Classic Sonny Chiba Movies (BFS/American Home Treasures)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C- Films: C+
Sonny
Chiba fans wanting more than just another set of the Street Fighter films will want to consider (for its content and
price) the three-film, single-DVD Classic
Sonny Chiba Movies from BFS. It
features Sister Street Fighter,
which happens to be on the VCI Street Fighter set to begin with, despite the
fact that Chiba is not in it much.
That set is reviewed, along with BFS’s own Street Fighter set on this site. Since Sister Street Fighter was already discussed in the VCI review, we
will not summarize them again. They are
obviously of interest to anyone interested in the Karate/Kung-Fu cycle of the
1970s and Hong
Kong
action films today. Quentin Tarantino,
lately with both volumes of Kill Bill,
has pumped up interest further.
Like the
VCI set, Sister Street Fighter is
here in a 2.35 X 1 letterboxed frame, but not anamorphic and the transfers are
only so good. The difference is that the
VCI transfers have better color, while definition differences are negligible
and make little difference, though the VCIs have better night images. The sound is the same amusingly bad dubbing
on both; all in Dolby Digital 2.0 from both companies. Both sets also have bio/filmography extras,
with little difference. These are barely
regular stereo at best, if you can call it that.
The new
additions are Shogun’s Ninja and The Bodyguard. Ninja is
here in a non-anamorphic 2.35 X 1 transfer, except that is not totally
unsqueezed quite right, so those with widescreen TVs could experiment with this
one a bit. However, there is some
unrecoverable cut-off throughout. It is
set in the 16th Century, but barely has a budget to look like it was
made right today. Silly as it is,
including the gray ninjas who look overdone dress-wise, versus their more
efficient counterparts in Lewis Gilbert’s 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, are not too
convincing. It is more comical than
expected and has its share of kickin’ energy.
A Robin Hood clone is also at work in the plot. As Shogun, Chiba is put in the villain role, more
or less. You decide.
Bodyguard (1976) is obviously not an
original draft of the increasingly bizarre Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston
vehicle, but a modern-set Gangster film which has the Ezekiel passage Quentin
Tarantino made famous in Pulp Fiction
(1992) his way. The film is full screen,
and it looks like the film was shot that way in full frame, including the
option of matting it widescreen (1.75/1.78/1.85), so those with widescreen TVs
can again experiment. Only a few shots
make me question that. This tale of the
Japanese Yakuza vs. New York mob (read Italians and probably Jewish mobsters,
plus a few African Americans for good measure?!?) may not be a genre classic,
but at least it is not the politically correct mess all such films since
Michael Cimino’s ever great Year of the
Dragon (1985) have been. Like
Cimino’s film, this has a few politically incorrect moments, barely running 90
minutes.
This offers
missing links to Chiba’s career and influence on the
genre and its revival, so it is worth a look for all concerned, while fans will
really like it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
