The Honorable Mentions – Ninja Edition
Last month, Bulletproof Action celebrated its 7th Anniversary when we presented The Ultimate Ninja Movie Countdown.
The mega-post featured the opinions of nine special guests along with the staff of Bulletproof Action. With that many opinions there were bound to be more ninja movies nominated than could fit into a single Top Ten list.
Enter the Honorable Mentions…
In this follow up post we will take a look some of the movies that didn’t quite make our Ultimate Ninja Movie Countdown, but deserve some recognition for their contributions to ninja movie history.
Special thanks to Keith Rainville from VintageNinja.net, author of The Cannon Film Guide Austin Trunick, host of The Clones Cast Matthew Whittaker, Will Slater from Exploding Helicopter, Filmmaker Dominik Starck, author Saurav Dutt, host of the Adkins Undisputed Podcast Mike Scott and our very own Chad Cruise and Matt Spector for their contributions to this post.
Chad Cruise: The idea that the greatest swordsman in Japan would face the greatest swordsman of China is a story that automatically appeals to me. What you may not know by looking at this picture is that while the fight between our two champions is outstanding, it pales in comparison to the epic actions of the killer ninjas in Duel to the Death. They aren’t your standard ninja jobbers only sent in to make our heroes look good. These guys (and gals!) put together some cleverly executed plans and refuse to take no for answer. How you do make an excellent fighting movie even better? Add….more….ninjas….
Keith Rainville: This is the Dr. No or A Fistful of Dollars of the 1960s black-&-white ninja movie craze in Japan — the movies ripped off by the Bond people in You Only Live Twice, the movies Sho Kosugi and Sonny Chiba grew up watching and adapted to their own ends in the 80s. 60s b&w shinobi-cinema redefined ninja, who were previously portrayed as colorful magicians and shape-shifting swashbucklers, into the castle-infiltrating martial arts commandos we’re more familiar with. SnM is the most historically significant ninja film ever, and stands as the super-ego of the genre — credible, grim and gritty, based more on espionage and class-warfare than martial arts, but still loaded with action.
Matt Spector: Show me a movie made for Western audiences or a movie in general that introduced ninjas to more people when it debuted. You Only Live Twice was number one at the box office for seven weeks in the United States and set a then record opening at London’s Odeon Leicester Square, with Queen Elizabeth II in attendance, and remember this was over ten years before Cannon decided we needed ninjas again. On top of all that, the ninja training school scene is awesome because it has all the traditional ninjas added with modern ninjas, aka ninjas with guns and Bondesque gadgets.
Austin Trunick: It feels weird to rank Ninja III so low, but I guess that’s just a testament to how good Cannon’s ninja movies were. From a pure ninja standpoint, The Domination gets bumped down a few spots because its inherent nuttiness — the possession plot, the plentiful dance-aerobics — push the ninja action to the side for brief stretches. (Don’t get me wrong: I love all that crazy stuff, but we’re ranking these purely on ninja content, right?) That said, The Domination deserves a spot near the top of any ninja movie list based upon the merits of its opening scene alone. The extended golf course massacre — which essentially boils down to a ninja destroying police cars, motorcycles, a helicopter, and seemingly random bystanders left and right without leaving enough downtime for the viewer to question why any of this is happening — is one of my favorite ’80s action sequences, with or without ninjas. In fact, the first ten minutes of Ninja III are only topped by the last ten minutes of the #1 movie on my list…
Dominik Starck: Batshit-crazy, high concept, genre mix that feeds off the 80’s ninja- and fitness-hype and goes beyond every ninja flick that came before. From golf court to fitness temple, this blend of action and fantasy includes a gender-swap and so much more you have to see it to believe it. It’s made by Cannon-regular Sam Firstenberg and features movie-ninja-legend Sho Kosugi.
