10 Films That Were Totally Changed For Foreign Audiences

8. Anything With Nunchucks In The UK

It was the late seventies, and everybody was kung fu fighting. Or at least that's what we heard from Carl Douglas, and the man's never lied to us before, so we're inclined to take him at his word. The martial arts craze was such that a novelty disco single about it - complete with chop-socky sound effects - could reach the top of the charts in America, but kids in Britain were somehow going even more nuts for the likes of Bruce Lee and, to a lesser extent, cult TV shows like Monkey (his nature is irrepressible) and Kung Fu. Which meant that kids started clamouring for the sort of throwing stars and nunchuks they saw in their favourite films and television series. Which meant that kids started battering each other with proper martial arts equipment that parents saw as nothing more than harmless toys, just like they are on screen, and so many young people suffered injuries from misusing the things - or properly using them, we suppose, since they are weapons - that not only were they banned from sale, but any and all mention of nunchaku in popular media was banned. So for years scenes from Bruce Lee classics like Way Of The Dragon and Enter The Dragon were never seen by British eyes, cut from the films on punishment of them being banned and not viewed at all by anyone, ever. The weirdest effect this had on foreign films and TV being brought over here is that we grew up with Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, since the word ninja was banned, and we never got to see Michelangelo use his signature weapons. We knew he was a party dude, though.