Scene of the Week: American Samurai

David Bradley was born on October 2, 1953 in Plano, TX… Bradley’s entry into the world of action movies came after a chance encounter with none other than Michael Dudikoff. Dudikoff was taking a break from doing some ADR work (automated dialogue replacement for those in the know) at Cannon, when he took a stroll down Wilshire Boulevard and met David Bradley. Bradley was selling Porsches at a car dealership on Wilshire and the two struck up a conversation. Bradley expressed his interest in getting to show off his martial arts skills on the big screen, Dudikoff told him he’d let Cannon know and the rest is history…

Ironically, David Bradley’s first role was as Cannon’s second American Ninja after Michael Dudikoff opted not to be a part of American Ninja 3… so to say Dudikoff was instrumental in getting Bradley’s acting and action career off the ground would be a major understatement.

1992’s American Samurai was a clean slate for Bradley and would allow him the opportunity to build his own franchise as opposed to being the substitute hero for a pre-existing franchise. Cannon stacked the deck in Bradley’s favor too, enlisting Director Sam Firstenberg and a supporting cast that included John Fujioka and Mark Dacascos, in his first major role, as the movie’s main antagonist. Unfortunately for Bradley, Cannon was not long for this world by 1992 so American Samurai was a one and done.

This week’s Scene of the Week takes a look at the final battle between Bradley’s Drew Collins and Dacascos’ Kenjiro Sanga… a rivalry years in the making settled in a sword fight to the death…