The Street Fighter (1974)

Overrated

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This time I'll talk about a film in the public domain, at least I think it is, called The Street Fighter. It's not that movie based on the video game but a series of grindhouse action films by Sonny Chiba. Before being in Kill Bill he was doing action movies in the 1970's and is considered the Steven Segal of Japan at the time. In The Street Fighter Sonny Chiba plays a mercenary named "Terry" for the yakuza.After doing a favor for the yakuza by saving a death row prisoner. When a rich guy dies and leaves all of his fortune to his daughter in Japan the yakuza order Terry to kidnap her. Terry refuses because he wanted more money and then the yakuza end up ordering to kill him. There's also a fight scene where Terry fights a martial arts master at a dojo and has a change of heart at the end of the fight. He ends up protecting her at his service free of charge. There's even a subplot where there's these people out to get him for being half Chinese.This was also Quentin Tarantino's inspiration to do films when he saw this in theaters back in the 1970's.

I had believed that I had seen this film on a lousy cropped + dubbed DVD some years ago and found it not deserving of the affection/adoration with which it is usually discussed. However, the film seemed so wholly unfamiliar when I watched it tonight that I think I may simply not have seen it before at all - I can't believe that widescreen + original language/subtitles would make _that_ much difference. Then again, my memory is very poor! Regardless, it seems I've finally found my Sonny Chiba groove, and can completely see why this film is loved and revered. It's as ultra-violent, nasty, sleazy a piece of 70's karate-sploitation as you're ever going to see! Chiba plays Tsurugi, a merciless karate master whose moral stance is at best ambiguous - the baddest of asses, if ever an ass was bad! He is quite happy to kill for money, but his real wish seems simply to fight an opponent of equal skill and bloodthirstiness. He volunteers to protect a wealthy heiress, though whether his real motive is to steal her money is never quite resolved. Once the bad guys start sending their karate masters to kill him it's a moot point, though, as he's much more interested in maiming and mutilating them! The film was made only a year or so after Bruce Lee's death, and it's clear that Chiba was being offered as the Japanese replacement for him - but unlike many abortive attempts by the HK studios to produce a "new Bruce Lee", Toei realised from the start that imitation wasn't the right approach... Chiba is in many ways an "anti-Bruce"... rugged, mean, visceral and brutal. He's definitely not a "hero" in any traditional sense... he even warns the heiress' family that he may be worse than the people he's going to protect her from.The film is action packed pretty much from the beginning to the end, with a small army of goons apparently willing to throw themselves on Chiba's lack of mercy - which he rewards with a whole lot of bone cracking, eye gouging and body part ripping violence. Chiba's style is distinctive, and the fights have a rawness that is quite different from the kung fu films of the day. Much of it seems to be full-contact, with Chiba hitting pretty hard. The film piles on the gore gleefully and gruesomely, though obviously the special effects look dated today.The film delivers all that fans of trashy, violent exploitation might be looking for except perhaps for nudity - conspicuously absent given the trends of the times... perhaps they didn't want to distract people's attention. It's easy to see why Chiba became an international icon, and why the film is regarded as a classic of its genre.Highly (but selectively) recommended!

I guess I am not the only one to rank THE STREET FIGHTER with the best action movies ever. I have seen it after its sequel, RETURN OF THE STREET FIGHTER, and found it even better. Well, having liked so much the sequel, you can imagine how I enjoyed the original movie! The characters are many, the settings are picturesque and colorful, the pace is fast. The fights are always interesting and spectacular. In this first installment ,they had the guts to maintain Tsurugi as a genuine anti—hero. Shigehiro Ozawa finds the right tone from the very start, handling well the side plots. The score is so dynamic and cool, it's a pity it was not used more in the movie.Tsurugi is a cruel mercenary, a Ronin who deals with a story of revenge, kidnapping and dirty affairs. Tsurugi is employed by a young man and his sister to rescue their brother from the gallows. Tsurugi does the job; his employers turn up to be penniless ,and Tsurugi insists being paid. The man whom he rescued from the gallows seeks to murder him because Tsurugi has had a fight with the former's brother and the brother did loose his life.

Sonny Chiba puts the "K" in "Karate", "Kick Up", "Knock Out", and so many other words that is too long to list. In "The Street Fighter", Chiba plays Taguma Tsurugi aka "The Street Fighter". Swift, lethal, effective, and downright bad to the bone. He takes on a lot of bad guys with the simplest blows known to man, no other fighter could match him. However, there's one man who could think can take on and kill the super fighter. Not a chance. Ever villain that took on the Street Fighter met their painfully fast ends at his hands. One fighter gets his voice-box crushed by Terry, and the man who ordered the showdown hates dirty tricks when one of the henchmen shoots the fighter, he killed the gunman. Most villains would laugh at this predicament. What gives? Anyway, this movie is amazing, I heard talks about it, and it was a must see movie! 4.5 out of 5 stars!