These are the elements that elevate Enter The Ninja above your run-of-the-mill shlock. Fight scenes are delivered with the utmost seriousness, until out of nowhere the filmmakers decided to throw in a few cartoon sound effects immediately changing the tone of the scene without reason or purpose.
#Enter the ninja 1981 movie#
At minute fifty we learn that a character can’t perform in the bedroom for his wife anymore - this offers nothing at all to the plot or the soon-to-be-dead character in any way other than it sounds like something a better movie would have. It’s so inept and chaotic that you can’t help but smile when it tries earnestly to develop stories and characters that are well beyond its scope. Golan and Globus had succeeded in spite of themselves and this was the blueprint for their films for the next ten years as The Cannon Group experienced varying degrees of success with their productions before eventually shutting down for good.Įnter The Ninja is a glorious mess of a movie. So now not only does your star not know anything about martial arts and can’t perform his own fight scenes, he won’t even be lending his voice to the project he is no more than a body that fills up the frame.ĭespite all these shortcomings and what seemed like a guaranteed recipe for disaster the movie became a huge success - it spawned two sequels and countless imitations with the newfound popularity for Ninjas. Instead of changing the script, they simply decided to dub all of Nero’s lines during post-production - eliminating one of the main reasons for casting him in the first place - and replace him in the fight scenes with the original writer and star of the film.
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The only problems with casting Nero? The character of Cole was supposed to be from Texas and a master in martial arts, but Franco Nero had an extremely thick Italian accent and knew nothing about Ninjas or martial arts. His first order of business was to re-cast the starring role of Cole with someone more recognizable.įranco Nero was hastily cast by Golan and Globus for his international appeal and recognizable face. When Cannon’s most bankable star (Charles Bronson) refused to let Menahem Golan direct Death Wish 2, Golan kicked the director off this project and decided to make it himself. However, the film did not open in Los Angeles until April 30, 1982.Golan and Globus were innovators in shlock and Enter The Ninja might be one of their most accomplished works. Production ended quickly by the end of March 1981 with the intention of screening the film at the Cannes Film Festival with a general release set for Easter of 1982. Also in the cast were Susan George, Sho Kosugi, Alex Courtney and Christopher George. Although he did not star in the final film, Mike Stone was given credit for stunt coordination, choreographing fight scenes and the film's original story, with screenplay by Dick Desmond. Sho Kosugis first appearance in a big movie is still pretty great. Production began on Januin Japan and the Philippines with Emmet Alston directing, but by February, Variety reported that producer Golan had taken directing duties from Alston and Nero was now playing Cole. In 1981, Enter the Ninja was probably badass. That part was to have gone to Karate champ Mike Stone, who was working on the screenplay. Franco Nero was not the original choice for the lead role of Cole, a newly-minted ninja who goes to the Philippines to help a friend defend his plantation. Enter the Ninja was to be one of a multi-film and television deal between MGM and The Cannon Group, Inc. Golan first entered the project in the late fall of 1980 with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer set to make the film with a budget estimated at between $2 and $4 million.
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Filmed on location in Manila, Philippines, Enter the Ninja (1981) was the brainchild of producer Menahem Golan, who wanted to create the first American film about ninjas.