director:
Shigehiro Ozawa
starring: Sonny Chiba (Shinichi Chiba) · Sue Shiomi (Etsuko Shiomi)
Mitsuru Sato · Yutaka Nakajima · Tony Cetera
aka Sonny
Chiba is THE STREET FIGHTER
For most Americans, this film was their first encounter with Sinichi (Sonny)
Chiba. And what an encounter it was! Unlike the Hong Kong/Chinese martial
arts films from the same period (i.e., Bruce Lee and Shaw Bros projects),
STREETFIGHTER was ultraviolent. When Sonny Chiba got into a fight, somebody
was going to get seriously hurt. In fact, this movie was so violent, so
savage, so gory, that it was the first to receive an "X" rating
for "non-sexual reasons" by the MPAA.
Sonny Chiba is a nihilistic loner named Terry Surugi who makes money as
a mercenary, by selling his fighting skills to the highest bidder. Terry
isn't concerned with moralistic complications. If somebody pays him to
break a murderer out of jail, then that's what he's going to do. In this
film, Surugi is hired by a Yakuza boss to kidnap an old magnate's daughter.
Then, after the job is finished, the gangster refuses to pay up so revenge
is the only answer. The result is a bloody path of severed limbs, squashed
eyeballs and ripped out vocal cords.
A Japanese
film; special widescreen uncut version (92 min.) in DVD format, encoded
for ALL REGIONS, playable on any American DVD machine; original US theatrical
print in English language.
Violence/Adult
Material/Gore : Viewer discretion is advised.