Mike Scott: The Exorcist is an amazing piece of cinema. Possibly the greatest horror movie of all time, and certainly a cinematic classic. But you know what it doesn’t have? Ninjas. Therefore Ninja III is the superior film in every sense. Lucinda Dickey is possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja and, as we all know, only a ninja can kill a ninja. Therefore it’s Sho Kosugi to the rescue once again. At least three movies wrapped in one, the ninja battles, the horror elements, and the creative use of V8 (don’t ask) are too much to resist.
Matthew Whittaker: The Octagon is a drug fueled 80’s gem that had round-house kicks in tight blue jeans, Lee Van Cleef killing ninja like cockroaches, and a ridiculous story of camps of bad guys training regular folks to be ninjas to make them effective terrorists. It was hilarious, but also a shit-ton of kick ass fun. One of my favorite ninja tropes in this, is the art of ninjitsu can be felt not unlike how Jedi feels “the force”.
Saurav Dutt: This Chuck Norris feature may well be the first major Western action movie to seriously deal with the subject of ninjas as far as providing their background, history, and martial arts expertise an appropriate showcase, preceding Enter the Ninja by one year. It’s a tightly scripted, well paced, action thriller that builds towards an action packed climax in a ninja compound featuring a highlight reel fight to the death between Norris and Richard Norton decked out in ninja garb. Up until then I should mention that Spider-Man and his ‘spidey sense’ has got nothing on ‘Norris sense’ that is Norris’s character possesses an uncanny inner voice to predict the future, analyze the past, and presage bloodshed and mayhem moments before they tend to unfold. It’s an astonishing gift, but it doesn’t stand in the way of most of the bloody violence that ensues in this film. We also get Lee Van Cleef pulling mercenary duty and some pre-American Ninja appearances by John Fujioka and Tadashi Yamashita who gets to showcase some gravity defying weapons and forms work. Yes, some of the acting is a tad stiff-Norris actually seems an auteur by comparison-but when the punches and kicks get rolling this is a great way to be introduced to the cinematic phenomenon that is Ninja, and if you’ve ever wondered why white supremacists would want to pair up with the Japanese to take over the English-speaking world and reconstruct law, order and the fellowship of man from a compound in Latin America then this is the film for you.
Dominik Starck: Not sure if it qualifies as good, but this essential Cannon film has it all; white ninja, black ninja, red ninja, daylight ninja- you name it, Menahem Golan delivers it. Including “Django” Franco Nero as a western ninja and the introduction of ninja legend Sho Kosugi.
Matthew Whittaker: I never thought an Italian dude with a 70’s pervert mustache would become a hero of mine, but Franco Nero is exactly that. Few people could make wearing an absurd white ninja-yoroi still look cool. All the stops are pulled out in this, blowguns, shuriken, kitanas, those little ninja explosions they do to hide, we are full up on the best of ninja weaponry. Well worth every second.
Austin Trunick: Franco Nero’s goofy, overdubbed accent aside, what’s not to love about Enter the Ninja? It played a pivotal role in kick-starting the ’80s ninja craze, established that only a ninja can kill a ninja, and it turned Sho Kosugi into the silver screen’s coolest killer in black pajamas. Just the opening credits — over which Sho puts on a weaponry exhibition — deserve a place in the Ninja Movie Hall of Fame. I’m also a hopelessly huge fan of the supporting cast: Susan George, Alex Courtney as Franco’s perma-sloshed bestie, the hook-handed Zachi Noy, and especially Christopher George as the slippery-slimy Venarius, who delightfully plays his mob boss character like a spoiled four-year-old. When his character shrieks “I want my black ninja, and I want him now!” I just get chills down my spine.
Keith Rainville: Never released outside of Japan, this 1963 Eichi Kudo classic still stands as my favorite ninja film of all time. After the Shogun destroys Iga province, two ace shinobi escape. For ten years one does nothing but train for the day of revenge, the other goes undercover as a samurai merchant but gets too accustomed to the good life to ever leave it again. The result is some of the best ninja-vs-ninja action ever filmed as the oldest of friends become reluctant enemies, with a crafty female ninja on the prowl the whole time. Don’t confuse the original with the dismal 1999 digital-heavy remake…
Matthew Whittaker: This is a great modern take on the ninja. Very bloody, and the ninja exists more like an angry spirit than a man. Don’t stay for the plot, rather jump in for some terrific fight choreography. There are buckets, nay, firehoses of blood, and buckets of ripped human flesh thrown around like it was someone’s birthday.
