Kenka karate kyokushin burai ken (1975) User Reviews

As long as you can forgive the guy in the bear costume, it's pretty good

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 February 2007]

This movie definitely improved after I'd seen the movie AND read about the film on IMDb. That's because the plot seems very rambling and in places stupid (a guy fighting a bear?) BUT it turns out this is actually based on the life of a real person and real incidents!!!! I guess that means this fool really did fight and beat a bear using karate!!!!! So of course having this plot element not only must be forgiven, but it must be included in the film as well since it is part of a three part biography of the master of Sonny Chiba (the star of the film). The only problem, then, is that you couldn't in 1977 actually have Chiba fight a bear--not only would it have been dangerous but animal rights people would have understandably gone nuts!! So, they were forced to use someone in a bear costume. Now it isn't the cheesiest of costumes, but it still just didn't look right. Now, with great CG technology, this could be done well--at the time it just wasn't possible.

Despite this complaint, this only makes up a small part of the film. The rest is a seemingly pointless existence at times for the lead character. Sometimes, he lives honorably and soberly, while at others he's a pathetic drunk. However, even in both cases, his deep sense of justice guides his life. So, like the lead character in the Zatoichi films, this guy is out to right wrongs and look out for the little guy. And as this type of film, it succeeds very well, though some of the camera work during fight was very poor and the bad guys did tend to attack Chiba one at a time--a cliché that makes many martial arts films seem a tad silly.

By the way, a similar type of biographical film about the creator of a martial art in Japan are the two judo films Akria Kurosawa made in the 1940s (Sugata Sanshiro and Zoku Sugata Sanshiro). However, for Kurosawa fans, these films are very disappointing--especially the second one since it was essentially an anti-American propaganda film. A new treatment of the life of the founder of Judo would be greatly appreciated and if anyone knows of such a film, let me know.

By the way, I really appreciate that this film is subtitled and not dubbed like so many of the 70s kung fu movies. Seeing it in its original form is a definite plus.

Sonny Chiba versus a guy in a bear suit

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 12 March 2015]

Ace karate master Masutatso Oyama (Sonny Chiba, as fearsome and ferocious as ever) earns the resentment of his peers in the martial arts community after he wins a major tournament using his unorthodox style. After meeting and befriending a lonely little boy named Rinato, Oyama agrees to fight a bear in order to raise the money to take care of Rinato's injured father.

Director Kazuhiko Yamaguzhi relates the engrossing story at a snappy pace and maintains a stark serious tone throughout. Naturally, Chiba lays on his trademark no-holds-barred savagery something fierce as he takes out opponents with a single lethal blow and more than holds his own against multiple attackers. The scenes between Chiba and the little boy are quite moving while the big match between Chiba and the bear (some guy in a pretty decent suit) rates as a real corker. Yumi Takigawa lends able support as Oyama's loyal and long-suffering girlfriend Chiyako. The lovely Yutaka Nakujima has a regrettably smallish role as the sweet Sumiko. Yoshio Nakajima's vibrant cinematography makes neat use of zooms and whiplash pans. Recommended viewing for Chiba fans.

Karate Man-in-Bear-suit Fighter

[seveb-25179 · 5/10 · 31 January 2024]

Sonny Chiba once again recycling plot elements from The Samurai Trilogy in this sequel to "Karate Bull Fighter", the second edition of "The Oyama Trilogy".

For example, near the climax of the movie, Sonny faces an opponent armed with a small scythe in one hand, while whirling a long chain, with a spiked metal ball on the end of it, in the other, just as Toshiro Mufune did early on in the second Samurai Trilogy film. Later the final one on one takes place on a beach, just as the final climactic duel in the Samurai Trilogy did, and involves running and splashing along the water's edge. Sonny's character becomes entwined in the life of a small boy, just as Mifune's character did, etc.

The disappointing aspect of this movie is that they choose to reuse much of the same action footage from the ambush scene from the first movie in this one.

Unlike the bull from the first movie, the bear is this battle is not real, but I thought the fight scene with the man in the bear suit was cleverly shot and assembled, so by "fake bear fight" scene standards, it was quite effective.

In this one Sonny's character does actually appear to learn some life lessons as he goes along, shows some friendly feeling for others and does a few good deeds, but in the end he leaves them all behind and, this time, walks off into the falling snow.

He encounters the woman he raped in the first movie and she still harbours inexplicable feelings of love toward him, but nothing comes of it, the boy is left running along behind the train Sonny is leaving town on, calling out his name, like the kid in the Western "Shane". The Japanese just don't seem to be into happy endings?

Note - in real life, Oyama married a Japanese woman, Oyako Chiyako in 1946, when he was 23, and had three children with her. In the late 1960s, Oyama and Chiyako decided to separate, and Chiyako, who did not want her husband to start seeing other women, arranged for a Korean woman and family friend named Sun-ho Hong to become Oyama's companion. With Hong, Oyama had three more children and he would remain romantically involved with both Hong and Chiyako until the end of his life.