Bodigâdo Kiba

Anything that has Sonny Chiba deserves at least a 5. I don't know what idiot would only rate this movie at 3. This movie is good for anyone that can truly appreciate a solid martial arts movie. It is about a woman who drug bosses in Japan want to kill. She asks for a bodyguard and Sonny Chiba answers the call. The movie starts with a scene in which 2 men are pretending to be Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba from the real world. While this has nothing to do with the movie, who hasn't played that scenario in their mind? It may be a slow movie, but that doesn't make it boring. I would recommend this movie to anyone who truly likes Sonny Chiba. On top of this, the movie starts with a little quote that is supposed to be from Ezekiel 29:17 (but it is not). This will be very interesting to all of you extremely cool Pulp Fiction fans.

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.

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.

Beginning with a recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 (later, memorably used in "Pulp Fiction"), "The Bodyguard" is a tacky but fun Shin'ichi "Sonny" Chiba vehicle. He plays Kiba, who returns to Japan after some time in NYC, and is now a man on a mission, waging a one-man war on drugs. To further his aim, he hires on as bodyguard to the pretty Reiko Miwa (Mari Atsumi), who is definitely not playing it straight with him.

"The Bodyguard" is cheesy in so many departments: script, dialogue, supporting performances, etc. It's actually priceless how bad this is. Don't waste time trying to scrutinize THIS story, just enjoy the mayhem, of which there is a fair amount.

Overall, this is definitely a lesser Chiba movie, but it's so endlessly amusing that I was entertained, start to finish. It really doesn't give the star that many opportunities to strut his stuff, but there are some hysterical over-the-top gore gags, including a severed arm and a severed head. And the bad guys are a truly scummy (and supposedly colorful) lot, who ham it up something fierce whenever they get mowed down. They are also some of the STUPIDEST bad guys you'll ever see in an action movie.

"The Bodyguard" is garbage, plain and simple, but for me it was pretty agreeable in its badness. It's the kind of thing I'd recommend that you watch with your friends and some beers.

There are brief, pointless cameos by Aaron Banks and Bill Louie in the early parts of the U. S. version.

Six out of 10.

I just finished watching this film and WOW was that bad. Actually the only thing that kept me watching was that it was SO MONUMENTALLY bad it was kind of entertaining. The action of the characters is hilarious, from the hyper-dramatic way they fall to gunfire, to their incredibly bad acting (were the bad guys all just pulled off the street, or were they actually actors?), to incredibly bad delivery of lines, to their inexplicable actions (if you are going to try and shoot someone through a doorway as they enter, obviously the thing to do is shoot directly at the doorknob!!). This film must break some record for worst written and delivered lines.

The camera work was also really bad - you can hardly see what's going on in the fight scenes due to switching camera angles and shakiness.

I would have voted "1" except that I do like Chiba and sidekick Sue Shihomi, and I was entertained by a couple of scenes: 1) breaking of a villain's arm so the bone pops out of the skin (that's gotta hurt) 2) a drug kingpin eating a brown-furred animal (a monkey??) by hacking away at the carcass with a meat cleaver 3) Sonny Chiba's performing some impromptu eye surgery on a guy with his fingers.

I am actually a big fan of Sonny Chiba but this one is really not worth anyone's time. I've seen about 7 or 8 of his films and have come to the conclusion that the only ones worth watching (and they are great!) are the Street Fighter series, and The Killing Machine. I've also heard the Executioner and Golgo 13 are good. I recommend sticking to those ones.