American Ninja
Short description
Joe Armstrong is a drifter with a talent for martial arts and little use for authority. After a judge offers him a choice between prison and the army, he enlists and ends up on an American base in the Philippines. During a convoy mission, rebels attack the platoon, aiming to seize the weapons being moved and to abduct the daughter of the base colonel. Joe defends the convoy, revealing an unexpected command of ninjutsu. That display draws suspicion from his commander and fellow soldiers, and Joe is left to fight on his own as he works through a web of corruption and uncovers secrets about his own past.
Sam Firstenberg directed, following his earlier ninja films Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Ninja III: The Domination (1984); he returned to the subject with American Ninja 2: The Confrontation in 1987. Michael Dudikoff plays Joe, with Steve James as Corporal Curtis Jackson, Judie Aronson as Patricia Hickock, Guich Koock as Colonel William T. Hickock, John Fujioka as Shinyuki and Don Stewart as Victor Ortega. James R. Silke and Paul De Mielche wrote the screenplay, and Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus and Avi Kleinberger produced for Cannon Group.
Made for about 1 million dollars, the film took roughly 10 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. Ratings are modest: on IMDb it sits at 5.5 out of 10 from around 18,000 votes, while on TMDB it holds 6 out of 10 from about 500 votes. A critics' rating of 4.2 out of 10 from eight reviews places it below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In 1988, a remake (or rather, a plagiarism) was filmed in Bollywood – “Commando” (1988), exactly copying the main plot of the original film. Only the ending and the protagonist’s motivation differ. The film widely uses a musical theme “borrowed” from another famous film – the saga “Star Wars”.
- The film features 114 “on-screen deaths”.
- Before filming began, Michael Dudikoff had absolutely no experience in martial arts. He learned and trained while working on the film and earned a black belt.
- According to Steve James (1952-1993), Michael Dudikoff was very worried about having to work with him, as James knew martial arts, while Dudikoff was a complete novice and feared he would "show off." To avoid problems with his co-star, James even insisted on filming the final fight scenes far away from him, on the other side of the set. Dudikoff and James were only able to overcome these disagreements during the filming of the sequel.
- The music featured in the ninja training scene is also present in the battle scenes of another film, "Revenge of the Ninja" (1983).
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
