Flicks: The Ninja Squad (1986)

Rule #1 of Ninjitsu: always wear a head band stating you are, indeed, a ninja.

The Ninja Squad (1986) star Richard Harrison (not that one) is famous for two things. Number One, as being rumored during his time as a extra in Italy to suggest Clint Eastwood to Sergio Leone when the famed director was looking for a lead in "A Fistful of Dollars" in 1964. And, Number Two, as acting or starring in 17 unbelievably awful ninja-sploitation films from 1984 to 1988 sometimes starring eight films in one year.

These sixteen movies start with Ninja Thunderbolt (1984), then Ninja Champion (#1) and Ninja Holocaust(#2) both made in 1985. Some say a Holocaust would be enough to stem the tide of Harrison's ninja themed roles yet at the end of 1985 came Ninja Terminator (#3), another Hong Kong release exploiting the title from James Cameron's The Terminator from 1984 and nothing else.

Actually Ninja Terminator is regarded today as something of a camp classic. The over-the-top dramatic dialogue unfailingly illicits unexpected howls of laughter. "You betray the ninja empire?! Why did you no that, you reckon?" In what part of China is "reckon" a popular expression? Seriously. Someone needs to get back to me on this.

Harrison continued with his fifth ninja foray in Ninja Hunt(#4), our current feature Ninja Squad (#5) and Ninja Dragon (#6) all released in 1986. In 1987, Harrison went on to do Cobra vs. Ninja (#7), Hands of Death (#8), Ninja Operation: Licensed to Terminate (#9), Ninja Avengers (#10), Ninja Commandments (#11), Ninja Kill (#12), The Ninja Showdown (#13) and Ninja: Silent Assassin (#14) while also finding time to star in Hitman the Cobra a Chinese WWII period anti-Japanese film.

In 1988, Harrison starred in Ninja Powerforce (#14), Ninja Strike Force (#15) and The Power of Ninjitsu (#16) before making his final ninja themed movie Diamond Ninja Force (#17) the same year.

References:
IMDB, The Ninja Squad (1986)
IMDB, Richard Harrison

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Flicks: Sister Street Fighter (1974)

Sister Street Fighter teams up with Sonny Chiba to face Reiko Ike and Jun Jo.

Sonny Chiba, reprising his role as Terry "#1 Man" Tsurugi appears for the second half this great chop sockey/crime-action movie. Production values are slightly better with more characters and Toei studio actors appearing including a hokey Hong Kong heroin boss and Japanese actress and model Reiko Ike. It should be noted that Reiko Ike was a cult persona herself. Reiko had also co-starred in Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974) with Chiba as well as two very successful "pinky" (Japsploitation) movies: The Sex And Fury (1973) and Female Yakuza Tale (1971).

In Sister Street Fighter, Jun Jo, minus the trach box from Return of Sreet Fighter appears as another different-but-still-evil karate master-villain in another blockbuster kung fu epic. This film was followed by The Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974), which featured much higher production values as the genre earned more money for Toei and international distributors.

References:
IMDB, Sister Street Fighter (1974)
IMDB, Reiko Ike
IMDB, Sex And The Fury (1973)
IMDB, Streetfighter's Last Revenge (1974)

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Flicks: Chinese Hercules (1973)

First, came Black Samson. Now: Chinese Hercules... God bless you, Mr. B-movie script writer.

“Kill ‘em. Dump ‘em.” So sez perennial Kung-Fu baddie Bolo Heung in Chinese Hercules (1973) - a meditation on the ageless value of chop sockey in on-going labor disputes that gave future Transporter (2002) and DOA: Dead Or Alive (2006) director Corey Yuen Kwai his start as a Fight Co-Ordinator.

Bolo "The Beast From The East" Yeung, co-villain of Chinese Hercules, was long known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger of China. Over his long film career Bolo repeatedly portrayed himself as a kind of an evil doppelganger to the Governator whose punchlines usually erupted in bloody clouds instead of dim-witted one liners.

In fact, Bolo became a marital arts student at 10, trained w/good friend Bruce Lee and was a body-building legend in Hong Kong in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He appeared in Enter the Dragon (1973), Bloodsport (1988) and Double Impact (1991) and has a part in The Expendables II set for a 2012 release...

Today, Bolo, now a full-fledged imperialist citizen, lives and works as a fight trainer in his own gyms in LA.


References:
Wikipedia, Bolo Yeung
IMDB, Chinese Hercules
IMDB, Bolo Heung Bio
Hong Kong Cinemagic, Chinese Hercules (1973)
Kung Fu Cinema, Chinese Hercules (1973)
Gluetube, Chinese Hercules

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