American Ninja

Yes this is unrealistic and far fetched and whatever word you wanna call it, but its fun. Dudikoff is a speechless loner in the army. In the first five minutes a convoy is hijacked and big Mike defends everyone all by himself, one of many good, if unbelievable, sequences in the movie. Several times Dudikoff is asked to dispatch small armies of ninjas and even though its too Superman-ish, they're nicely choreographed, so you just sit back and shake your head smiling. There's also good chemistry from Dudikoff and James, his buddy through the whole thing. And this probably sets a record for most crushed testicles in a movie, as there are several moments when theyre grinded with heels, knees, or palms. I still laugh 14 years later when James gives the "saw" to a bad dude (or was he saying "sir?"). According to Joe Bob Briggs, this set a record for most deaths in a movie with over a hundred. Even without counting that wouldnt surprise me, though some movie expert claims that Chuck Norris' "Invasion USA" holds the record for most dead, which came out the same year. What a double-bill that would be. This gets my vote for best martial arts film of the 80s.

Amercian Ninja is a gulity pleasure if anything. The film has some decent fight scenes and some good B movie acting. Mike Dudkoff and Steve James are some smooth pimps in the movie bringing it to the man as only they can. If you like 80's karate movies then check this out.

If you are watching this movie expecting anything more then action then you're a bit touched in the head. Action indeed, but a special form of action! IT'S 80'S ACTION! All that's missing from this show is "I love it when a plan comes together", as offered by the immortal Hannibal Smith from "The A-Team" as played by the venerable George Peppard.

Make no mistakes. This movie is le grande fromage, but it is fun. Even the super evil ninja with the cute little star tattooed below his right eye is downright adorable. Who doesn't like cute ninja's? Even those with lasers? Highly recommended (if you have enough booze and detach yourself from any form of realism). Fun.

This action art-martial movie is starred by the ranger Armstrong(Michael Duddikoff), a new soldier from an American base in Philipines islands. At the beginning he fights against corporal Jackson(Steve James), but early they befriend. But the colonel's daughter(Judie Aronson) is kidnapped and the prime suspect is a nasty villain, a gunrunner with a private army formed by violent Ninjas.The criminal ninjas worn in black, hooded, wielding a Katana on the black and using Shinkaisen, a metallic star they throw.Armstrong encounters ample reasons and opportunity to utilize his deadly skills trained by a Ninja master(John Fujioka).Armstrong along with Jackson go to evil's haunt and wipe out a passel of heinous nasties.

This classic-Ninja film is a violent and gripping story plenty of action and fights. Michel Dudikoff who is beefy as ever plays a tough ranger soldier forced into action and metes out his own justice when his girlfriend is abducted. The film is co-starred by Steve James(1952-1993), a bouncing and muscular actor, he habitually performed pal to action-stars; as, Michael Dudikoff,( three times: American Ninja 2, Avenging force), Chuck Norris and David Carradine, but unfortunately he early died. Furthermore appears John Fujioka, who trains Dudikoff in the Ninjitsu art-martial and he'll repeat in the following movie. Atmospheric musical score is composed by Michael Linn, made by means of synthesizer and appropriately adjusted to action.The picture is interestingly written by Gideon Amir, also producer, along with the usual, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globlus, from Cannon productions. The motion picture is acceptably directed by Sam Firstemberg, he's a low grade specialist on art-martial and Ninjas sub-genre. Followed by various sequels, starred by Dudikoff , later substituted by David Bradley, such as ¨American Ninja 2 : the Controntation, Ninja 3 : Blood Hunt, American Ninja: Annihilation, American Ninja V¨. Rating : Passable and entertaining.

For those who know Michael Dudikoff, he most-likely became a household name thanks to this movie. Who knows where he would be today had Chuck Norris not passed on the film. (Probably busy as a child psychologist since that's what he originally wanted to be). This is a film I virtually grew up with as a kid, thanks to it being on cable seemingly every other day. Anyway, Dudikoff finally got his shot at headlining a movie with this cheapo chop socky flick about an Army G.I. in the Philippines going up against a secret Ninja army and an international weapons dealer. Dudikoff is at his most wooden in the this part, but as someone who's a fan and has see nearly all his movies, I can see the progression of him as an actor over the years, and he has certainly improved since this movie. Steven James co-stars in the first of three collaborations with Dudikoff, and the two work well together, but they're basically the best part of the movie. There's the usual B-movie acting, ranging from stiff to lame over-the-top performances, but pretty co-star Judie Aronson fares well. Of interest only to chop socky fans.