Sister Street Fighter (1976)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Excellent, a Must See

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Granted this movie is old, actually one year older than me, then it is actually not all that outdated. How so? Well, because this movie was essentially just an hour and twenty minutes of Sue Shiomi beating up everyone she met while going from A to B.The storyline was so weak and translucent that it was almost non-existing. Lee Long has been imprisoned and kept in a drug-induced stupor, and it is up to Lise to free him. That was the storyline.For a martial arts movie from 1974 I suppose the fighting was good back then, but for today's standards and in comparison to what is seen in movies now, then it bleaks and is not noteworthy.The sounds in the movie were just hilarious and outrageous, fully exaggerated beyond anything even remotely realistic, as it was in so many other older martial arts movies. I suffered through a horrible English dubbed version of the movie. Anything dubbed instantly drops in entertainment value in my opinion, and the DVD didn't even have audio options to switch to the original language."Sister Street Fighter" (aka "Onna hissatsu ken") is a movie enjoyable primarily for hardcore fans of martial arts movies from ages past.

This isn't a Sonny Chiba film, although it has the same name as the series, and he does appear briefly in the film, it features the very capable Etsuko Shihomi, one of his students.This is her first leading role and she would make many films before achieving award status, but she is still very watchable and entertaining in this non-stop karate exhibition.Be it Asian beanpoles armed with Nunchukas or elderly men wielding metallic claws, our lovely heroine will crush anyone who tries to prevent her from rescuing her brother from the clutches of the vile villains that hold him.You must really like karate to watch this film as that is all there is. Be warned that there is not a lot of gore, but there is one rape scene.

"Sister Streetfighter" is but one of Sonny Chiba's "Streetfighter" series, this time with the impossibly cute and dimpled Sue Shihomi in the starring role.OK, I will admit, this film is technically not that great. The acting is bad, the plot cheesy, and you can drive a truck through the holes in it.So I will admit I have a sick addiction to these types of movies, because I loved "Sister Streetfighter".What other movie gives you a cavalcade of freak-shows like a drugpin who collects "killers" at is secluded villa, a guy who exports his heroin disguised as human wigs, a henchman named Hammerhead with a gang who wears black cone-shaped wicker baskets for helmets, a group of girl Thai kick boxers in leopard-print named the "Amazons 7", a dart-blowing freak with a weird African shield and dime-store cape... a movie where you will see an assortment of weapons including staff, forks, tonfa, nunchuku, darts... need I go on?? "Sister Streetfighter" is that, and more.Sue Shihomi starts off the movie doing a combination of the katas "kanku dai" and "heian yodan". There is not much biographical information on her on the web but I would guess she has some formal karate training because she is executes many of her kicks well, and in one scene she executes three really nice thrust kicks (kekomi) in a row. You don't often see good technique in martial arts films. As a result the fight scenes with Shihomi in it are very good, exciting and dynamic. She shows herself skilled also at using nanchaku and the sai (forks), one of which she plant in a poor fellow's head. And Sonny Chiba steals the few scenes he is in.The cheesiness of this movie cannot be understated. In one scene Tina Long (Shihomi) finds her way onto the evil drugpin's property. She is discovered by the henchman "Hammerhead". Suddenly and inexplicably, they are transported high atop a sea-side cliff. Then, just as suddenly, they are fighting on a suspension bridge. I mean, this is classic stuff people! Also hilarious is the person introduced as "Eva Parrish - Karate Champion of Australia" is shown doing an absolutely horrible version of the kata "tekki shodan". Then the mysterious Ms. Parrish is never seen again in the film. Recommended with two thumbs up for fans of the genre!

Sue Shiomi is not only a beautiful and cute woman (she reminded me of Cynthia Khan, and I love Cynthia Khan), but a fast, graceful fighter as well. Sonny Chiba has a limited role, but when he does appear he is in top form. The fights follow a mostly grounded style, although there is some unrealistic high-flying at certain points. The movie has plenty of action, but the plotting, characterization, dialogue, etc. are all nil. Simply put, there is nothing interesting going on in this film besides the fights to justify more than one viewing. Worth noting is also Maltin's review, calling this a "crude concoction of sex and sadism"; I wonder what movie he saw. And a word of advice: if you ever run across the DVD box set "Women Who Kick Butt", avoid it. At least half of the 10 movies included are complete crap, and some have no "femme fatale" action to speak of. "Sister Street Fighter" is easily the best of the bunch, but that's not really saying much. (**1/2)