Sonny chibas wolf guy to be released by arrow video in. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in japan and later before an international audience. This is one of three films also see karate bull fighter and karate bear fighter that was based on a comic book about that teacher. Sonny chibas the street fighter was once notorious for being the first movie to get a now defunct x rating for violence, and street fighter is indeed a violent film. This movie is about takuma tsurugi chiba a karate master and mercenary. Sonny chiba celebrity profile check out the latest sonny chiba photo gallery, biography, pics, pictures, interviews, news, forums and blogs at rotten tomatoes. A karate master played by sonny chiba is attacked and left crippled and blinded in one eye. Along their journey they must combat an advancing army under the command of iba shoemon sonny chiba, a vassal of the shogun. Its true, i was watching japanorama, the episode subtitled legends and there was an interview with sonny chiba who said that back in 1973 he went to china to meet bruce lee for a collaboration in. Legend of eight samurai, samurai reincartion, and shoguns ninja are presented in full frame format, dragon princess and karate warriors are presented in widescreen format.
Sonny chibas dragon princess 1976 by robert pack for. After karate master kazuma is beaten and crippled by rival, nikaido, he trains his daughter, yumi, in the martial arts so she may exact revenge. The film features amazing action sequences choreographed by chibas japan action club. The street fighters last revenge takes a turn towards spy film and finds tsurugi using a fistful of gadgets and masks to battle a sombrerodonned, laserwielding mexican bandito. Subsequent successes include dragon princess, virus, and legend of the eight samurai. Shihomi also played a chinese in japan in norifumi suzukis bizarre shoguns ninja from 1980that film being a headlining role for chibas most popular pupil, hiroyuki sanada. The characters look like they walked off the set of a power rangers episode.
Yakuza deka and its quickly knockedoff sequel yakuza deka. Street fighter may be chibas most famous film but karate warriors is his best. With etsuko shihomi, shinichi chiba, yasuaki kurata, jiro yabuki. Nikaido teams up with four other masters and they manage to disable one of isshins arms and wound his eye with a kunai knife. Sonny chiba has a supporting role as a warrior protecting the satomi princess from tamazus. Truly is oneofakind, with sonny chiba in full effect as the partman, partwolf, allkarate action hero. Kazuma trains his loyal daughter yumi in the martial arts so she can exact a harsh revenge on nikaido and his band of evil thugs. Sonny chibas dragon princess movie quotes rotten tomatoes. Sonny chiba was going to work with bruce lee gamespot.
This is one of three films also see karate bull fighter and. Chiba plays mr soh, an undercover japanese operative at the end of the second world war. Shinichi sonny chiba was born on january 22nd 1939 in fukuoka, japan. Shinichi sonny chiba is a martial arts manimal in the ultra70s, 100% bizarre mixture of horror, action and scifi that is wolf guy, one of the rarest and most soughtafter cult films produced by japans toei studio.
Kazuma trains his loyal daughter yumi in the martial arts so she can exact a harsh revenge on nikaido and his. A bright red blood gushes everywhere, heads are cracked open, throats ripped out, and, in an incredible instance, a reproductive organ is. Enjoy this edit of sonny chibas dragon princess 1976 by robert pack for the 90to5 editing challenge. In breathtaking, hyperviolent confrontations, turugi battles the mafia, the yakuza, uncovers drug rings and dirty cops and dodges assassination attempts.
Lacking the sly sex appeal of bruce lee and the humor of jackie chan and, lets face it, the skills of both, chiba is sort of a brute who literally punches out teeth in his pursuit of being a badass. The bodyguard 1976 action, crime, drama sonny chiba. The street fighter trilgoy concludes with sonny chiba channeling james bond. Sonny chiba is sort of the redheaded stepchild of martial arts movies 70s heyday. Sonny chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in japan and later before an international audience. Watch sonny chibas dragon princess now on your favorite device. This is the third film about one of sonny chibas karate instructors im pretty sure he had more than one who is one of the big two influential karate instructors that were part of the martial arts revival in japan. The seven samurai must fight to the death to get tachechiyo to edo. Enjoy a rich lineup of tv shows and movies included with your prime membership. R 1h 27min action, crime, drama september 1976 usa alternate title. Dragon princess aka sonny chibas dragon princess hissatsu onna kenshi is a 1976. The killing machine is another movie with some sonny chiba stylings only playing a more righteous figure with a little less attitude.
