THE STREET FIGHTER -1974
Director : Shigehiro Ozawa
Writer(s): Kôji Takada, Motohiro Torii
Genre: Martial Arts/Action/Adventure
RATING : R
RUNNING TIME: 1 hr 33 mins
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Goichi Yamada, Yutaka Nakajima, Tony Cetera, Masafumi Suzuki
Listen my son, TRUST NO ONE! You can count on no one but YOURSELF. Improve your skills, son, harden your body, become a NUMBER ONE MAN! Do not ever let ANYONE beat you! Sonny Chiba stars as Terry Surugy, the baddest kung-fuing bad-ass to ever set foot on the silver screen. He's a mean-ass killer-for-hire whose ass-kickin' skills are rented to the highest bidder. And, at the beginning of THE STREETFIGHTER he's hired to break a "mean bastard from Okinawa" out of prison on the day of his execution. Now with a name like Jo Jo you know this guy is one ass kickin mofo, Of course, Chiba's plan involves beating the guy to near-death in his cell so that he collapses on the gallows and has to be transported to a hospital. This scene features my Favorite line in the film, Chiba says to Jo Jo............I will kill you now, but bring you back later for a death match?
After this splendid introduction and a battle with the brother and sister of the aforementioned convict, Surugy enters into a one-man war against some bad-ass wannabes that try to kill him. Don't think for a minute that Chiba's character lacks a code. This freelance Killin machine believes in trust, but he also believes in a good skull-crushin' to cure what ails ya. He likes chicks, but he's not above slappin' one around if she gets in his way. And, you have to admire the tenacity of a guy that's been shot in the leg and stabbed in the chest to keep the faith and see the fight through to the end yea there's more head-poppin', skull-crackin', eye-gougin', throat-rippin', groin-tearin' blood-soaked fun than a hundred other kung-fu films combined. Sure, you might have the obligatory vengeance for family honor plotline, but what other chop-sockey outing had the balls to show an X-ray as our anti-hero compresses the skull of an oily villain?
Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken, or known in the u.S.A. as ........THE STREETFIGHTER is worth the price of admission if only to watch Chiba's facial expressions as he prepares to rip apart opponet after opponet in brutal Hardcore street fashion. And as it stands, Chiba still rules the Streets in ultimo blood soaked victory.
10 Stars