American Samurai (1992)

User Rating:

4.3/10   

Director:

Sam Firstenberg

Writer:

John Corcoran (writer)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

An American reporter teams up with a martial arts expert, whose half-brother is a "yakuza"--Japaneser mafia--drug dealer to battle swordsmen from around the world n a Turkish arena.

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Arena | Decapitation | Butterfly Knife | Kukri Dagger

Cast

David Bradley	...	Andrew 'Drew' Collins
Mark Dacascos	...	Kenjiro Sanga
Valarie Trapp	...	Janet Ward
Rex Ryon	...	Ed Harrison
Melissa Hellman	...	Samantha
John Fujioka	...	Tatsuya Sanga
Douvi Cohen	...	Stephane (as Douvey Cohen)
Mark Warren	...	Turk in Disco / Lars
Koby Azarly	...	Turk in Disco
Shalom Avitan	...	Turk in Disco
Baruch Berkin	...	Hotel Clerk
Arie Moscuna	...	Announcer (as Arie Muskuna)
Michael Morim	...	Police Chief
Misha Gal	...	Body Guard (as Moshe Gal)
John Slater	...	Body Guard

Also Known As:

Ninja: American Samurai (USA)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:16 | Germany:18 (cut) | South Korea:18 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Israel

Company:

Cannon Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: During the final battle the two fighters are both wearing nearly identical black uniforms, but the fight includes footage from an earlier battle where another fighter was wearing red ribbons, they fly in and out from just outside the camera.

Movie Connections:

References "The Flintstones" (1960)

Bradley's best, maybe

Although I guess David Bradley is a highly skilled martial artist, I don't think he was that good in the three "American Ninja"-movies he took part in. "American Ninja 3" was OK, but the 4th and 5th installment of the series were just terrible. This movie is much better. It's an arena-fighting movie, and it's well performed. They managed to throw in a lot of different fighting styles from many places, and it was really interesting. Several of the styles were new to me. Another great thing is the introduction of Marc Dacascos into the world of martial arts movies. He's a great fighter, and here he made a convincing and extremely evil villain. The fight scenes in this movie are good, and they're also extremely brutal (even more brutal than "Shootfighter"). If you like martial arts action, you'll definitely like this movie.