Saurav Dutt: This is a sleek, well directed, violent and bloody ninja thriller from the writer of the Under Siege films, Chain Reaction, and …Pretty Woman (!) that stands the test of time. While Christopher Lambert remains his usual bland, inoffensive self this isn’t his show-this one places the ninjas front and centre with John Lone and Yoshio Harada as two very serious ninja adversaries squaring off against each other after a ninja hit that sees the lovely Joan Chen slain after a night of passion with unsuspecting businessman Lambert. The action scenes are bloody and the body count is high when a standout sequence on a bullet train that takes swordplay and ninja shenanigans to another level. Written and directed by J.F. Lawton this is clearly a labour of love and the script, photography, attention to detail, action, and performances capture the passion for the subject matter. John Lone is always a formidable presence and the katana battles are some of the best captured in a Western movie. Along with the heart pounding percussive score and ninja compound climax, The Hunted is a film worth tracking down to avour. There can be only one, and that isn’t Christopher Lambert.
Will Slater: There are many truly terrible z-grade ninja movies. Films with miniscule budgets, hack directors, and actors of questionable pedigree. And by rights, the Sakura Killers should be just another of those unwatchable films. However, through weird magical alchemy (or, more likely, sheer chance) this film turned out to be a gonzoid gem… Our heroes are two Americans agents dispatched to Japan to recover scientific secrets that have been stolen by some dastardly ninjas. Naturally, before they can take on the pyjama-clad killers, they must first become ninjas themselves. Luckily for us, this this involves a gloriously nutty training sequence led by a suitably eccentric mentor… With the stage now set, our newly trained heroes then set out to take on the ninjas in a series of ‘WTF just happened there?’ fights. Often absurd, frequently inspired, the Sakura Killers is best enjoyed in good company with a few beers.
Saurav Dutt: For a Ninja movie to be successful in my eyes it needs to have regular combat fights, ninjas acting like the stealthy assassins they are, random acts of unwarranted violence, and a level of unadulterated fun that outweighs the gaping script roles and bad acting. On those fronts the underrated, and frankly unknown, Sakura Killers fits the bill. There’s always something going in this mayhem packed action flick about a ninja clan stealing a top secret video cassette (hey it’s 1987, or was it a Betamax?) that will destabilize the world’s climate and economic infrastructure. Before you can yell climate change we’ve got Chuck Connors winding down his career by shooting ninjas dead with shotguns on his golf course, a homoerotic workout montage that will make you want to buy a Chuck Norris Total Gym set, and ninja fights galore. There’s hardly ten minutes that go by before our two heroes throw down and get into it with these ninjas, and what ninjas, they crawl, leap, hop, backflip like gangbusters. It’s all ridiculous, it’s all nonsensical, the acting is subpar but not Godfrey Ho laughable, and it doesn’t quite all make sense. But hell you came here for a ninja movie that throws death stars first and asks questions later, and for that reason alone Sakura Killers is worth your time. And the katana fights are impressive as are the ninja outfits.
