals and societies justify using force?

When we choose the path of violence, what happens to our humanity and to what we consider to be humane values?

Is there such a thing as a righteous fight?

The characters in this film are, despite their effectiveness at killing each other, pitiable.

First, they kill each other, and then they kill their spirits by seeing that: (1) The people they have eliminated are quickly replaced; (2) The replacements are often more ruthless; and (3) Inevitably, the hunters become the hunted.

Finally, this question emerges: What is the only fight that you’re guaranteed to lose?

Answer: The one with yourself.

We fight ourselves all the time when we’re ambivalent, or guilt ridden, or simply negative.

This vortex of violence in the Middle East induces all of these feelings, and more.

You shouldn’t miss this film, no matter what your politics are.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 700 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences does a Tom Hanks retrospective, I hope they pass quickly over the cute films, such as “Big” and “The Burbs,” and “Sleepless In Seattle,” entertaining as they may have been.

I think they should cut directly to a montage of the tough and gritty guys he has played in films like “Saving Private Ryan,” “Road To Perdition,” “Apollo 13,” and “Forrest Gump.”

Did I just say “Forrest Gump?”

Yup, I did!

I love this movie, because the title character is emblematic of who a martial artist is, and what he does.

Let’s start with who Gump is.

To say he’s average is overstating the case by about 20 or more I.Q. points. He’s what folks in a kinder, gentler era called, “Slow.”

That makes him perfect martial arts material, not because we’re dummies, but because we have to cultivate and retain “a beginner’s mind,” always. That’s Forrest’s specialty; he’s a here and now guy, which is just where you need to be to handle a fight or to avoid one.

Forrest also has a big heart. You can see it right there on his sleeve when he’s dealing with his childhood crush who seems to do everything in her power to crush his love into the ground.

He stands by his comrades in battle, and afterwards, when their bodies have been broken, and worse, their spirits, too.

Though “The Times Are A Changin” in this Vietnam era epic, Forrest never does.

Though most people mistake him for being dumb as a rock, he’s as solid as one, as he shows in scene after scene, as the decades come and go.

There is a story told by Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun. She says there are three kinds of horses. The first is fast to respond to the slightest tension on the reins. This is thought to be the best horse.

Then, there is the horse that is a little slower to respond, but still reacts relatively quickly to direction and this is a good horse.

Finally, there is the worst horse. This one seems like a dolt, is slow as can be to respond to instruction.

Pema says we all want to be the best horse, the quickest and most responsive, but in reality, it is the worst horse THAT IS THE BEST PRACTITIONER.

He tries harder, and keeps trying, and while mastery comes slowly, when it comes, it is lasting.

In your martial arts training, you can try to be the best, like Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris.

But it may serve you better to model after the worst, someone like “Forrest Gump,” because like that box of chocolates he talks about, you never know who you’re going to become until you look inside!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 700 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com

Mohandas Gandhi was one of the central figures who compelled the British to relinquish control of India, their colony, until 1947.

He is best known for endorsing a philosophy of nonviolent opposition to injustice, but don’t let that fool you.

As this film stunningly shows, Gandhi was one of the toughest souls to walk the Earth.

What do you think is more indicative of a true martial artist: (1) Someone who is willing to inflict pain, or (2) Someone who is willing to stand up to it?

Gandhi did both.

He inflicted pain on the British by humiliating them, by forcing them to act viciously in front of the world, but more important, by making them aware of their own brutality

He inflicted pain on his followers by insisting that they accept violence against themselves, but not retaliate.

In one memorable scene from the picture, Gandhi followers methodically march up to a heavily defended salt factory, only to be bashed in the face with batons. Their wives drag their limp bodies away as the next wave comes, and the next, after that.

Gandhi’s methods have toppled and reformed regimes around the world. Marches, hunger strikes, manipulation of the media, and other common practices are tactics that he either invented or greatly advanced.

Undoubtedly, he was a warrior, as you’ll see in this beautiful and textured Richard Attenborough film.

