Hello all of you fans of the martial arts film world and casual observers, we've got a classic for you today on Hai!Karate.... Sister Streetfighter starring Etsuko Shiomi!! Some of you may recognize her Western name of Sue Shiomi is prominent on the second poster. This film marks the first starring role for Shiomi, a member of the famed Shinichi 'Sonny' Chiba's Japan Action Club of actors and stuntmen and it's a true breakout performance on the heels of Chiba's own box-office success with The Streetfighter in the same year. Co-starring in this picture with Shiomi is Chiba himself, along with Masashi Ishibashi, Emi(May)Hayakawa and Hiroshi Kondo among others. The direction of the film is handled by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, who made a bit of a name for himself prior to this movie for a ribald reason. But let's get into this movie right here...
Sister Streetfighter opens up in the bustling
city of Hong Kong. Li Koryu(Shiomi) is
called into the police inspector's
office and told that her brother, Mansel
(Hiroshi Miyauchi)has disappeared. A
Shorinji Kenpo champion as well as a
police detective, it's relayed to Koryu
that he was possibly taken by the cartel
of heroin smugglers operating under a
shipping comapny front called Capital
Export that he was seeking to bring in.
Koryu sets out for Yokohama, Japan and
finds herself caught up in a brawl with some
shipyard toughs in a cafe. She does handle
them all with the help of her cousins
Jiro and Remi. (Note the usage of flies
in this scene to ward off the lecherous
'pests'.)They go to her uncle's(Kondo)
restaurant, where Koryu gets a message with
a red rose. This rose is the calling card
of Fang Shing, a singer at the Club
Mandarin who was working with Mansei.
Koryu goes to meet her, but is assaulted.
Fang Shing gets abducted by assassins,
but is promptly rescued by Seiichi Hibiki
(Chiba) who escorts her to his girlfriend's
ballet studio. Koryu goes to Mansei's
dojo and meets with his sensei who reveals
his own suspicions behind Mansei's
disappearance. He also tells Koryu that
he asked Hibiki to help search, and has
asked another prized student, Emi(Hayakawa)
to help. Koryu goes to the ballet studio
to meet Fang Shing, who details how she
saw Mansei get trapped. But she then goes
into a frenzy caused by heroin withdrawal.
At that moment, thug students of Hammerhead
Inubashiri(Ishibashi)burst in to get Fang
Shing again. They catch the beatdown from
Koryu and Hibiki's girlfriend who shows
off her own fighting chops. As this goes
on, Fang Shing is assassinated by a man
with a blowgun and a big-ass shield and
cape. Seriously.
With Fang Shing's death, Koryu realizes
that the stakes are high. Especially when
she finds out that the main villain is
a known magnate, Shigetomi Kazuzaki(Bin
Amatsu)who'll stop at nothing to kill
her. And by nothing, that also means
letting loose Hammerhead and an international
assortment of fighters from a Tonfa
expert to the Amazon Seven, woman Muay
Thai Brawlers.(Side note: that would be
a dope-ass name for a rock band.)Koryu
winds up in harried battle after battle
until she enters Kazukaki's mansion to
find Mansel and finish the cartel once
and for all...
Sister Streetfighter is pure action. If
you're looking for heavily detailed plot
development, you will be disappointed. Not
to say that the story doesn't move. You
get enough to tie in all of the battles
in a neat line until the final showdown.
This is all due to Morifumi Suzuki's
screenplay. Suzuki is best known for his
work in bringing the 'pink film' genre
to more popularity in Japan. 'Pink' films
are essentially a broad genre that has
one common element, eroticism. So you can
find soft-core porn content to the extreme
pornographic element in those films without
any real display of genitalia in conjunction
with Japanese film guidelines of the time.
Toei Studios, like others during the '70's,
was trying to stave off financial hardship.
They would start incorporating elements of
the genre more and more. Suzuki would go
on to be heavily involved with a few of
those films in his career. The director
himself would as well. It does explain why
when the film was first released in the
West via New Line Cinema, it was given the
'X' rating for the gore and nudity present.
In order to get it released in grindhouse
theaters across the U.S., six minutes were
trimmed. Most DVD releases now have the
full, uncut version. But the film's greatest
success belongs to Etsuko Shiomi.
Shiomi wasn't even eighteen years old yet
when she made this movie, by some records.
Her fighting prowess is exceptional, and
gives off enough power to keep fight film
fans more than satisfied. It's easy to see
why Chiba enlisted her for the Japan Action
Club. She also boasts supreme acrobatic
skill which is a highlight in all of her
scenes in the movie. This film would cement
her as a box-office draw and cult figure
in Japanese cinema. Sonny Chiba makes the
most of his brief time in the flick too,
with a snappy line to match his kicks near
the end in one of the final fight scenes.
Now, there is an element of cheese throughout.
Bear in mind this IS the '70's. Kazukaki's
get-ups are pretty much American Bandstand
ready. And note that his claw hand is a
direct jack from Enter The Dragon.
Also, the blowgun dude from earlier? You
mean to tell me NO ONE saw this dude coming
with that shield? It's bigger than him!!
The wire work at times can be disconcerting
when combined with the director's choice at
times to use dizzying camera angles for scenes.
That said, there's a good amount of gore
and blood in this movie. You might get a
bit queasy when Koryu dispatches one of
the main lieutenants near the end in a
'twist' of sorts. Evil-doers catch bad ones
in bad ways, much in line with Yamaguchi's
style, but also symbolic. Emi's fight scene
in the end testifies to that with her
final move. As much as this would seem at
first to be a play off of Chiba's smash
hit, Sister Streetfighter stands alone as
a terrific film. Enough so that FOUR more
films were done in the series in the next
two years. This film may have an aura of
camp to it, but it is important as a film
that helped further established that women
could not only be great in these martial
arts films in Japan but that they could be
serious box office draws.So if you want
some hard-hitting action delivered by a sister
with strength and grace, Sister Streetfighter
is a must-see.
RATING: 3.5 OF 5 DRAGON PUNCHES
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