The Street Fighter
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| The Street Fighter | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Shigehiro Ozawa |
| Written by | Kôji Takada Motohiro Torii |
| Starring | Sonny Chiba Goichi Yamada Tony Cetera |
| Music by | Toshiaki Tsushima |
| Cinematography | Ken Tsukakoshi |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema (USA) Toei Company (Japan) |
| Release date(s) | February 2, 1974 (Japan) November 1974 (USA) |
| Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Followed by | Return of The Street Fighter (1974) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Street Fighter (激突！殺人拳 Gekitotsu! Satsujin Ken?), literally Clash, Killer Fist!, is a Japanese martial arts film released in 1974 and produced by Toei Company Ltd. The copyright for the film failed to be renewed and it expired into public domain.[1][2]
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[edit] Plot summary
Takuma Tsurugi is a very violent and deadly martial arts master who will commit almost any crime for money. In the opening scenes, we see him audaciously break the condemned murderer Tateki Shikenbaru out of prison by impersonating a monk, then using an ancient martial arts technique called the "oxygen coma punch" that causes delayed unconsciousness. When Shikenbaru faints while ascending the gallows, prison officials rush him to a hospital, giving Tsurugi a chance to free him at the expense of an innocent ambulance driver and a couple of guards. However, Shikenbaru's brother Gijun and sister Nachi, who hired him for the job, don't have enough money to pay him, and, when he finds out, he throws the Gijun out a high window and sells Nachi into sexual slavery.
The plot thickens when the wealthy oil tycoon Hammett dies, leaving his daughter, Sarai, as his heir. Tsurugi is sent to retrieve her from the Seibukan Karate dojo, but is soon betrayed, and the rest of the movie centers on the conflict between Tsurugi and the mob as they try to acquire Sarai's new fortune. Also, the film has several side plots: a heated feud between Tsurugi and Shikenbaru, who owes Tsurugi his life but is nonetheless bent on avenging his brother and sister; Tsurugi's new-found respect for Kendō Masaoka, a Buddha-like karate master who bests him in single combat; and the relationship between Tsurugi and his Singaporean sidekick, Rakuda Zhang, who provides both comic relief and a moment of sorrow.
[edit] Cast
- Takuma Tsurugi: Sonny Chiba
- Sarai Hammett: Yutaka Nakajima
- Rakuda Zhang: Goichi Yamada
- Tateki Shikenbaru: Masashi Ishibashi
- Gijun Shikenbaru: Jirō Chiba
- Nachi Shikenbaru: Etsuko Shihomi
- Kendō Masaoka: Masafumi Suzuki
- Tetsunosuke Tsuchida: Nobuo Kawai
- Senkaku Kan: Ken Kazama
- Onaga: Yūshiro Shima
- Abdul Jadot: Tony Cetera
- Kingstone: Ousmane Yusef
- Bondo: Chico Roland
- Bayan: Tatsuo Endō
- Yáng Jì-Chūn: Chiyoko Kazama
- Liáng Dōng-Yī: Akira Shion
- Kowloon Dinsau: Rinichi Yamamoto
- Muskari: Hitoshi Ōmae
- Blind Láng Gōng (Mōrōkō): Bin Amatsu
- Renzō Mutaguchi: Fumio Watanabe
- Ōshima: Takuzō Kawatani
- Hanada: Ryūji Katagiri
- Yokoyama: Takashi Noguchi
- Inspector Chen: Kōjirō Shirakawa
[edit] History
Inspired by the world-wide success of Enter the Dragon, Toei decided to release its own martial arts action films and cast Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba who had been well known in Japan for a while, having starred in many successful action, comedy and drama films, as well as numerous television shows.
The film is well known for its extreme and graphic violent content. The Street Fighter was the first film to receive an X rating solely for violence. The film was especially controversial because of a scene in which Tsurugi castrates a rapist with his bare hands; it is this scene (among others) that reputedly gained the film its 'X' rating.
The Street Fighter inspired two sequels, Return of The Street Fighter and The Street Fighter's Last Revenge. Additionally, the film Sister Street Fighter is a spin-off of the film. There was another spinoff entitled Kozure Satsujin Ken, but was brought to the US by a different company under the title Karate Warriors.
In the English dubbed versions of The Street Fighter and Return of The Street Fighter, Chiba's character is identified as "Terry Sugury" in the credits but dubbed by the voice actors as "Terry Tsurugi". In The Street Fighter's Last Revenge, however, the voice actors call him "Terry Tsuguri." Rakuda is named "Ratnose"; The villain Tateki's name is also mistranslated as Junjō.
In 1993, the film (and its sequels) received mainstream exposure in North America when they were featured in Tony Scott's True Romance (written by Quentin Tarantino), which had the two lead characters spending time at a Sonny Chiba Street Fighter marathon.
Currently, the only way to get the subtitled version of the movie is the Region 2 PAL DVD by Optimum Releasing.
[edit] External links
- The Street Fighter at the Internet Movie Database
- The Street Fighter at Google Video
- Dubbed, letterboxed version at archive.org: [3]
- Kung Fu Cinema review
- a review of the entire Street Fighter saga
