Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken

Synopsis: Terry Tsurugi (the great Sonny Chiba) is a martial arts master who uses his abundant talents as a mercenary gun-for-hire. Terry is brought in by the Yakuza to kidnap the daughter and sole heir of a recently deceased uber-rich oil tycoon. But when the mafia can't meet the monetary composition that Terry asks for they attempt to keep their plot secret by offing Terry. What a momentous mistake on their part.

Thoughts: Sonny Chiba's "The Street Fighter" is considered a classic in the martial arts genre. I certainly won't disagree with that since the film is a solid action flick with serious energy. The English dubbing is awful (as always) but does lend itself to the entertainment. The action scenes are shot and staged masterfully and Chiba kicks the baddies from one side of the screen to the next. There are a few tired clichés (the smart-alec sidekick who becomes more of a hindrance than anything) but the overall end result is very entertaining.

Streetfighter is a show case for the karate talents of Sonny Chiba. Chiba plays Terry Tsurugi, a man who was orphaned when his Japanese father was executed in China during World War II. Terry is now back in Japan and kicking ass for a living. He's the best of the best in Japan and is hired to help get a criminal on death row out of prison. He manages to do this using an ancient technique (yeah, I know, they all use some ancient technique). Sonny then ends up killing the guy's brother due to an argument over payment and getting his sister sold into prostitution.

After this Sonny is propositioned by the Yakuza to kidnap a girl who is an oil heiress. Sonny jumps sides and starts working for her protectors after a show down with her uncle, the leader of a karate school. This flick is packed with violence galore. Sonny does some pretty cool stuff, and amazingly, the whole plot manages to come together at the end. There are also a few one liners that are pretty cool.

This is the flick that made me a Sonny Chiba fan.

In a typical action flick, the hero's loved one is murdered, causing the hero to exact his revenge on those responsible. Same boring stuff. Now what if the roles were reversed; what if the hero is the one killing loved ones and the villain is looking for revenge? That's just the start of how The Street Fighter differs from every other martial arts film. The hero is the most evil son of a b*tch in the whole movie, it's great. He breaks every rule in the hero handbook and you still root for him. Sonny Chiba is the title character and he doesn't take sh*t from anyone. Chiba fights everyone, an entire dojo of martial arts students, trained bodyguards, and hired assassins, he even takes on the Yakuza. The characters are superb, mainly the villains. Junjo, the Boss, and even the big, bald wrestler are all great. I absolutely love the blind swordsman. The violence is eye popping, literally. From teeth spittin' to throat rippin', even x-ray bone breaking (which Romeo Must Die would later steal) and a scene that will make every male cringe. And lets not forget the martial arts. Some of the best fighting ever. Chiba is an extraordinary artist. Chiba would play the Street Fighter three more times but this is him at his best. The sequels aren't as good, but still recommended viewing.

It's not the best martial arts film ever made, (that title, in my opinion, belongs to Enter The Dragon) but it definitely holds its own, especially when you compare it to the millions of crappy, overdubbed Kung Fu movies out there. What I liked best about the film was Tsurugi's in-it-for-the-money attitude. Aside from maybe Ratnose (did anyone else detect the slightest hint of sexual tension between Rat & Terry, or am I crazy?), Tsurugi cares about no one. He is, after all, "a number one man!" I know this bad anti-hero thing has been done to death, but Sonny Chiba is the best at what he does: whuppin' ass & lookin' cool.

The thing I didn't care too much for was Tsurugi's seeming ability to teleport wherever he needed to go. (Hong Kong! Tokyo! Jupiter!) Other than that minor inconsistency (remember, inconsistency is what makes a movie good, sometimes) I enjoyed this movie.

Sonny Chiba was mostly a cult star for years until he appeared in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" as a sword-maker (I'd never heard of him until then). Of course, fans of martial arts movies knew Chiba for movies like "Gekitotsu! Satsujin Ken" (called "The Streetfighter" in English).

Without a doubt, the 1970s were known for martial arts movies -- along with disco -- and this movie is a prime example. Chiba plays Takuma Tsurugi (called Terry in the English dubbing), a martial arts master who has to come to the rescue of a kidnapped heiress. That's the official plot, but there can be no doubt that the flick's main purpose is to show off every imaginable move, with some scenes slowed up just so that you can see the action. I wouldn't put the movie in the same class as "Enter the Dragon", but even so, it's some of the most fun that you can have watching a movie. I hope that Sonny Chiba gets to appear in more movies!