AMERICAN NINJA
 (1985)

(From Joe Bob's Ultimate B Movie Guide)


Kung-fu face ripper made by those three Japanese ninja masters: Avi Kleinberger, Gideon Amir and Sam Firstenberg. And, of course, produced by those two avid students of oriental martial arts, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. These are the five guys who originated the ancient Chinese battle cry "Next year in Hong Kong!" Michael Dudikoff stars as an Army private who gets amnesia and can't remember how he got to be the greatest kung-fu ninja master in the world. All he knows is, every time his supply-truck convoy is attacked by 30 or 40 black ninja masters, he just goes berserk and turns into the Mr. Goodwrench of martial arts and starts throwing deadly tire tools. There's a mean French guy named Mr. Ortega who wears pink ties and mumbles a lot about what a showoff Dudikoff is, but nobody can understand him because the soundman evidently put the mike in his navel. Mr. Ortega owns his own super-ninja master, and he tells the super-ninja master to kill Dudikoff so they can sell a laser missile to the Mafia. 121 dead bodies. Eight Kung Fu scenes, four in pajamas. One gallon blood. Four motor vehicle chases. Exploding car. Exploding motorcycle. Two exploding trucks. Four exploding jeeps. Exploding ship. Exploding copter. Exploding ninja. Trash can Fu. Watermelon Fu. With Guich Koock, former owner of Luckenbach, Texas, as the evil Colonel, Judie Aronson as the gratuitous bimbo ("What do you think I am, a jungle baby?"), Tadashi Yamashita as the evil ninja. Directed by Sam "Dynamite" Firstenberg. 4 stars

 

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