Return of the Street Fighter / The Street Fighter’s Last Revenge (1974) May 6, 2007
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films , trackbackDirector: Shigehiro Ozawa Starring: Sonny Chiba Territory: Japan Production Company: Toei Productions
Yes, I bought the box set…
I wasn’t going to do a Blog on these sequels, but I’ve relented after discovering they’re actually quite fun. I’m not going into the finer points of the plots – largely because there are no finer points to the plots (Tsurugi usually turning against his employer for one reason or another is pretty much it).
The rules are pretty standard for the 70’s – Lone Wolf anti-hero takes on the bad guys single-handedly. And woe betide befriending him, because you’re just going to end up dead at the hands of the bad guys. In fact, one woman ends up dead just considering befriending him. As in the original, we are continually reminded (through a sepia-toned flashback) of Tsurugi’s tortured past seeing his father executed by firing squad after (presumably false) accusations of spying against his country.
My only complaint about the first sequel is the over-reliance on lengthy flashbacks to The Streetfighter to pad out the film’s short running time (both sequels run to about 79 minutes on DVD), which really ruin the flow. It appears that all three films were made in 1974, so it’s not like the audience needed reminding of the events of the first film either.
The Street Fighter’s Last Revenge starts heading quite steeply into gonzo territory at times, with one of the weirdest assassins I’ve ever seen. He dresses like this:
Which is fair enough, as he has a sideline as a kind of showman. Except he dresses like this all the time – even when he’s out to perform a hit on someone. You would think he’d prefer something a little less conspicuous, but apparently not. His nationality is also matter of concern – his chosen language is English, believe it or not, and I thought I detected a hint of an Australian accent. Odd. It’s perhaps the weakest entry in the trilogy, but still has moments of great fun (mainly because of the guy above).
The much-celebrated gore is less evident in the sequels (the top screenshot notwithstanding) but it is still a bit nasty. The action scenes are occasionally superb – the standout scene takes place in The Return of the Street Fighter, in a kind of massage parlour/sauna – really exciting stuff, even though the trick shots and undercranking can sometimes be a little too evident. There’s also a good bit in the final film when Tsurugi meets a female Taiwanese Kung Fu artist, and you realise that Sonny Chiba really was a sprightly chap.
I’ve really warmed to Takuma Tsurugi over the course of these three films – much more than I’d expected. He can be a right bastard at times, and his treatment of women is pure 70’s misogyny, but I strongly suspect he’ll be in heavy rotation on my DVD player in the years ahead.
Comments»
Interesting visual effect there… (the top screenshot)
The new layout looks quite good by the way.
Indeed, I watched these classics years ago on the U.S. Diamond DVD releases, which ported over the lovely widescreen images from New Lines old LDs that have been making the public domain rounds ever since. And if one shot jumps to mind whenever I think about that entire series, it’s THAT shot of the guy’s eyeballs popping out! There’s definitely a tongue-in-cheek attitude in many of these films that I’d never have anticipated from just reading about them all those years before they became available on video!
Brian & Paul: LOL. Yes, I tried resisting the urge to put that shot on here, but I had to do it in the end. I don’t think there’s another moment like it in the series, but it does seem to sum up the over-the-top nature of the films. Love it!
Paul: thanks!