The Year of Cannon: American Ninja! (1985)

Good thing that flag was there. The title would have made no sense.

This post is late. I know people were on the edge of their seats waiting for another blog boast about a film that is over 30 years old and my poorly constructed thoughts about it, and I apologize. At least I didn't try to write about 30 films in roughly four months. Only an idiot would try to do that.

As Steve and I (along with special guest Kevin) have previously covered Cannon's first foray in the ninja film, Enter the Ninja, and knowing that Cannon stumbled into a minor gold mine of a very specific sub-genre of action films, I thought it would be fun to check out another of their ninja entries. So does the American Ninja strike fast and deadly or does it vanish into a puff of smoke that smells of failure?

Here is the wikipedia page about the film. Here is the imdb.com page for cast and crew information.

Let's get this out of the way first. I am biased. I haven stated multiple times about my new found love of Fanco Nero, our dashing hero form Enter The Ninja. LOOK AT THOSE EYES:

He really does not need any additional weapons.

Nero does have a presence and swagger that makes him very likable even in a film in which they dubbed his voice because no one would have believed his Italian accent wasn't just a really specific part of Texas. For a guy who didn't know any martial arts and had to portray a master, he did a pretty good job.

American Ninja does not have Franco Nero in it, which is already a strike against it. To be fair, any film that does not have Franco Nero in it has strike against it as we all know.

No Nero? GARRRRRRRBAGGGGGGGGE.

It does have something that a lot of other Cannon films did not have at this time: an unknown in the lead. A lot of Cannon's 'success' was finding a known name and then luring them in with a decent (or in some cases a very large payday, look up the deal Stallone got for Over The Top and laugh) pay check and then cutting all the corners around the film until it was supposedly cheap enough to turn a profit regardless. That was always the intent, and sometimes it worked, but usually it didn't. When it came to American Ninja, Cannon looked at lot of potential leading men, including one of their go to Chucks (Norris, but he turned it down because the mask would cover his face), but they eventually decided on Michael Dudikoff because Menahem Golan thought he looked a lot James Dean.

If James Dean was in an episode of the A-Team.

I can see it. He does have a good look about him. My mind doesn't go to James Dean first, though. I see Glenn Howerton, aka Dennis Reynolds form It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The D.U.D.I.K.O.F.F. plan is way more complicated.

The filmmakers make it a point to not have Dudikoff speak at all for the first 15 minutes of the film. It was to make his character, Joe, look like the silent bad ass type and it kind of works. His character is a low man in the army and doesn't engage with any of the other soldiers around him and only begrudgingly does what he is told. He is driving a truck in a convoy when it is ambushed by local rebels and... NINJAS!

We get to see some of his amazing ability to improvise weapons out of tools.

The is what I always hope AAA does when I have to call them.

And he eventually stares down the head ninja, who has a black star tattoo his face and is only known as the Black Star Ninja. I know his naming is super complicated, tell me to slow down if you get lost.  

Joe stops the majority of the attack though a few soldiers die and he ends up running off into the jungle to protect the daughter of the colonel as she is being targeted by the remaining ninja. This is when you first hear Joe speak, and the voice doesn't exactly match the body. Its not bad, its just not bad ass. Maybe that was the intent he was going for, as his character doesn't actively choose violence but if prompted he will finish the fight. Still, I wouldn't talk about his voice to his face as I don't want a tire iron thrown at my head.

The film follows a few paths at this point. We learn the Black Star Ninja is working for a wealthy plantation owner in the area who is also a black market arms dealer. We also find that there is a FULL NINJA TRAINING COMPLEX on the plantation grounds.

It is very important to color code your ninja.

I love this sequence because of how ludicrous it is. My only complaint is that we never see the red, yellow, or orange ninjas in the field. That's a failed video game level opportunity there. You could have Joe fight his way up the color ranks until he was ready to face off against the Black Star Ninja.

...also, what was up with that swing set that had wicker tubes filled with knives?

Joe is off dealing with the consequences of his heroics. We find out that Joe has no real past as he was rescued from an pacific island after an explosion with no memory of what happened before. He has no family and a record of trouble following him around and was forced to join the military or go to prison. The Colonel is deciding whether or not to court marshal him for saving the cargo and more lives than were lost (it doesn't make sense to me either), and the other troops are giving him grief due to the dead soldiers. One of the men, Corporal Curtis Jackson (played with gusto by Steve James) challenges Joe to fight to punish him for his actions. Joe defends himself repeatedly and making Jackson look like a fool, which pisses him off further and further. Joe eventually decides to humiliate Jackson but putting a bucket on his head, covering his face and letting Jackson take a free shot.

The bucket shows more emotion than Dudikoff does. 