Sonny chibas best martial arts fight scene ever return of the street fighter movie. Chiba shinichi, born january 22, 1939, also known as sonny chiba, is a japanese actor, singer, film producer, film director, and martial artist. Genres action director yutaka kohira starring etsuko shihomi, shinichi chiba, yasuaki kurata. It looks like a live action anime film with an evil villainous lady tamazusa trying to exact revenge upon the satomi clan. The bodyguard doesnt exactly achieve the same dizzying, grindhousestyle heights as chibas street fighter series, but it does make for a passably entertaining time. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in japan and later before an. Shihomi can be seen in such films as dragon princess 1976 and her own quartet of sister streetfighter movies. The killing machine with sonny chiba martial arts action.
Etsuko shihomi, sonny chiba, yasuaki kurata, jiro chiba. Martial arts icon sonny chiba has enjoyed a successful film career spanning 40 years, including his scenestealing role in kill bill vol. The streetfighter with sonny chiba martial arts action. So the bruce lee vs jet li was a onesided thread and was doomed from the beginning. Sonny chibas dragon princess 1976 karate master kazuma gets severely beaten and crippled by nefarious rival nikaido. As a boy he manifested an interest in both theater and gymnastics, and. Sonny chibas dragon princess crummy by mainstream standards, this lowbudget martialarts programmer has lots of charm, starting with the opening shot depicting the inside of a church with saloonstyle swinging doors banging against the wind and dust outside, and tarantino fans will make note of some of the source elements he appropriated. Born sadaho maeda on january 23, 1939 in fukuoka, japan, sonny chiba was the second of five children by a military test pilot who moved the family to chiba prefecture during world war ii. In short no pun intended, i swear, its a guerrillashot chronicle of my obsessive quest to find the twofootnine james bond of the philippines. Sonny chiba is takuma terry in the dub tsurugi, the infamous street fighter in the films which catapuled him to international fame. He also offers his services as a bodyguard to anyone who is willing to come forward and provide information about the drug lords. After japans defeat he heads back home to a country packed with poor vets and families struggling to get by.
The street fighter is a japanese martial arts film produced by toei company ltd. The classic tagline behind this film that really sums up sonnys approach to fights in this movie. Dragon princess aka sonny chibas dragon princess is a 1976 japanese karate revenge film directed by yutaka kohira. Theres little doubt that the streetfighter is sonny chibas most famous and best loved movie in america. With little conscience tsurugi will go to any length to have his debts. The assassin are passable formulaic action movies about sonny chibas undercover cop that both have their moments before running out of steam, but suffer from often laughably badly staged and edited action scenes the car chase finale of the first film sees cars explode when they hit a dirt bank at 15mph and people fall out of a car.
Sonny chibas dragon princess 1976 release info imdb. Sonny was the next best thing out there besides bruce. Sonny starred in films like the scifi bmovie invasion of the neptune men 1965 then. Sonny chibas dragon princess kazuma higaki 1976 daihijosen 1976 the gorilla seven daisuke kazami 1975 1975. He also starred in several longrunning japanese television series, including key hunter, and juubei yagyu.
He trains his daughter etsuko shihomi with the intention of her avenging not only himself but a murdered friend. Recommend me some 70searly 80s chiba films with lots of violence and. Sonny chiba as yagyu jubei vs samurai army in yagyu conspiracy duration. Dragon princess 1976 changes the movie database tmdb.
The street fighter this guy has to be one of the biggest anti heroes in martial arts movies sonny chiba. The film opens with isshin higaki sonny chiba and his daughter yumi higaki etsuko shihomi being attacked by a rival karate master, hironobu nikaido who wants isshins job as top karate master. Chibas film about the most mean and nasty anti hero ever to punch his way onto a silver screen ended up becoming the first movie rated x for violence alone. The wind rises is 1st japanese film to top 10 billion yen since ponyo sep 12, 20 miyazakis the wind rises to open in u. Born sadao maeda in fukuoka, japan, he was the second of five children in the family of a military test pilot. Sonny chiba as yagyu jubei vs samurai army in yagyu conspiracy. It is notable as the first film to receive an xrating in the. Karate master kazuma gets severely beaten and crippled by nefarious rival nikaido. Chiba has starred in more than 125 films at toei studios and has won numerous acting awards in japan for his dramatic film roles. Sonny chibas dragon princess 1976 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
The film has been a labour of love since i started filming in 2006. To sum this movie up as briefly as possible it does not need elaboration. He trains his daughter etsuko shihomi with the intention of her. It was released in the us by new line cinema and became one of the first films to be a commercial success for the distributor. Dragon princess full martial arts movie, fighting movie, kung. Karate kiba karate master and antidrug vigilante chiba returns to his home in japan, where he holds a press conference announcing his intention to wipe out the nations drug industry. Chibas first movie appearance was in 1959 in the tvseries nanairo kamen, but we dont know much about this small low budget presentation.