All of the leading actors are superb, including Ben Kingsley in the title role, for which he won the Oscar. Even the minor roles were filled with future stars. Daniel Day-Lewis is a local tough, and Johnny Depp fans take note. He can be seen marching next to Gandhi in a non-speaking and un-credited role.

A genuine classic, this movie is worth every serious martial artist’s time.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 750 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com

The director of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain says the structure looks like it came from outer space, that it landed here thousands of years ago.

He’s speaking about architect Frank Gehry’s remarkable design, which resembles only one other thing in the universe, another Frank Gehry building, like Disney Hall, in downtown Los Angeles.

Gehry is one of the most original architects of the last few hundred years.

The documentary about him, “Sketches of Frank Gehry,” directed by his good friend, Sidney Pollack, is more than a showcase of this genius’ structural art.

It is a very moving profile of a martial artist.

You might think I am stretching that term a bit, if you compare Gehry, who resembles the Pillsbury Doughboy, to a Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris.

But he is an ARTIST, like many of his peers, WHO FIGHTS to bring his visions into existence. Over the years he has faced down numerous detractors while subduing his internal demons of self-doubt and fear of failure.

Lately, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the term, “martial artist,” experimenting with it, bending it this way and that, as you’ll see Gehry do with construction paper to mold a model for one of his buildings.

“Martial” means military. It is the physical part of the endeavor, the visible and often exciting looking manifestation of a person’s intent and practice.

The “cool moves” are what attract many to study this discipline.

But if you invert the words to read: “artist martial,” I believe it illuminates how most modern people USE what they learn in dojos around the world.

Most contemporary folks who study martial arts will never have a physical fight with another person in their adult years. But they will have to struggle, to fight in numerous ways to pursue their own visions for their lives, to fully become responsible INDIVIDUALS.

The forces of conformity, represented at every turn in modern culture, will try to manipulate them to “fit in.” But all of us need to take responsibility to become the architects of our own lives, to eschew the illusory benefits of merging into an undistinguished mass that is touted as being greater than ourselves.

The true martial artist is an artist who is strong enough to stand on his own two feet and to proclaim: “Here’s how I see things, and my vision matters!”

“Sketches of Frank Gehry” is now available on DVD.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 800 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered a foremost expert in telephone effectiveness, customer service, and sales development. A top-rated speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

A favorite film of mine is “The Natural,” about washed-up baseball player Roy Hobbs, played by Robert Redford.

Once on a train to glory, his career and dreams were derailed by a femme fatale.

Hobbs is in the middle of a comeback, helping a perennial cellar dweller, The New York Knights, to vie for the pennant.

An evil axis conspires against him and his team. One of the bad guys, a gambler, is played beautifully by Darren McGavin.

In a crucial scene, McGavin discloses to Hobbs that he placed a big bet against him in an upcoming series.

Astonished, Hobbs innocently asks, “Why?”

In a grand, sweeping voice, McGavin replies with unflappable conclusiveness, “Because I think you’re a loser, kid!”

We aren’t the only ones who define ourselves. Others do, as well, as demonstrated in this scene.

Few of our detractors are as explicit as McGavin’s character. Nonetheless, their negativity presents us with a direct challenge.

Are we going to willingly accept their poison or reject it?

The film shows us in Roy Hobbs that when we’re young we have few defenses against venomous predators. But if we’ve been bitten and, miraculously, we survive, we develop at least a partial immunity to it.

And if we’re battlers, warriors, we even learn to use those wounds to make ourselves stronger.

Martial arts training forces us to step up to fight one adversary after another. We learn that the greatest threats aren’t physical.

They’re spiritual.

They can come in the form people who try to thwart us, by thinking or whispering or even bellowing, “You’re a loser!”

Through our training we can learn to detect the presence of these evil forces, and take decisive action to repel them.

Check out “The Natural” on video. In Roy Hobbs, we see yet another face of the martial artist.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 800 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered a foremost expert in telephone effectiveness, customer service, and sales development. A top-rated speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com