Scratching the Surface of Nepotism with Martial Law (1991)

There’s a saying in show business that it’s all about who you know. The people you are friends and family with will help you succeed. You can definitely see that by the people who become stars, and the people who get multiple chances to try to become stars. Many of them have these connections. Many of them use these connections to land roles in movies. Some of them even use the connections to land roles behind the scenes.

Over the past couple years, the term “nepo baby” became a big thing. I don’t know exactly why. Nepotism had been around for many years, especially in Hollywood. There have been major Hollywood dynasties, thanks to nepotism. Lionel and Drew Barrymore. The Baldwins. The Fondas. Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh birthing Jamie Lee Curtis. Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee. The Coppolas. The list could go on and on and on. There’s really no end to the number of celebrities who are related to other celebrities.

One movie that could help show the power of nepotism is Martial Law. This was a direct-to-video action flick from 1991 that people mostly know now for Cynthia Rothrock being one of the three leads. They might not even know there were other leads in the movie. From every poster I saw, she was the prominent image. But there were two other leads. There was the guy known as Martial Law, Sean Thompson (Chad McQueen), and the villain, Dalton Rhodes (David Carradine). They were the nepotism of the movie, in the standard view of what nepotism is.

Sean Thompson was the main hero of Martial Law, a police officer hunting down a murderous mafia-style boss. Over the course of the movie, Sean found out his brother was involved in Dalton Rhodes’s mafia dealings. Things got personal as Sean got closer to taking down the crime syndicate.

Chad McQueen took on the lead role, showcasing his martial arts skills in a big way. He was an actor who wasn’t known for too much. He would later appear in Squanderers with Don Swayze (brother of actor Patrick Swayze), but his biggest role was probably as one of the Cobra Kai members in The Karate Kid. The skills he showed off in that movie were fully on display in Martial Law as Sean kicked and punched his way through bad guy after bad guy.

What might not be as well known as his role in The Karate Kid is that Chad McQueen is the only son of the late Steve McQueen. The actor, not the director. He was born into the Hollywood system through his father, who had been one of the biggest movie stars of his time. At least, that’s how I perceive it now, but I wasn’t alive during Steve McQueen’s heyday. The semi-success and multiple chances that Chad McQueen had in Hollywood were because of his name. The same could be said for his son, Steven R. McQueen, who has been in things like The Vampire Diaries, Piranha 3-D, and Chicago Fire.

The villain of Martial Law was Dalton Rhodes. He was a smuggler and arms dealer who had his underlings steal expensive cars he could sell to shady people. His business practices were dangerous. He killed anyone who threatened his business, as well as many who didn’t. The whole police investigation came after he killed someone with a karate move and left the dead body out in the open.

David Carradine took on that role, pulling from his own martial arts background to make his character an intimidating master of sorts. He starred in the television show Kung Fu, of course. There was going to be some martial arts background when bringing in the guy that starred in Kung Fu and its sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. The people behind Martial Law likely knew that during the casting process. They didn’t know the sequel series, though, since that came out after Martial Law.

David Carradine came from a family that had been all over Hollywood for decades, and kind of still is. His father was John Carradine, his brothers were Keith and Robert Carradine, and his nieces were Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton. Each have had their own success in Hollywood. The family is a dynasty that began with John Carradine. There’s no way nepotism didn’t help his children, including David, and grandchildren find fame.

That’s not to say that the nepotism was as strong with David Carradine as it was with Chad McQueen. Sure, it was there. It was going to be there with his father being a famous actor. But, based on the longevity of his career, and the quality of performances I’ve seen from him, David Carradine had more acting talent. He probably could have made it fully on his own. The hypothetical success he’d have had on his own might not have been as much, though, because nepotism played a part in his career.

The dichotomy between Chad McQueen and David Carradine shows the two ways that nepotism could help someone find a career in show business. In Chad McQueen’s case, people casted him for his name. His martial arts prowess may have played a small part, but it definitely didn’t hurt that his father was Steve McQueen. In the case of David Carradine, his father’s career had given him the skills to become his own performer. The name didn’t hurt, but he learned acting from watching his father at work. Chad McQueen didn’t ever seem to be fully into performing, which is maybe why he transitioned into car racing as a career in the early 2000s. It could also be why his quality of acting was nowhere near his father’s.

I do not think that Martial Law was a movie made to feature actors who capitalized on nepotism. First and foremost, I think it was a movie based around martial arts. It was a movie meant to feature Cynthia Rothrock and her butt-kicking presence. It just so happened that the other two actors to land lead roles may have had nepotism dictate their careers in some way. A “nepo baby” isn’t necessarily someone whose entire career was predicated on the fact that they knew or were related to someone else within the business. It’s someone who was given more opportunities because of that connection. Which, for these two actors, they certainly fall into that category.

There are many actors, directors, and musicians who might be considered the product of nepotism. Success and forward momentum in any business is about building connections and using those connections. But in show business, that nepotism is on full display to everyone. The families that have been around since the birth of Hollywood. The friends who were put into movies simply for being friends of someone involved. Anyone from Saturday Night Live being able to show up in any Adam Sandler movie. The connections matter in building a long-lasting career. Nepo babies won’t be going away any time soon.

Now it’s time for a few notes to wrap things up:

• Brant von Hoffman made his fourth Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance in Martial Law. He was previously a part of Dudley Do-Right, Police Academy, and Police Academy 3: Back in Training.
• Benny Urquidez has now been in three Sunday “Bad” Movies. They were Road House, Street Fighter, and Martial Law.
• Another actor making a third Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance is James Quinn, who was in both Iron Sky and Iron Sky: The Coming Race before this watch of Martial Law.
• David Carradine was the villain in Martial Law. He had a very small part in Death Race.
• Hank Baumert was in Top Dog and Martial Law.
• Martial Law saw the return of John Fujioka to Sunday “Bad” Movies. He was also in Mortal Kombat.
• Kung Pow: Enter the Fist and Martial Law both featured Philip Tan.
• The star of Martial Law was Chad McQueen. He also starred in Squanderers.
• You may have seen Tony Longo in Martial Law. He had already been in Tarzan the Ape Man.
• Vincent Craig Dupree played a fairly sizeable role in Martial Law. He made heads roll in Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
• Finally, James Lew was in Martial Law and Savage Beach.
• Have you seen Martial Law? What did you think of it? What do you think of nepotism? Who do you like that resulted from nepotism? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, on Bluesky, or on Threads.
• If there’s a movie you think I should check out for Sunday “Bad” Movies, let me know. Same three places are good. The comments, Bluesky, or Threads.
• So, the next post is already written. I don’t know if it’ll also go up today (I’m on a week off from work), or if it’ll wait until next week. I guess that will depend on if I take the time to edit it. It’s about a rightfully forgotten movie from 1978 called Loose Shoes. Come back for that post because… That movie was something.