In a recent episode of the podcast "Retro Life 4 You: Movies of The 80's," hosts Chris Adams and Travis Rollins delved into a discussion about the 1985 movie American Ninja. American Ninja is an action-packed film that revolves around the character Joe Armstrong, played by Michael Dudikoff, who is an American soldier with exceptional martial arts skills. The movie is praised for its unique storyline, impressive action sequences, and martial arts action. They also discussed the martial arts backgrounds of the actors, particularly Dudikoff's achievement of a black belt in jiu-jitsu.
The hosts emphasized the importance of filming techniques in creating the illusion of martial arts skills. They noted how camera angles and editing were used to enhance the on-screen experience, making the fight sequences more captivating for the viewers. This was important for the movie to help make the fights look fore realistic for those who may not have been as well trained in martial arts. The Black Star Ninja played by Tadashi Yamashita was already well trained, he is a tenth dan in both karatedo and kobudo martial arts.
Despite its initial lukewarm reception at the box office, "American Ninja" found its audience when it hit VHS. Chris Adams mentioned that the movie made around $10 million at the box office, which was considered a decent profit for a film with a $1 million budget. The hosts attributed its success to its appeal as a good action movie, particularly for male viewers. Let's be honest, as a guy during that time especially in your teens, the ninja genre was a pretty big thing that caught all the attention, Every guy wanted throwing stars, every guy wanted nunchucks, not to mention all the cool looking blades that were used as weapons.
The popularity of the first film spun off a number of sequels with Michael Dudikoff & Steve James starring together in the first two. Dudikoff didn't return for part three so Steve James starred along side of David Bradley taking the story in a different direction, Dudikoff did return for part four to star with David Bradley this time and they are tied together as friends who had served together somewhere. They eventually made a 5th release to the franchise with David Bradley and Pat Morita with it finally stopping there.
Michael Dudikoff would go on to do quite a few other movies. He starred in Avenging Force, River of Death, The Human Shield, Soldier Boyz, Bounty Hunters and so much more as well as a TV series called Cobra. After American Ninja, Steve James was in movies such as To Live & Die in L.A., The Delta Force, P.O.W. The Escape and much more including a reunion with Dudikoff in Avenging Force. Judie Aronson had previously been in Weird Science along with Steve James although they never had a scene together as well as a role in Friday the 13th IV: The Final Chapter and then having success on television playing parts in numerous TV shows.
If American Ninja was a part of your childhood and you enjoyed it as much as we did then write to us and tell us about it. The shows email is [email protected] and you can find us at Instagram and Facebook as retrolife4you.