American Samurai

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American Samurai
American Samurai.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sam Firstenberg
Written byJohn Corcoran
Starring David Bradley
Mark Dacascos
Production
company
Global Pictures
Distributed by Cannon Films
Release dates
  • December 22, 1992 (1992-12-22)(Germany)
  • March 3, 1993 (1993-03-03)(United States)

November 3, 1993 (Japan)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

American Samurai is a martial-arts action film directed by Sam Firstenberg and starring David Bradley and Mark Dacascos and produced by Cannon Films. [1] Filmed in Turkey, it was released in the United States in 1992.

Contents

Plot

After a plane crash in the Japanese mountains, its only survivor—a baby named Andrew Collins—is adopted by Tatsuya Sanga, a samurai master. Andrew, along with the samurai's son, Kenjiro, are trained in the warrior’s way. Andrew excels in his training and soon surpasses his stepbrother’s skills. Kenjiro's jealousy pushes him to join the Yakuza, where he takes the Yakuza oath and forsakes the moral values of the samurai’s code. He leaves his father’s home, swearing to one day take revenge on his brother. Ten years later, Andrew works in L.A. as a journalist. He and a female photographer track down an opium-smuggling operation in Turkey. Soon, the drug dealers kidnapped the girl, forcing Andrew to enter a deadly weapons based martial-arts tournament ruled by illegal gamblers whose greatest champion is the lethal Kenjiro.

Cast

Home media and alternate versions

The DVD is available in Region 1. However, it is based on the edited R-rated cut. This version has subtitles added to the days of the tournament (i.e. "Day 2", "Day 3", etc.) Additionally, many scenes of violence or injury are zoomed in on, poorly cropped, or deleted altogether to avoid explicit details. The unrated cut has different dialogue in some scenes, no subtitles, and all of the violence is onscreen and considerably more graphic. This version is not available in the United States but can be found in other regions. There is an uncut Belgian bootleg DVD and the British version has approximately one second of footage cut. [2]

Reception

The film was described as a ”brainless action movie”, whose uncut version is somewhat more enjoyable. [3]

Another commentaror compared it unfavorably to Die Hard. [4]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Lott, M. Ray (2004-01-01). The American Martial Arts Film. McFarland. ISBN   978-0-7864-1836-7.
  2. ↑ "AMERICAN SAMURAI". BBFC.
  3. ↑ Davies, Clive (2015-03-06). Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won't Write About. SCB Distributors. ISBN   978-1-909394-06-3.
  4. ↑ Bedetti, Simone; Mazzoni, Massimo (1996). La Hollywood d'oriente: il cinema di Hong Kong dalle origini a John Woo (in Italian). PuntoZero. ISBN   978-88-86945-01-1.
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