Joe anticipates the swing and puts Jackson on the ground. Within moments, Jackson respects Joe and then they are best friends. That's how fast their bond forms. I don't think after getting my ass beat I would think 'We should be besties' but maybe that's why I only had friends that I could beat up (i.e. none).

They cement their new found friends ship with a very awkward handshake.

I can see why. Jackson was distracted by Not Nero's Eyes.

Jackson presses Joe about his fighting skills and Joe admits he doesn't know where he got them but that they are instinctual, though he does get flashes of memory of an older Japanese man from when he was younger (Joe, not the Japanese man).

I think we know who really taught Joe, though: The Night Man.

And his cat like reflexes.

It becomes clear that there are those in the military that are in cahoots with the plantation owner/arms dealer and are working together to get rid of Joe. This leads to a series of escalating conflicts where Joe is ambushed by (sadly not color coded) ninjas. He is more than capable of handling himself. Here is an implausible bit where he has makes a double sword throw count:

Pretty sure that not is supposed to work that way.

Joe again is blamed for the loss of equipment and death of guards by his commanding officer (who is very much in the back pocket of the arms dealer) and puts him in the stockade. It is revealed that Colonel is also working with the arms dealer but is now having seconds thoughts about it. The Black Star Ninja is sent to capture the Colonel's daughter, the one Joe rescued earlier and is his love interest.  

He goes about it in a very direct way:

This is what happens when I order Grubhub from some place I have never tried before. 

Joe gets out of his cell and is on his way to save the girl and reveal the truth when his commanding officer chases him and tries to run his jeep off the road. I don't know what material the jeeps are made out of, but I question their safety.

Jeeps are made of 10% metal, and 90% explosives.

As soon as Joe gets to the compound, he is intercepted by the greens keeper, Shinyuki (John Fujioka). He reveals himself to be the old Japanese man from Joe's fractured memories. Shinyuki raised Joe from a child and taught him the way of the ninja. He then kits Joe out in all the traditional ninja gear: the black outfit with the hood, katanas, sai, and fetching good looks.

Shinyuki also tells Joe that he is a master of ninja magic. This is never once hinted at in the film before this point but it is now a thing. He shows off this skill when he sacrifices himself to save Joe from an attack by the Black Star Ninja.

Why couldn't he just appeared by the Black Star Ninja and knock the blade out of his hand?
He might know magic, but he doesn't know logic.

Before the final showdown can begin, Jackson storms the gates of the compound with the army (showing us all that the true magic of the ninja is friendship) and lays waste to anyone that is non-ninja. This leaves the Black Star Ninja for Joe... Ninja? Ninja Joe? Jinja?

The Black Star Ninja shows up to the fight with his traditional ninja weapons:

Hand Cannon™!

and

He hates these plants!

I didn't know literal handguns and lasers were the tools of the trade for ninjas, but I'm sure American Ninja did its homework and Cannon has never been wrong about how the world works on a day to day basis, right?

The Black Star Ninja falls and Joe saves the girl and Jackson uses a rocket launcher to blow up the arms dealer's escaping helicopter. The only way this ending could have been more 80's is if the helicopter would have exploded into a giant ball of cocaine. Maybe they are saving that one for one many sequels there were made.

Though the production design of this film looks like a TV show, and the score is just as pedestrian as youwould expect, I enjoyed American Ninja. The action is ridiculous, the acting is very hit or miss, but it is fun and the story is coherent. Having a Cannon film make it from point A to point B without completing going off the rails is a minor miracle. The film was made on a budget of around 1 million dollars and made 10 million at the box office (who really know the numbers as Golan and Globus constantly clouded production cots and profit, but it is agreed this film was profitable) and it kept Cannon in the business of making more ninja films and it gave Michael Dudikoff a larger career than I will ever have.

American Ninja should be the stock example of what someone is shown when they ask what a Cannon film is like. It's good, but not great. It's fun, but lacking. It tries to be serious but can't hide its winking at the camera for approval. Halfway through our Year of Cannon and I can say that I liked this one more than I was expecting.

...only if it had Franco Nero in it. Then it would have been damn near perfect.

See you in my dreams.

Parting Cannon Shots

Is this better or worse that The Apple?

This is better than the The Apple. This is comparing The Apple and oranges, though. American Ninja has no musical numbers and The Apple has no ninjas. I feel like Cannon dropped the ball by not combining the two.

The Menahem Index:

 65% Menahem chose Dudikoff and he directed Enter The Ninja. He provided a template that worked and a fresh face that looked pretty good. The directing in American Ninja is better and the weapons make less weird noises than Enter the Ninja, so Menahem's influence did not touch all corners of this film.

Would I recommend this film to anyone?

Yes, as stated above, I think this a perfect entry level Cannon film to show someone. I think this film is best watched with friends and few drinks as there are few slows spots in the middle that could easily be made better with chatter and ninja friendship magic.