''The Challenge'' is a 1982 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

John Frankenheimer John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' (1962), ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1 ...

and written by

John Sayles John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and ''L ...

, Richard Maxwell, and

Marc Norman Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...

. The film stars

Scott Glenn Theodore Scott Glenn (born January 26) is an American actor. His roles have included Pfc Glenn Kelly in ''Nashville'' (1975), Wes Hightower in ''Urban Cowboy'' (1980), astronaut Alan Shepard in '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), Emmett in '' Silverado'' ...

and

Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

, and features several

aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...

-based action scenes choreographed by

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal (; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, screenwriter and martial artist. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-l ...

, prior to the start of his own film career.

Plot

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

, one of a pair known as "The Equals", was an heirloom of the Yoshida family, passed down through the generations before being lost during World War II. It was finally tracked down and recovered in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

by Toshio and Akiko. Hoping to return its rightful owner, their father Toru, Toshio hires down-on-his luck

prize fighter Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

Rick Murphy to smuggle the sword back to Japan. Upon their arrival, Murphy and Toshio are captured by Hideo's thugs. Murphy learns that the sword is a fake and himself a decoy, intended to ward off potential thieves. Toshio is murdered and Murphy is faced with the prospect of being killed by Toru's brother, a well-connected ''kuromaku'' (or "black curtain" in English, a fixer who works behind the scenes for

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

) named Hideo. Murphy escapes Hideo's thugs and is rescued by Akiko before he is murdered. Murphy awakens in Akiko's family home and after a brief stay departs with his money. Hideo's thugs find Murphy and instead of murdering him they advise him to infiltrate Yoshida's martial arts school and obtain the sword. He does so, yet finds himself being drawn into the ways of Japanese etiquette and tradition to the point where he returns the sword to Toru himself after having the perfect opportunity to escape with it. Murphy then humbly asks Toru if he can be forgiven and taken back in because he wants to learn the ways of

Bushido is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle. There are multiple bushido types which evolved significantly through history. Contemporary forms of bushido are still used in the social and economic organization of Japan. ...

. Toru agrees, but only if Murphy follows Toru's conditions. Murphy continues to bumble his way through life at Toru's school until, after a treacherous and almost fatal attempt by one of the higher members of the school to steal the sword, he leaves and is found in a hotel in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

by Akiko, Toru's only daughter. Finding romance, they go out to see the sights and sounds of the city, including watching a

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

ceremony. During the hub-bub of the crowded parade, Murphy and Akiko get separated and Hideo's henchmen kidnap her and deliver her to her uncle. Toru, laden with ancient weaponry, ventures out to Hideo's industrial complex where he is shot and wounded by Hideo's bodyguard Ando. Ando is slain by Hideo for this, and Murphy – who has joined him in his quest – opts to fight Hideo to defend his

sensei Sensei, Seonsaeng, Tiên sinh or Xiansheng, corresponding to Chinese characters , is an East Asian honorific term shared in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese; it is literally translated as "person born before another" or "one who comes ...

. Murphy manages to kill Hideo and present "The Equals" to Toru.

Cast

as Rick Murphy *

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

as Satoru "Toru" Yoshida *

Atsuo Nakamura is a Japanese actor and politician. He has appeared in more than 50 films since 1964. His younger brother Katsuyuki Nakamura is a writer. Career Nakamura first joined the Haiyuza theatre troupe in 1962, and became famous for his starring role i ...

as Hideo Yoshida * Donna Kei Benz as Akiko Yoshida *

Calvin Jung Calvin Jung (born February 17, 1945) is an American actor who is best known for his appearances in the films ''The Day After'', '' RoboCop'' and ''Lethal Weapon 4''. Career 1970's: Early work In the 1970s, Jung appeared in the "Ancient Chines ...

as Ando *

Clyde Kusatsu Clyde Kusatsu (born September 13, 1948) is an American actor and trade union leader of Japanese descent. Since 2013, he has served as the National Vice President of SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local. Life and career Clyde Kusatsu was born in Hawaii a ...

as Go * Sab Shimono as Toshio Yoshida ** Ryuji Yamashita as young Toshio * Kiyoaki Nagai as Kubo *

Kenta Fukasaku is a Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter. He is the son of film director Kinji Fukasaku and actress Sanae Nakahara. Biography He made his writing debut in the popular Japanese cult film '' Battle Royale'', which his father directed. He wrote th ...

as Jiro * Shōgo Shimada as Shin'ichi Yoshida *

Yoshio Inaba was a Japanese actor best known for his role as Gorobei in Akira Kurosawa's '' Seven Samurai''. In addition to his career in film, Inaba was also a prolific theater actor and a member of the prestigious Haiyuza Theatre Company. He died of a heart ...

as Kenzo the Instructor *

Seiji Miyaguchi was a Japanese actor who appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai and many others. He succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 71. Distinctions One of Kurosawa's iconic '' Seven Samurai'', Miyaguchi won the 19 ...

as Old Man *

Miiko Taka (born Miiko Shikata July 24, 1925 – January 2023) was an American actress, popular for her film and TV roles from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. Her best known role was as an elegant Japanese dancer starring opposite Marlon Brando in t ...

as Machiko Yoshida

Production

The film was shot entirely in Japan. The

Kyoto International Conference Center The , abbreviated as ICC Kyoto and previously called the Kyoto International Conference Hall, is a large conference facility located at Takaragaike, Sakyō-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in this hall. The ...

was used as the location of Hideo's headquarters.

Alternate version

A re-edited version of the film entitled ''Sword of the Ninja'' was created for television. In this version, about ten minutes of footage are cut, some of the graphic violence of the original version is removed, and "fades" are added to make room for commercial breaks.

Reception

Critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a C+ grade, calling it a "pointless", "low-level

Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...

flick". He enjoyed Frankenheimer's directing and Mifune's performance, questioning why they chose to make such a film. '' Time Out'' wrote that the "elaborate combat will please fans", but that ''

The Yakuza ''The Yakuza'' is a 1974 neo-noir crime drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura and Brian Keith. The screenplay by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne is from a story by Schrader's brother, Leonard Schrader. ...

'' was a much better film in the genre.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' was unimpressed with the film's "regrettably vicious streak" and wrote that the film had unused potential. However, she praised

's performance as adding weight to the film. Adam Lippe, writing for

Examiner.com Examiner.com was an American news website based in Denver, Colorado, that operated using a network of " pro-am contributors"' for content. It had various local editions with contributors posting city-based items tailored to 238 markets throughou ...

, had a better opinion of the film, calling it "grimy, off-putting, and just right for the moment." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''The Challenge'' holds a rating of 50% from 16 reviews.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Challenge, The 1982 action films 1982 films American action films 1980s English-language films Films directed by John Frankenheimer Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Kyoto Prefecture Films set in Kyoto Films set in 1945 Films set in 1982 1980s Japanese-language films Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith CBS Theatrical Films films Films with screenplays by John Sayles Embassy Pictures films Japan in non-Japanese culture Yakuza films 1980s American films 1980s Japanese films