The film that made Sonny Chiba an international martial arts star, with its legendary distinction of having received the first ever X certificate for violence in American cinematic history. There is a strong streak of sadism in Japanese culture that viewers of Takeshi's Castle and other Japanese game shows will be familiar with. Along with wreaking general mayhem on almost everyone he encounters, Sonny also manages to punch one opponent in the face, producing a cascade of tumbling teeth and blood! He pokes another bad guys eyes into a bloody pulp and afterwards examines his fingers before wiping them off on his assistant's shirt!! Rips another's adversaries balls off and for dessert tears out the throat of the second to last man standing!!! 'Nuff said. However not for the last time in a Sonny Chiba movie the audience is also confronted with a troubling moral dilemma. It appears that the Japanese ideal of honour is very different from the European version, and I don't claim to understand it. In this case "Kickass for hire" Sonny rescues a martial arts multiple killer from prison at the behest of his sister and her boyfriend. Afterwards it turns out they don't have the money to pay the balance of his fee, so Sonny proposes to sell the girl into sexual slavery. The boyfriend naturally trys to prevent this and although Sonny trys to go easy on him, he ends up going out the window to his death while trying to take Sonny out with one of those trademark flying kicks that Bruce Lee was so good at. Sonny then proceeds as planned, and sells the girl into sexual slavery! We see her being held down to be raped and injected with drugs to pacify her. Is Sonny's behaviour considered acceptable and honourable in traditional Japanese culture? I have no idea, but some may have difficulty accepting Sonny's bona fides as a heroic or even anti-heroic figure after this! Later in the movie, the same large dark skinned gentleman who was the principle rapist, attempts to repeat the treatment on another girl, but this time Sonny climbs in the window in time to relieve him of his genetalia. Does this serve to mitigate Sonny's earlier behaviour? I think not. Then during the finale, the sister who was sold into sexual slavery and her kickass brother get their chance to avenge themselves on Sonny and almost succeed. But instead she ends up stabbed to death and the brother is deprived of his throat, after Sonny rallies from the brink of defeat. (Yay?) It would be interesting to conduct a poll of which side the audience were supporting during this final struggle. As for the plot, its decent enough, the villains want to hire Sonny to help kidnap a rich heiress, but he turns them down, so instead they try to kill him, after which he decides to get involved and protect the girl instead. However at one stage he admonishes his assistant that he only hopes to make money from the girl too, just in case we were thinking the leopard had changed his spots!PS - Did Sonny Chiba really appear in 4 The Street fighter and 2 The Executioner movies in the space of a single year? Busy boy!

This was the film that made Chiba an international star, and is also famous as being the first film in America to be given an X certificate due to its violent content and not for sex or swearing.There is very little plot in the film. Luckily there is some excellent action along the way which makes up for any of the plots shortcomings. Chiba is excellent and proves once again that he is one of the best martial arts stars ever. Here he plays Takama Tsuguri, the Streetfighter of the title. He isn't you'r usual kind of hero, and in any other film he would be probably classed as a villain. The film begins with Tsuguri being hired to break out a convict from prison which he does with extremely violent results. Afterwards he is double crossed by the family. Most people would get their revenge by just beating them up, not Tsuguri. Instead he beats up the convicts brother and sells the sister into prostitution, and this is the hero of the movie.What lies ahead of this are a number of increasingly violent action scenes culminating in an excellent fight on board a giant tanker fighting the main villains henchman until he comes face to face once again with the convict that he freed at the beginning of the film.Direction in the movie is basic, other than a use of an x-ray shot that shows broken bones, which was utilised to better effect years later in the Jet Li movie "Romeo Must Die". Also there are no performances of note other than Chiba, and even then he is known more for his fighting skills than his thespian ones.It is no surprise that this film made Chiba a star as he is definitely in a class of his own. His popularity in America was also due to the death of Bruce Lee and audience's wanted to fill the void left by him. Personally I prefer Chiba to Bruce Lee. He may not be as skilled as a Martial Artist, but just seems more deadly on screen than Lee was. Even in its dubbed and re-edited form, the Streetfighter is still a great Martial Arts movie.

Superb action film that is superior to all recent efforts. The Street Fighter is everything you should love about the genre. In fact, it does so much right, it should be used as a template for any film wishing to achieve such levels of excitement and brutality. The first thing to grab my attention was the lead protagonist. He isn't exactly a nice guy. Far from it. He's a mercenary for hire, and not the lovable rogue like Han Solo. He is sadistic and cruel and self serving. However, Chiba manages to instill such charisma that I was drawn to the performance. As the film progressed, so did Chiba. His actions became more heroic, even if his methods could still make me cringe. The action scenes are those I long to return. This isn't some "exciting" frenetic exercise in editing. The action derives from the actors and the stunts. The camera is following what is going on, and heavy editing is not needed. There are some stylistic flourishes which add extra cool, but not so much as to detract from the emotions of the characters. Some parts are a little convoluted, but the balance between story, dialog, and action is beautifully thought out. It's all helped along by a very 70's and very sexy soundtrack.

This picture held my interest from the very beginning to the end with a film that is full of blood and gore. Sonny Chiba, (Terry) is hired to protect a young gal who has inherited a very large fortune and the the Asian mafia gets involved with trying to kidnap this rich young gal. There is eye-balls torn out, rape and drugs injected into a girl's veins in order to turn her into a full time prostitute. The martial arts was outstanding throughout the entire picture and Sonny Chiba put his entire heart and soul into this great 1974 film. I have never seen such a great film and was very glad I was able to obtain this film which I can enjoy over and over. Enjoy