Kiba, der Leibwächter - Seine Rechte mäht wie eine Sense

For masochists. 1976's The Bodyguard is a grade Z Karate opera that gives proof that the martial arts craze of 30 years ago was just that, crazy. Unless you like to watch film stock wasted, don't buy this incompetent junk. I got it at Wally World and thought it would be a hoot. It wasn't.

What makes this stuff so mindbogglingly, stupefyingly, crushingheadachingly bad isn't that it's all of those adjectives and so much more. It's because there are folks who just can't get enough of this Kungfoolishness.

Hell, there are people in this country who collect Precious Moments figurines, too, so I guess we're all even.

Ya this movie is kind of cheesy at times but I don't think it should be ripped apart like some of the other reviews. The plot is a bit thin but Sonny makes up for it as usual. As for the artsy camera work, I rather enjoyed it. The camera is shakey during running/fighting scenes but I enjoyed this. It gives the sense of a real chaotic situation instead of just situated camera work.

I do agree the dubbing is poor as hell but overall the movie worked for me and just reaffirmed Sonny Chiba as the Clint Eastwood of Japanese films.

Now I'm more of a Bruce Lee fan than a Sonny Chiba, but I always admired his films. The Street Fighters series is awesome, but this is one of his films I'm half in half on. Don't get me wrong it had it's moments, but it was just too fast for it's own good.

Sonny plays himself and offers himself to be a bodyguard to anyone who knows about the flood of illegal drugs. And this is where the film goes nowhere into endless action and cheap yet gruesome deaths.

If you are a die hard Chiba fan than get this, if not then my friend you are sadly in for a sour treat. A treat into weird camera angles of violence and stupid dialog that comes great for Chiba, but lame for others.

After her husband is shot in New York, an attractive woman named "Reiko Miwa" (Mari Atsumi) flees to Tokyo, intending to sell the illegal drugs her late husband had taken from the mafia. Meanwhile, on another flight bound for Tokyo, a martial arts master named "Naoto Kiba" (Shinichi 'Sonny' Chiba) becomes the target of several hitmen due to a separate drug-related issue. After dispatching all of the armed thugs, he holds a press conference where he announces that he will protect anyone who comes forward with information, leading to the arrest of key members of the Japanese drug cartels. Shortly afterward, Reiko approaches him and asks for his protection. Now, rather than reveal more, I'll just say that this was not one of Sonny Chiba's better films, largely due to poor camera work and abbreviated individual fight scenes. Additionally, the multiple scenes where Naoto Kiba confronts armed gunmen and subdues them without getting shot felt quite implausible. In any case, while I don't consider this to be a terrible martial arts film, the aforementioned weaknesses were too noticeable to overlook, and I've rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

(1973) The Bodyguard/ Bodyguard Kiba (In Japanese with English subtitles) ACTION

Co-written and directed by Ryûichi Takamori which at the opening has one gang being slaughtered by gunfire by another rival gang upon them coming out of a court house. We then see four members of the "Black April" gang single handedly killed by karate martial artist, Naoto Kiba (Sonny Chiba) upon their attempt to hijack a plane with passengers and demanding a ransom. And when Kiba is congratulated on front of reporters part of a press conference, he is there to promote his karate school, before offering his services as a "bodyguard"- hence the title. And it is not long before he meets his first client, a lady approaches him which he demanded the fee of 10 million yen. Before after the incident regarding his sister, Maki, attempting to retrieve the client, Reiko Miwa (Mari Atsumi) checkbook in her car, she is then gets hijacked by 4 or 5 men, knocked her unconscious nude on the middle of the road, boasted Kiba's fee from 10 million yen to 50 million. And halfway through, viewers are oblivious why so many criminals are after her. And as it turns out, Reiko Miwa happens to own a suitcase full of cocaine, a criminal syndicate gang called "Yellow Mafia" are after her for, as well as three owners of a small club want the briefcase as well. Own the suitcase without paying her a single penny that is.

Like Chiba's "Street Fighter" movies, it has about the same amount of gory violence as other those other films he was synonymous during the 1970's and one single nude scene. The violence is reminiscent to the Baby Cart movies which instead of a sword used doing the chopping we see karate used to chopping limbs and so forth- we even see a decapitated head. The problem is that if watched enough films, one can almost predict the entire direction of the movie itself, which without some of the few innovative karate fights and shootings, it would have been a hit or miss for me.