I'm so glad I saw this movie as a younger lad in the theater, before it gained its cult prominence. Watching that fight scene for the first time, without the albatross of cultiness, was grand and unexplainable. Though it was my first clue that John Carpenter was either insane or totally dicking with his fan base.
I still can't decide, frankly.
(didn't this movie get a release timed for the inauguration of George Bush Senior? Wonderful.)