User reviews

Now I'm more of a Bruce Lee fan than a Sonny Chiba, but I always admired his films. The Street Fighters series is awesome, but this is one of his films I'm half in half on. Don't get me wrong it had it's moments, but it was just too fast for it's own good.

Sonny plays himself and offers himself to be a bodyguard to anyone who knows about the flood of illegal drugs. And this is where the film goes nowhere into endless action and cheap yet gruesome deaths.

If you are a die hard Chiba fan than get this, if not then my friend you are sadly in for a sour treat. A treat into weird camera angles of violence and stupid dialog that comes great for Chiba, but lame for others.

I just finished watching this film and WOW was that bad. Actually the only thing that kept me watching was that it was SO MONUMENTALLY bad it was kind of entertaining. The action of the characters is hilarious, from the hyper-dramatic way they fall to gunfire, to their incredibly bad acting (were the bad guys all just pulled off the street, or were they actually actors?), to incredibly bad delivery of lines, to their inexplicable actions (if you are going to try and shoot someone through a doorway as they enter, obviously the thing to do is shoot directly at the doorknob!!). This film must break some record for worst written and delivered lines.

The camera work was also really bad - you can hardly see what's going on in the fight scenes due to switching camera angles and shakiness.

I would have voted "1" except that I do like Chiba and sidekick Sue Shihomi, and I was entertained by a couple of scenes: 1) breaking of a villain's arm so the bone pops out of the skin (that's gotta hurt) 2) a drug kingpin eating a brown-furred animal (a monkey??) by hacking away at the carcass with a meat cleaver 3) Sonny Chiba's performing some impromptu eye surgery on a guy with his fingers.

I am actually a big fan of Sonny Chiba but this one is really not worth anyone's time. I've seen about 7 or 8 of his films and have come to the conclusion that the only ones worth watching (and they are great!) are the Street Fighter series, and The Killing Machine. I've also heard the Executioner and Golgo 13 are good. I recommend sticking to those ones.

Even if you are a die-hard Sonny Chiba fan there is no reason to see this snooze-fest. However, watch the first five minutes for a tacked-on bit shot at a Times Square dojo in the mid-'70's that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film. That sequence is so badly-acted and ludicrous that you'll wet yourself laughing! The sequence goes something like this:

CAMERA PANS UP STAIRCASE, GOES INTO DOJO.

An Hispanic martial arts guy does a pointless routine with two pair of nunchaku ("chucks") and comments to an Italian-looking karate guy "That's how Bruce Lee woulda done it!" The Italian guy says "That's pretty good, but here's how Sonny Chiba woulda done it!" He then proceeds to approximate some of Chiba's trademark moves from THE STREET FIGHTER on some poor student. After leaving the poor student hanging by his nuts, the two martial artists rub their chins and muse "I wonder what Sonny Chiba's doing now?" Then the movie lurches to a start. You may now turn off your vcr and do something useful like eat your own earwax.

Anything that has Sonny Chiba deserves at least a 5. I don't know what idiot would only rate this movie at 3. This movie is good for anyone that can truly appreciate a solid martial arts movie. It is about a woman who drug bosses in Japan want to kill. She asks for a bodyguard and Sonny Chiba answers the call. The movie starts with a scene in which 2 men are pretending to be Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba from the real world. While this has nothing to do with the movie, who hasn't played that scenario in their mind? It may be a slow movie, but that doesn't make it boring. I would recommend this movie to anyone who truly likes Sonny Chiba. On top of this, the movie starts with a little quote that is supposed to be from Ezekiel 29:17 (but it is not). This will be very interesting to all of you extremely cool Pulp Fiction fans.

Beginning with a recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 (later, memorably used in "Pulp Fiction"), "The Bodyguard" is a tacky but fun Shin'ichi "Sonny" Chiba vehicle. He plays Kiba, who returns to Japan after some time in NYC, and is now a man on a mission, waging a one-man war on drugs. To further his aim, he hires on as bodyguard to the pretty Reiko Miwa (Mari Atsumi), who is definitely not playing it straight with him.

