10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ninja III: The Domination

Cannon Films is credited with popularizing ninja films in the United States with a variety of ninja themed movies released in the 1980’s including Enter The Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, American Ninja and the most bizarre of all of Cannon’s ninja flicks… Ninja III: The Domination.

I recently sat down and watched the Shout Factory release of Ninja III: The Domination with the special audio commentary provided by director Sam Firstenberg and stunt coordinator Steve Lambert. I could listen to Sam Firstenberg talk about the classics he directed all day. So reliving Ninja III  along with Sam and Steve was both enjoyable and informative.

And now I’ll share some of the insights and behind the scenes facts I learned as I present…

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ninja III: The Domination

1. Stunt coordinator Steve Lambert actually played 37 different parts in the action packed opening sequence with the Black Ninja (David Chung) going ape sh*t on a bunch of people at a golf course and then having the entire Phoenix police force gun him down.

2. The entire movie (with the exception of the final fight scene) was shot in the Phoenix area. The police station used in the movie was an actual Phoenix police station. The crew had to shoot all the police station scenes on Sundays when it was not as busy.

3 . The set for Christie’s apartment was built on a tilted platform and had springs underneath. This was necessary for some of the supernatural occurrences that take place in the apartment, like Christie getting sucked into her closet.

4. The scene where Christie (Lucinda Dickey) pours a can of V8 down her neck and chest and then her love interest Billy (Jordan Bennett) proceeds to licks it off was not in the script and was actually a Sam Firstenberg idea.

5. The sword Christie wielded in the movie was made from aluminum.

6. Cannon Films believed if an action movie’s run time was 90 minutes, then at least 45 minutes of the film had to be action sequences.

7. Sho Kosugi was one of the first to speak out about the lead in Ninja III being a female. But while Ninja III concocts the story that Christie is possessed by the Black Ninja and that is what gives her the skills and abilities of a ninja. But there is actual evidence that clans of female ninjas existed. There is documentation of female ninjas (often referred to as Kunoichi) dating back to the 16th century.

8. It was Sho Kosugi’s idea that his character, Yamada, should wear an eye patch in the movie. The patch Yamada wore was actually made from a tsuba. The tsuba is the guard on the sword that separates the handle from the blade to protect the person holding the sword from touching the actual blade. It also proved to be a pretty clever hiding place for some of Yamada’s tools of the trade when he was arrested.

9. One of the motorcycle cops in the movie was played by Robbie Knievel, son of the legendary Evel Knievel.

10. Lucinda Dickey was actually the second choice for the role of Christie. The actress the producers wanted was unavailable at the time of shooting. Many people believe that Breakin’ was Dickey’s first role with Cannon. But her first Cannon role was actually Ninja III: The Domination. When Ninja III wrapped, Dickey immediately went to work on Breakin’ but Breakin’ ended up being released before Ninja III because there was a race to see who would get the first breakdancing themed movie into theaters, Cannon’s Breakin’ or Orion’s Beat Street. The head of Cannon Films, Menahem Golan, famously said “We must beat Beat Street!” and beat them they did.