Saurav Dutt: You’ve heard about ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, Charles Dickens was a legendary writer, but he didn’t know a damn thing about ninjas. It’s unlikely Director Cedric Sundstrom and writer James Booth were inspired by that source novel but the fourth film in the American Ninja series is very much a tale of two cities, that is if they were populated by ninjas; This is very much a ninja flick of two halves. On the one hand you have the divisive but physically talented David Bradley, and in the second you have the titan, the legend, the surf ninja himself, Dudi coming in to save the day. Two action stars, two different legacies, two different fan bases. Now I know Bradley is detested in many action quarters, but I’ve always liked him, he can act better than Steven Seagal and that’s always a plus, he can roundhouse opposition convincingly, and the way he intones ‘They were Ninja!’ at the start of proceedings says more in one sentence than Robert Shaw achieved in that cruddy Indianapolis monologue. Bradley can kick, punch, nunchuck you to death, do the splits without silk underwear, and even survive an annoying entourage of hangers on who almost waterboard the first half of this film with their inanities. Then comes along the real American Ninja to save the day once Bradley and his crew are captured by the bad guys. And what bad guys. You’ve got a confused Jihadi terrorist sheikh who doesn’t know which way Mecca is, you’ve got a groping, licentious, deceitful, and blackhearted creepy old man in Booth [pulling double duty as writer and villian-in-chief], a bunch of athletic and motivated ninjas, and of course there’s the Super Ninja himself [that’s his actual name by the way] who can wear an oversized eye patch, a bulging silk sequined karate outfit, and still seem legitimately sinister. Then there is Joe Armstrong himself, returning after going AWOL on American Ninja III: Blood Hunt, and Dudikoff really excels here; he goes all method actor as a Catholic priest in one sequence, he is doing his bit for Apartheid era South Africa teaching impoverished young black South African kids the finer points of grammar, he chews and spits out armour tipped arrows, creeps into a ninja fortress and rescues hostages from funeral pyres, wields katana blades around like Hercules, and even manages to fit in a fistfight with an evil ninja clone who looks like Dan Insanto but was probably Bruce Le in an uncredited appearance. American Ninja 4 is 90 minutes of action, great stunts, lots of ninjas, and villains who deserve worthy deaths, yes the original movie and American Ninja II turn up the action to 11 but don’t discount this fourth entry that combines ninja mayhem with some legit martial arts when Bradley is leading things. Guns, swords, violence, extended fight sequences, and two heroes for the price of one-what more do you want in a film called ‘The Annihilation’? Just don’t think you’re bulletproof enough to delve into American Ninja 5…
Chad Cruise: I will never forget the cover for this VHS and seeing it for the first time at my local video store. I absolutely had to have it! Little did I know, I would grow to love the film for the way it dealt with General Sanada’s quest for the head of Tokugawa Ieyasu. If ninja training montages and epic battle scenes aren’t enough for you then just think about the finale where all of the assassins dress the same and make one last suicide attempt for the Shogun. What a blast!
Will Slater: Why should boys have all the ninja fun? Not the makers of this truly bizarre film… After her father is killed, the titular Lady Ninja seeks revenge by recruiting and training a team of fellow female fighters. Aiding her quest for justice is our heroine’s mastery of ‘ninja magic’, namely an ability to suddenly transform her svelte red robes into a bikini, and thus immediately distract her horn-dog opponents. And that’s not the only puzzling wardrobe decision. Supposedly set against the backdrop of WWII no one in the film dresses like they’re in the 1940s… Unrelentingly wacky and chock-full of action, Challenge Of The Lady Ninja (or Never Kiss A Ninja as it’s also known) may not make a lot of sense, but it’s never less than entertaining.
Matt Poirier: I had to get at least one Godfrey Ho/Richard Harrison ninja movie on this list, and this one I think is a lot of fun. The different color ninja costumes is reminiscent of Mortal Kombat, and I always love the alchemy of what Ho does to make these with the pieces of other movies. If someone’s having a ninja movie night with friends, I think it’s great to mix this in and see what people who have never seen a Godfrey Ho ninja movie think of it.
Matt Spector: So David Bradley is no Michael Dudikoff, which is no slight on David Bradley, but Sean Davidson is a fine replacement in the American Ninja series or any ninja film. Show me another ninja movie that features both an underwater ninja fight and ultralight aviation. The real reason American Ninja 3 works so much as a sequel is that Steve James as Curtis Jackson can be paired with anyone and I will be watching. Jackson has equally amounts of disdain for ninjas, as he incredulously mentions multiple time how come he has to fight ninjas again, and for sleeves with his preference to have no shirt on in most fights. Davidson and Jackson kick a whole lot of ninja ass and how could you not like a movie where the bad guy is named The Cobra.