"The Bodyguard" is cheesy in so many departments: script, dialogue, supporting performances, etc. It's actually priceless how bad this is. Don't waste time trying to scrutinize THIS story, just enjoy the mayhem, of which there is a fair amount.

Overall, this is definitely a lesser Chiba movie, but it's so endlessly amusing that I was entertained, start to finish. It really doesn't give the star that many opportunities to strut his stuff, but there are some hysterical over-the-top gore gags, including a severed arm and a severed head. And the bad guys are a truly scummy (and supposedly colorful) lot, who ham it up something fierce whenever they get mowed down. They are also some of the STUPIDEST bad guys you'll ever see in an action movie.

"The Bodyguard" is garbage, plain and simple, but for me it was pretty agreeable in its badness. It's the kind of thing I'd recommend that you watch with your friends and some beers.

There are brief, pointless cameos by Aaron Banks and Bill Louie in the early parts of the U. S. version.

Six out of 10.

I liked Chiba in Street Fighter, and I figured hey, no matter how stupid this movie will be, I'll at least get to see him kick some ass, right? Wrong. This is a dull, dreary mess of pointless talking, half-assed scriptwriting and meaningless scheming. There are few action scenes of any kind, even fewer martial arts scenes, and the few that are are shot and edited so poorly that you can't even make out what in the world is going on. The dub is also atrocious, and perhaps the idiocy that is this movie is best illustrated by the fact that it prominently features the *Italian* Mafia... but they're all played by *Japanese* actors! Avoid like the plague--you would see better martial arts by looking through the window of your local preschool karate class for five minutes.

(1973) The Bodyguard/ Bodyguard Kiba (In Japanese with English subtitles) ACTION

Co-written and directed by Ryûichi Takamori which at the opening has one gang being slaughtered by gunfire by another rival gang upon them coming out of a court house. We then see four members of the "Black April" gang single handedly killed by karate martial artist, Naoto Kiba (Sonny Chiba) upon their attempt to hijack a plane with passengers and demanding a ransom. And when Kiba is congratulated on front of reporters part of a press conference, he is there to promote his karate school, before offering his services as a "bodyguard"- hence the title. And it is not long before he meets his first client, a lady approaches him which he demanded the fee of 10 million yen. Before after the incident regarding his sister, Maki, attempting to retrieve the client, Reiko Miwa (Mari Atsumi) checkbook in her car, she is then gets hijacked by 4 or 5 men, knocked her unconscious nude on the middle of the road, boasted Kiba's fee from 10 million yen to 50 million. And halfway through, viewers are oblivious why so many criminals are after her. And as it turns out, Reiko Miwa happens to own a suitcase full of cocaine, a criminal syndicate gang called "Yellow Mafia" are after her for, as well as three owners of a small club want the briefcase as well. Own the suitcase without paying her a single penny that is.

Like Chiba's "Street Fighter" movies, it has about the same amount of gory violence as other those other films he was synonymous during the 1970's and one single nude scene. The violence is reminiscent to the Baby Cart movies which instead of a sword used doing the chopping we see karate used to chopping limbs and so forth- we even see a decapitated head. The problem is that if watched enough films, one can almost predict the entire direction of the movie itself, which without some of the few innovative karate fights and shootings, it would have been a hit or miss for me.

Bad dubbing and a weird added bit make the dubbed version pretty bad, but not having seen the original, it's unfair to use that as a base for the movie. Not nearly Chiba's best in any respect.

For masochists. 1976's The Bodyguard is a grade Z Karate opera that gives proof that the martial arts craze of 30 years ago was just that, crazy. Unless you like to watch film stock wasted, don't buy this incompetent junk. I got it at Wally World and thought it would be a hoot. It wasn't.

