Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)

Director:

Mark L. Lester

Writers (WGA):

Stephen Glantz (written by) &
Caliope Brattlestreet (written by)

Release Date:

23 August 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

One's a warrior. One's a wise guy. They're two L.A. cops going after a gang of drug lords. Feet first.

Plot:

For 400 years, Japan has been home to a secret criminal organization dedicated to its own supremacy in the underworld...

Plot Keywords:

Yakuza | Little Tokyo | Drugs | Violence | Karate

Cast

Dolph Lundgren	...	Sgt. Chris Kenner
Brandon Lee	...	Johnny Murata
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Funekei Yoshida
Tia Carrere	...	Minako Okeya
Toshirô Obata	...	Sato (also as Toshishiro Obata)
Philip Tan	...	Tanaka
Rodney Kageyama	...	Eddie
Ernie Lively	...	Detective Nelson
Renee Allman	...	Angel Mueller (as Renee Griffin)
Reid Asato	...	Muto
Takayo Fischer	...	Mama Yamaguchi
Simon Rhee	...	Ito
Vernee Watson-Johnson	...	Nonnie Russell - Coroner
Lenny Imamura	...	Kickboxer #1
Roger Yuan	...	Kickboxer #2
Susan E. Cox	...	Mrs. Kenner
Rick Cramer	...	Mr. Kenner
Keith Boldroff	...	Kenner as a Young Boy
Gerald Okamura	...	Hagata, the Torturer
R. David Smith	...	Hell's Angel #1
Anthony Maccario	...	Hell's Angel #2 (as Tony Maccario)
Rome Viharo	...	Hispanic Gang Leader
Keenan Thomas	...	Crip Gang Leader
Steve Park	...	Asian Cop #1
Jim Ishida	...	Asian Cop #2
Rachen Assapiomonwait	...	Bath House Attendant
Ryan Ryusaki	...	Son at Parade with Mama Yamaguchi
Jeff Ramsey	...	Samurai Horseman
Phil Chong	...	Samurai Horseman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Branscombe Richmond	...	Man in Door (uncredited)
James Taenaka	...	Hardboy (uncredited)

Directed by
Mark L. Lester

Writing credits (WGA)
Stephen Glantz		(written by) &
Caliope Brattlestreet		(written by)

Produced by
John C. Broderick	....	co-producer
Martin E. Caan	....	producer
Mark L. Lester	....	producer

Original Music by
David Michael Frank

Cinematography by
Mark Irwin		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Michael Eliot
Robert A. Ferretti
Steven Kemper

Casting by
Michelle Guillermin
Cathy Henderson

Production Design by
Craig Stearns

Art Direction by
Bill Rea

Set Decoration by
Ellen Totleben

Costume Design by
Robyn Williams

Makeup Department
Jeri Baker	....	key makeup artist
David P. Barton	....	special makeup effects artist
Fred C. Blau Jr.	....	tattoo artist
Thomas Floutz	....	key prosthetics makeup artist (as Tom Floutz)
Michael Hancock	....	tattoo artist
Nancy Hancock	....	head tattoo artist (as Nancy Worthen Hancock)
Todd Masters	....	prosthetics makeup design
Patrick Tatopoulos	....	tattoo designer
Michelle Vittone	....	makeup artist
Dean Gates	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)

