Tony is the new kid at school. He befriend gang leader Young, whose top rival is Chan.Tony is also dating Chan's sister, Lily. When Young and Tony are hired as personal security, they head to a private party run by a drug dealer.When Young steals the money from the dealer, two hit men arrive and torture his gang.Young must fight them off but also face the wrath of Chan. Tony must help his new friend before it's too late...This is the sort of film you would rent out on a Friday night and watch with your dad. Nowadays, this sort of film is reduced to late night TV screenings and watching this, it's deserved of it's place.Firstly, the acting isn't just bad, it's the funniest thing about the movie. and remember the cool karate you would re-enact at school? It's all here, but with that bit where the bad guy would get hit once, and then wait for no reason to get knocked out.But it's still fun to watch and to point out the bad acting and choreography. The story is your usual guff, and it's fun to watch nearly forty year old people playing high school kids.

Rival gangs in Los Angeles are always at odds with each other. Tony(Phillip Rhee) is in love with nemesis Chan's(James Lew) sister, Lily(Rosanna King). Tony's pal, Young(Jun Chong), came from China along with his mother who married a white man. Young is skilled at martial arts and equips himself quite well against street punks and gangs who wish to cause him harm. Young gets his boys mixed up with rich drug dealers as well(hired as "security" to make sure no problems interrupt a drug deal involving cocaine). Drug dealers aren't exactly happy campers when their coke money is stolen(which is what Young unwisely does in the heat of the moment)so two separate hit men, Yoshida Kim(Ken Nagayama;an assassin with a kitana sword from Osaka, Japan)and intense brute Kruger(Bill Wallace) from New York are hired to teach these kids a lesson. There's a sequence which reminded me of GAME OF DEATH where Young must go up floors in a building, combating hired thugs(including Kim and Kruger)on each loft, trying to find and save his friends, captured and beaten by Kruger who wants to know the location of the drug money. And after enduring this, poor Young still has to worry with Chan and his army! While Young doesn't fare so well against Chan(mommy is in the line of fire), Tony gets a chance to dual with his enemy to the death. The minor plot, what little there is, plays second fiddle to kung fu between numerous LA gangs, mostly against Young, Tony, and their group. The fight choreography can be a bit clumsy and rough-around-the-edges mainly due to the fact that Tony and Young are often in battles against inferior foes who mostly take a beating. No matter where Tony and Young go, it seems trouble follows them. And that's the point, isn't it? Put these two in as many combat situations as possible to provide the movie with excuses to have them duking it out with street scum to beat the crap out of. There are melodramatic moments a die hard action fan might cringe through(in particular, Tony's problems with his alcoholic mom), but the final twenty minutes delivers plenty of fisticuffs and bludgeoning with weapons. Brinke Stevens shows up in a cameo(unclothed, of course) as a drug-lord's plaything.

Young (Jun Chong), Tony (Phillip Rhee) and three friends start up a security business and this results in them getting in fights a lot. The main plot doesn't kick in until an hour has passed when Young steals a ton of drug money from a client who hired them ("It was bad money and I would put it to a good cause"). Naturally, the dealer wants it back so he hires two assassins - Japan's Yoshida (Ken Nagayama) and New York's Kruger (Bill "Superfoot" Wallace) - to retrieve it and teach the boys a lesson. This is an odd, yet enjoyable 80s action flick. Odd in the sense that it has no plot for the first hour and that lead tough guy Jun Chong spends a lot of time crying about his drunk mom not loving him. Oh, and there isn't a single ninja in NINJA TURF (its original title was LOS ANGELES STREETFIGHTER). I'm not sure if it hit theaters or not, but RCA/Columbia did release it on VHS. Director Woo-sang Park (under the name Richard Park) directs the action scenes well with an emphasis on the marital arts talents of the leads. This was Rhee's first lead role and he went on to star in the popular BEST OF THE BEST series. Brinke Stevens shows up as a drug dealer's girlfriend and supplies the film's only nudity. I was surprised when I looked up Chong's filmography to see I own 5 of the 6 films he's made, with 2 of them unwatched now. Why I was surprised is beyond me. Looking up the supporting cast, it seems they have a real superstar in their midst. Mark Hicks is a member of Young's crew (aptly named Mark) and he achieved internet superstar notoriety as the famous Afro Ninja, the guy who attempts to do a flip with some nunchaku and falls on his head. I'm sure you've seen it.

Ninja turf (AKA Los Angeles Streetfighter) stands as one of my all time fav b-movies. It's got everything you're looking for. Really bad lighting. 30 year old guys playing high school kids. Totally awesome action. Drugs. a horrible script and Philip Rhee! Only few stand this high on my b movie list. Check out Rock N roll nightmare, Let me die a woman, The Garbage Pail Kids movie and anything from the ninja kids series.