What makes this stuff so mindbogglingly, stupefyingly, crushingheadachingly bad isn't that it's all of those adjectives and so much more. It's because there are folks who just can't get enough of this Kungfoolishness.

Hell, there are people in this country who collect Precious Moments figurines, too, so I guess we're all even.

Avoid the USA version. It is with added US footage and the worst dubbing you've ever heard probably done by New York amateurs. The dubbing is so bad that it sounds like Mystery Science Theater 3000. I think a black guy from the Bronx does Chiba's voice. I couldn't watch the entire film it was that bad. Instead of this Americanized version watch Chiba's other greats like The Streetfighter or Karate Warriors.

I only heard of Sonny Chiba via the film True Romance and Quentin Tarantino being a big fan of him. Chiba appeared in the Kill Bill films.

However this movie is not a good introduction to Sonny Chiba. Karate Kiba is a recut version of The Bodyguard made a few years earlier.

The film opens with a narration that was ripped off by Tarantino for Pulp Fiction. The path of the righteous man.... as spoken by Samuel L Jackson.

We first see Chiba taking down a plane hijacking. We then see him offering to take down Japanese drug gangs and offers to become the personal bodyguard of anyone who has the information to take them down. A woman who claims to have valuable information steps forward but she has something to hide and Chiba and her always get into trouble with the Yakuza which leads to some martial arts action.

However the film is badly dubbed, poorly edited, the version I saw even had nudity pixelated. The script is rather pedestrian and the film even for a karate action film is rather disappointing despite the opening narration which offers a lot more than we actually get.

I got a question. Is there any widescreen versions of This awesome flick? Any help would be great. I know that there are full screen copies out there but i want it in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio. This film rocks. Sonny Chiba has never been better.The film rocks and it's interesting to see Chiba essentially playing himself. Surprislingly, this is one violent film. All of the butt-kicking of the Streetfighter with the action of 5 martial arts films rolled into one.

Karate Kiba (1976) Karate master and anti-drug vigilante Chiba returns to his home in Japan, where he holds a press conference announcing his intention to wipe out the nation's drug industry. He also offers his services as a bodyguard to anyone who is willing to come forward and provide information about the drug lords' activities. He is soon approached by a mysterious woman claiming to have important information and asking for Chiba's protection. She seems to be legitimate, but is she really what she appears to be?

The first few minutes of "The Bodyguard" do have a campy charm: it opens with crawling text from the Bible (the part that Samuel Jackson recites to his soon-to-be victims in "Pulp Fiction"), continues with two karate school teachers in New York arguing about the eternal question of mankind (who is better? Sonny Chiba or Bruce Lee?), and then Chiba appears, playing himself; he immediately stops a plane hijacking and breaks a bottle in two with his bare hand. Unfortunately, any entertainment value, intentional or unintentional, soon gets crushed by the disjointed story, the lack of action for long periods of time, and the poor quality of any present action. To keep it simple, here's why "The Bodyguard" is an unbearable movie to watch:

1) You don't know what's going on.

2) There are barely any fights.

3) The fights that are there, are short and terribly filmed.

Sonny Chiba is cool. Judy Lee is gorgeous, her face is glorious. It's only for them that I give "The Bodyguard" a 2nd star out of 10. This movie makes 87 minutes feel like 5 hours.

Ya this movie is kind of cheesy at times but I don't think it should be ripped apart like some of the other reviews. The plot is a bit thin but Sonny makes up for it as usual. As for the artsy camera work, I rather enjoyed it. The camera is shakey during running/fighting scenes but I enjoyed this. It gives the sense of a real chaotic situation instead of just situated camera work.

I do agree the dubbing is poor as hell but overall the movie worked for me and just reaffirmed Sonny Chiba as the Clint Eastwood of Japanese films.

I admit: I looked up this movie due to the biblical(ish) monologue that was borrowed by Tarantino in Pulp Fiction. It starts off the movie, and is by far the most interesting thing with it. I can understand Tarantino deciding to use it himself.