Production Management
John C. Broderick	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dirk Craft	....	dga trainee
Eric Jones	....	second assistant director (as Eric P. Jones)
Terry Leonard	....	second unit director (as Terry J. Leonard)
Joel Segal	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Chris Alvarez	....	welding foreman
Linda S. Brown	....	assistant decorator (as Linda Brown)
Tom Craig	....	set dresser
David Elliott	....	construction coordinator (as David Elliot)
Ron Ervin	....	carpenter
David W. Ford	....	lead person (as David Ford)
Christopher Gilman	....	props
Anthony Maccario	....	property master (as Tony Maccario)
William Maccario	....	assistant property master
David McKlveen	....	construction foreman
Peter Mitchell	....	storyboard artist
Roger Nall	....	stand-by painter
Mick Rossman	....	scenic painter
Peter Mitchell Rubin	....	storyboard artist
John Tyler	....	stand-by painter
Tim Wahlberg	....	signwriter
Joshua Warner	....	set dresser (as Josh Warner)
Brent White	....	scenic painter
Lyndell Wolff	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Tom Beckert	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Tom Becket)
David Chornow	....	production sound mixer (as David Charnow)
Rubén Domingo	....	assistant sound editor (as Reuben Domingo)
Keith Gardner	....	boom operator
Armond Ghzanian	....	assistant sound editor
Eric J. Goldstein	....	boom operator
Walter Goss	....	sound re-recording mixer
Cynthia Haagens	....	sound effects editor
Paul Heslin	....	foley editor
Joseph Holsen	....	sound effects editor
Jennifer Hortin	....	adr editor
Michael Jiron	....	sound re-recording mixer
Donlee Jorgensen	....	dialogue editor
Edmund J. Lachmann	....	sound effects editor
Mike Le Mare	....	sound designer
Mike Le Mare	....	supervising sound editor (as Mike Le-Mare)
Horace Manzanares	....	assistant sound editor
Michael P. Redbourn	....	sound effects editor (as Michael Redbourn)
Mary Louise Rodgers	....	foley artist (as Mary Rogers)
Frank Sacco	....	adr editor
Michael Salvetta	....	foley artist (as Michael A. Salvetta)
Tom Scurry	....	foley editor
Robert L. Sephton	....	sound effects editor
Karola Storr	....	foley editor
Audrey Trent	....	foley artist
Jerry Trent	....	foley artist
Bill Ward	....	assistant sound editor
Asher Yates	....	dialogue editor (as Ascher Yates)
Elijah Schkeiban	....	assistant sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Rose Marie Echeverria	....	special effects
Larry Roberts	....	special effects coordinator

Visual Effects by
Dave Gregory	....	photographic effects supervisor: Title House Inc. (uncredited)

Stunts
Steve Akahoshi	....	stunts
T.K. Anthony	....	stunts
Simone Boisseree	....	stunts
Troy Brown	....	stunts (as Tory Brown)
Brian Burrows	....	stunts
R.J. Chambers	....	stunts
Darryl Chan	....	stunts
George Cheung	....	stunts
Donna Evans	....	stunts
Al Goto	....	stunts
Gloria Hann	....	stunts
Joseph Hieu	....	stunts (as Joseph Hiev)
Tracy Hutchinson	....	stunts (as Tracey E. Hutchinson)
Brian Imada	....	stunts
Jeff Imada	....	stunts
Lenny Imamura	....	stunts
Jim Ishida	....	stunts
Bobby Itaya	....	stunts (as Robert Itaya)
Roger Ito	....	stunts
Steven Ito	....	stunts
Sonia Izzolena	....	stunts
Terry Jackson	....	stunt double: Brandon Lee
Freddie Jin	....	stunts (as Fredie Jin)
Jimmy Joe	....	stunts
Hwang Joon	....	stunts
Tony Kahana	....	stunts
Kraig Kishi	....	stunts
Warren Koga	....	stunts
Peter Lai	....	stunts
Daniel Lee	....	stunts
Eric Lee	....	stunts
Leo Lee	....	stunts
Terry Leonard	....	stunt coordinator (as Terry J. Leonard)
Al Leong	....	stunts
Will Leong	....	stunts
James Lew	....	stunts
Steve Martinez	....	stunts (as Steven Louis Martinez)
Paul Kiyoshi Pouchay	....	stunts
Stuart Quan	....	stunts
Branscombe Richmond	....	stunts
Vernon Rieta	....	stunts
Debby Lynn Ross	....	stunts
Bill M. Ryusaki	....	stunts
Bill Saito	....	stunts
Russell Solberg	....	stunts
Jayleen Sun	....	stunts
Leland Sun	....	stunts
James Taenaka	....	stunts
Tommy Taenaka	....	stunts
Hiroshi Tom Tanaka	....	stunts (as Tommy Tanaka)
Hiro Tawaka	....	stunts
Gary Toy	....	stunts
Randy Toyota	....	stunts
William Washington	....	stunts
Daniel Wong	....	stunts
Danny Wong	....	stunts
Eddie Wong	....	stunts
Bruce Yamane	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Keith Banks	....	camera operator
Darwin Montana Browne	....	best boy grip (as Dar Browne)
Loren Corl	....	key grip
Gary Farr	....	still photographer
Robert Forrest	....	dolly grip
Eric J. Goldstein	....	camera operator (as Eric Goldstein)
Austin Goss	....	gaffer
Neil Holcomb	....	best boy electric
Steven Kline	....	second assistant camera
Monty Rowan	....	camera operator (as Monty Rowen)
Roger Schweitzer	....	video playback operator
James Sprattley	....	first assistant camera
Stephen Wong	....	first assistant camera (as Steve Wong)

