Mr. Chiba, who was trained in karate and other martial arts, began turning up on Japanese television in his early 20s. He was soon making movies as well, amassing more than 50 TV and film credits in Japan before the end of the 1960s. In the ’70s, with martial arts movies enjoying broad popularity thanks to the American-born Chinese star Bruce Lee, Mr. Chiba became widely known in Japan and beyond, especially because of “The Street Fighter” (1974) and its sequels.
“The Street Fighter,” in which his character battled gangsters, was so violent that when it was released in the United States it was said to have been the first movie given an X rating for violence alone.
“If nothing else,” A.H. Weiler wrote in a brief review in The New York Times in 1975, when the movie played in New York, “this Japanese-made, English-dubbed import illustrates that its inane violence deserves the X rating with which it has been labeled.” In 1996, when a DVD of the film was released, The Los Angeles Times said it was being “presented complete and uncut in all its eye-gouging, testicle-ripping, skull-pounding glory.”
You know, I’ve never seen “The Street Fighter”, and now I want to. (There’s a Shout! Factory blu-ray which is kind of pricy, but contains all three “Street Fighter” movies.)
209 credits in IMDB. The man worked.
I just saw that Tom T. Hall has passed away, at the age of 85. A treasure of writing and performing, I will miss his style, as yet another of the heroes of my youth pass on, reminding me that I am indeed getting closer to the end of the line.
On a different note, as I sit here typing this, watching the Detroit Tigers play in Toronto, Miguel Cabrera just hit his 500th home run, a milestone he has been chasing for awhile now, being stuck on 499 for some time.
Be well, and as always, thanks for all you do. Don’t forget, professional football is heating up.