I have no experience with old martial art movies, but I do appreciate it as a genre, and the mark it has left on popular culture. After seeing this movie, I realize I should probably start with some of the more higher rated movies. Also, I'm not sure if watching the dubbed American releases is the best idea. Sure, it has a campy quality, and maybe it's a nostalgic feeling for those who saw these movies as they came out (or went as reruns) - but honoring the original intent of the director is probably a good idea. Still, even though I have only seen the American release of this movie, the director's intent here probably isn't that interesting.

As many have already pointed out, the plot is confusing and, well, boring. I love the premise: A master of martial arts publicly stating that he will serve as a body guard to anyone who will go against the drug mafia. That's a good set up for an interesting movie. But here it is followed up with bad fight scenes, silly decisions, horrid acting and boring dialog. Worst of all is maybe how the camera is operated. At times, it seems like the camera man thinks he is wielding a steady cam when he is not - leading to a very shaky image. Almost like when you see kids making movies, or home movies.

I could go on, but basically: Start somewhere else if you want to get into kung-fu movies.

BODYGUARD KIBA is a lesser-known vehicle for action star Sonny Chiba, not as well known as his most popular fare such as the STREET FIGHTER series of movies. This one sees the actor playing an international karate-fighting superstar who travels home to Japan to offer his services as a bodyguard. He's soon employed by a woman with links to the mafia who needs his help in protecting her from the hostile advances of a yakuza organisation intent on taking her life. This is a slow-paced odyssey that lacks decent action. It has the usual kinetic cinematography you see in Japanese action cinema of this era and some surprisingly graphic moments, but overall it feels quite average and lacking the genuine excitement of Chiba at his best.

As many have already pointed out, this film contains possibly the most inept action-scene camera-work in cinema history. Which is a great pity, because otherwise it has the makings of a Chiba classic.

Sonny plays himself, holding a press conference announcing to the World that he intends to rid Japan of the drug trade single handed, and then chops an unopened bottle of Coca Cola in half to demonstrate what the drug dealers have got coming to them. Meanwhile an Italian Mafia Don and his henchmen are gunned down on the steps of a Cathedral by the "Yellow Mafia" (as they are referred to in the film). However his Asian girlfriend is still alive and somehow she is the only person who knows the details of the drug connection between USA and Japan. She wants to pick up the drug shipment her boyfriend had already paid for, then sell the drugs and keep the money for herself. The Mafia and the "Yellow Mafia" want to find her and get the drugs without paying for them. Later three colourful independent thugs, who run a bar-brothel frequented by some of the other characters, get wind of the deal and try to muscle in. The girlfriend decides to take up Sonny's offer of protection and try to manipulate him using her womanly wiles.

By the B movie standards prevalent in 1970s Kung Fu movies that is a great plot. Unfortunately, it's all spoiled beyond redemption by the atrocious camera work and editing of the action scenes, which are plentiful but uniformly dreadful. Local colour scenes go on too long, action scenes are too short and incoherent.

On the plus side, there is one nice "artistic" shot of Sonny's female assistant left lying naked in a cruciform position in the shadow of an actual church cross after an encounter with one faction of villains (I feared she was dead, but after examining her, Sonny quickly brings her back to life with a bit of Kung-Fu chiropactory!).

Another point of interest is that Sonny's morals are a bit more traditional in this pre-Streetfighter incarnation. For example, when the femme fatal offers herself to him he declines, telling her that he is not going to be fooled and manipulated by sex, whereas Streetfighter Chiba would have slept with her and then told her that he was not going to be fooled and manipulated by sex.

Personally, I enjoyed the tacked on American beginning with the now familiar Bible quote later used in Pulp Fiction, and the two martial artists comparing notes on Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba technique, although it had the effect of raising my hopes, only for them to be dashed during the first appallingly filmed action scene on the plane.