Casting Department
Jacque Allen	....	casting coordinator
Mariann H.W. Lee	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sybil Gray	....	costumer (as Sybil Grey)

Editorial Department
Julia Gray	....	assistant film editor
Jeff Gullo	....	first assistant editor
Ray Martin	....	color timer
Richard L. McCullough	....	assistant editor
Jill K. Pontiff	....	apprentice editor

Music Department
Virginia S. Ellsworth	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Marlo Hellerstein	....	transportation coordinator
David Turner	....	transportation captain (as David J. Turner)

Other crew
Mary Jo Ballerini	....	production coordinator
Gregory Bartlett	....	production aide (as Greg Bartlett)
Shari Bender	....	production aide
Barbara Bernhardt	....	assistant martial arts choreographer (as Barbara Bernhardt Goldstone)
Helen de Vivien	....	assistant: Mr. Lester (as Helen Devivian)
Brian Fitkin	....	karate trainer: Mr. Lundgren
Donna Glasser-Hancock	....	production auditor (as Donna Glasser)
Ellen Greenwald	....	production aide
Paul Hargrave	....	location captain
Elizabeth Ludwick-Bax	....	script supervisor (as Liz Ludwick)
Jules Mann-Stewart	....	script supervisor
Cathy McManus	....	assistant production coordinator
Don Mink	....	post-production auditor
Scott Mislan	....	production aide
Marie Nashold	....	medic
Adam Olszewski	....	production aide (as Adam G. Olszewski)
Gay Perello	....	craft service
Joseph Poma	....	fitness and physique trainer: Mr. Lundgren
Lynn Souza	....	post-production auditor (as Lynne Souza)
Douy Swofford	....	title designer
Steve Timinskas	....	production auditor
Jim Tosney	....	production aide
Mikela Walter	....	assistant: Mr. Lundgren (as Mikela Walters)
Jerry Wright	....	craft service
Michael Yip	....	production aide
Markus Zimmer	....	location manager
Tera Tabrizi	....	body double: Tia Carrere (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Little Tokyo Productions
• Original Pictures (uncredited)
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1991) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1991) (Israel) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (199?) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1992) (Non-USA) (video)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Graphix in Motion (graphics)

Other Companies

• Cenex Casting  extras casting
• Film Finances  completion bond
• GS Entertainment Marketing Group  publicity and promotion services
• Michelson Food Services  catering
• Nouveau Records  soundtrack released by
• Nouveau Records  soundtrack
• Pacific Title  titles
• Pacific Titles & Optical  opticals
• Precision Film Cutting  negative cutting
• Unique Movie Cars  picture cars

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | West Germany:18 (video premiere) (cut) | Germany:18 (re-rating) (JK/SPIO) | Finland:K-18 | Iceland:16 | Australia:R | France:-12 (video premiere) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R | New Zealand:R18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Little Tokyo Productions

Trivia:

All of the swords used in the film were replicas, with the exception of the one used by Dolph Lundgren's character when he slices through bundles of bamboo: this was an authentic samurai sword.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Yoshida is pinned to the firework wheel and it begins to spin, he is defying gravity by keeping his legs and lower body against the wheel when upside down; it's obvious that his entire body has been bound to the wheel.

Quotes:

Johnny Murata: We've got a problem here. There are more bad guys than we've got bullets.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hollywood Stuntmakers: Fantastic Fights" (1991)

Soundtrack:

The Woman in Me

Give it a break!

Reading some of these comments, it occurred to me no one seems to know how to have fun anymore. This movie is not meant to be a great movie. I don't think any of the actors had intention of trying for an oscar. It's simply a fun movie. The action sequences are pretty cool and the one liners are hysterical. Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee are a great action pair. The chemistry between them is amazing. If you just want to watch a movie that's going to make you laugh, and get some good action with it, I highly recommend Showdown.