The Executioner Collection

There were plenty of heir apparents to Bruce Lee’s martial arts crown after his untimely death.  But the one with the most charisma was Sonny Chiba, a former matinee idol who reinvented himself in the ‘70s with and anti-hero attitude and a smoldering stare.  The same year his Streetfighter films propelled him to cult stardom, 1974’s The Executioner proved his flexibility in the genre, leading a team of Charlie’s Angels-style criminals into all-out war against foreign drug smugglers.  More spoof than stunt-heavy action pic, the violence is balanced with sexist Benny Hill comedy and plenty of jokes at the tough guy’s expense.

Koga (Sonny Chiba), trained as a ninja since childhood, is recruited by an underground organization to rid Japan of the criminal element police are unable to handle themselves.   Teamed with an ex-cop turned hitman and comic-relief dojo master, the trio works their way through the best international fighters the Mafia has to offer…with their promised reward money always just out of reach.

 

A fun Suicide Squad karate flick, The Executioner has personality to spare and an undercurrent of perversity likely suggested by director Teruo Ishii, whose previous films like Orgies of Edo and Horrors of Malformed Menweren’t afraid to embrace their weird and wild tendencies.  Here, the plot stays mostly on course as Chiba cracks ribs, pops eyeballs and sneaks a peek up a few skirts.  It’s juvenile in the best sense, full of lowbrow humor and sight gags that Bruce Lee would never have been able to pull off.  

 

The sequel, The Executioner II: Karate Inferno (also 1974), goes even further into comedy territory.  A heist film that finds the team reunited to steal back a missing diamond, Chiba and company trade more jokes than punches, perhaps a disappointment to Streetfighter fans who missed the star’s more ruthless onscreen persona.  But he does pee on the back of a fellow actor to extinguish some flames…so it’s got that going for it!

 

A straight-up good time, Arrow Video’s double-feature Blu-ray set comes with a new audio commentary, 30-minute featurette with interviews explaining Chiba’s rise to fame, trailers, image galleries and reversible artwork.  It’s a guaranteed good night in the home theater!  

 

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