Bullet Points: Karate Warriors (1976)
The story of a nameless fighter entering a dangerous town and playing two rival gangs off on one another has been told for decades. It’s a story that we can easily trace back to A Fistful of Dollars and Yojimbo before it, but that has been used in more modern remakes like Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis and some Albert Pyun movie with Rutger Hauer. The lesson here is that a good story will translate into any language and can be told in any setting.
Synopsis: A karate fighter and a samurai join opposing sides in a gang war in Japan.
- Chiba: If you’re only familiar with Sonny Chiba from his small (but very important) role in Kill Bill then I am truly jealous of you. You have so much to learn, young padawan. Chiba is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to the action genre and has starred in and kicked ass in over 10,000 movies! Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but Chiba does have over 200 credits to his name and I’m certain he’s kicked enough ass in those 200 films to fill up 10,000.
- Say hello to the bad guy: Alright Chico, you’re new in town and have no money. What should be your first move? If you said join one of the most powerful gangs in town as a hired gun then you are on the same train of thought as my man Chico (Chiba). He meets a father/son duo living in a small shack and helps the dad when he’s attacked by a gang of thugs. The dad just so happens to be a samurai and the thugs were trying to rough him up to keep him from joining their rivals. Chico ends up helping the samurai and together they beat the tar out of the thugs.
- Gang time: Chico knows that he can kick a lot of ass and decides to use his skills to make money. He offers his services to Higa’s gang but doesn’t like the pay so he heads over to Higa’s brother Nishi. There, he finds that the samurai has already signed up with him and Chico gets sent away. Looks like he’ll be taking Higa up on his offer but not before he beats the ever-loving shit out of his best man.
- Get your hands off my heroin: Chico gets wind that both of the brothers are searching for a lost loot of heroin that was hidden by their now-dead predecessor. Between ruling ass and getting ass all over the city, Chico decides that keeping the two gangs at odds will be his best way of finding the loot before they do. To do so, he tries to enlist the help of the samurai, who ends up being the only non-child that he really gives a damn about.
- The boy: Chico and the samurai are far and away the best things about the movie and you know it’s only a matter of time before they’ll have to fight. A shitty American remake would probably put them on the same side but Karate Warriors knows that there can only be one cock in the roost and gives us the fight we really want to see. The young boy ends up being the catalyst for much of the action late in the film as the rival gangs learn of him and threaten to kill him for the newly discovered (by Chico) heroin. I have seen worse child actors in movies but this little kid does get kind of annoying by the end.
- But wait, there’s more: Just when you thought that all of the fighting was over and the survivors could ride off into the sunset with a bag full of heroin, the real bad guys show up. Gangster Kariko, who was the boss for both Higa and Nishi at one point, shows up with his hardened criminal buddies and instantly goes about trying to kill Chico and the little kid. Sonny Chiba has to pull out every karate move on these bastards as they fight it out with guns, swords, fists, sharp sticks, and a bit of harsh language. It’s an epic finale that would put most action movies into a state of shame that’s typically reserved for those guys caught on To Catch a Predator. This final fight scene was my favorite of the film but not from lack of other good ones because Karate Warriors is chock-full of incredible fisticuffs and brutality.
The Verdict: Sonny Chiba has been in a whole bunch of movies. I’ve seen several but not enough to say that I’m a Chiba purist or anything. Having now seen Karate Warriors I can say that it is probably my second favorite of his movies behind Timeslip. It takes the nameless Yojimbo/Man with no name concept and douses it with sweet karate kicking action and drug pushing gangsters. I can’t recommend this movie enough for action film buffs and those who enjoy short and kickass action films. Take it from me, Karate Warriors is top knot-ch (get it?) action that I’ll be re-visiting often.
