Viva Chiba
Sonny Chiba died today of complications from COVID-19. An absolute legend, he gets a lot of space in These Fists Break Bricks and we just wanted to take a minute to sign his praises as he journeys to Valhalla by putting up posters and linking to trailers and tributes for four of his movies.
The Bodyguard is the American edit of Bodyguard Kiba (1973).
Champion of Death (1975) is Karate Bull Fighter, telling the life of Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate. United Artists released it as Champion of Death in October ‘76, the same year the company collected a Best Picture Academy Award for Rocky (1976).
Tadashi Yamashita (a Bruce Lee imitator under the name Bronson Lee) co-starred with Chiba for Gekisatsu! Jado-ken (lit. “Extreme Kill! Evil Fist,” 1977), a cheap Sonny Chiba revenge tale shot in Thailand in the mid ‘70s, released in the U.S. in 1977 as The Soul of Bruce Lee, with ads featuring a photo of Chiba hooked up to electrodes alongside a misleading tag line that promised a kung fu master brought back to life, Frankenstein-style. Distributor L&T Films must’ve received complaints from exhibitors about The Soul of Bruce Lee not containing any Bruce Lee, let alone his soul, because they reissued the movie with a more accurate campaign as Soul of Chiba in 1978.
Karate Warriors (Kozure satsujin-ken, 1976) is yet another retelling of Yojimbo, with Chiba playing the opportunistic antihero pitting two rival gangs against each other, this time in contemporary Japan.