Executioner (1974) Chokugeki! Jigoku-ken (original title)

Director:

Teruo Ishii

Writers:

Teruo Ishii
Bobby White (subtitles)

Release Date:

1978 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

The meanest Chiba movie yet!

Plot:

Three street toughs are hired to take down a Tokyo drug dealer in this hard-hitting Toei karate action film. |

Plot Keywords:

Karate | Action Hero | Fighting | Disarming Someone | Gore

Cast

Sonny Chiba	...	Ryuichi Koga
Eiji Gô	...	Ichiro Sakura
Yutaka Nakajima	...	Emi (as Doris Nakajima)
Hiroyuki Sanada	...	Toga as a boy (as Hiroyuki Shimosawa)
Yasuaki Kurata	...	Karate teacher
Makoto Satô	...	Takeshi Hayato
Ryô Ikebe	...	Arashiyama
Masahiko Tsugawa	...	Mario Mizuhara
Michitaro Mizushima	...	Hakusessai Koga
Rikiya Yasuoka	...	Lone wolf
Hideo Murota	...	Boss
Meika Seri	...	Woman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kôji Hio	...	Bunshô Chin
Hiroshi Nawa

Directed by
Teruo Ishii

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Teruo Ishii
Bobby White		subtitles

Produced by
Sunao Sakagami	....	producer
Hisashi Yabe	....	planner

Original Music by
Hajime Kaburagi

Cinematography by
Yoshikazu Yamasawa

Film Editing by
Fumio Soda

Production Design by
Baku Fujita		(as Hiroshi Fujita)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Shinichi Hashimoto	....	assistant director (as Shin'ichi Hashimoto)

Sound Department
Tadayuki Komatsu	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Yasunojô Kawasaki	....	gaffer (as Yasunojô Kawasaki)

Production Companies

• Toei Tokyo

Distributors

• Toei Company (1974) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Transcontinental Film Corporation (1978) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Crash Cinema Media (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Toei Video Company (2006) (Japan) (DVD)
• Toei Video Company (2009) (Japan) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Chokugeki! Jigoku-ken" - Japan (original title)
"Direct Hit! Hell Fist" - USA (literal English title)
"Rebirth of Underworld Superpower" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)
"The Executioner" - USA (DVD title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R | Canada:13+ (Québec)

Company:

Toei Tokyo

Movie Connections:

References The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

OK karate flick, but really kind of forgettable.

This film starts out with an older guy and a young (and very attractive) lady recruiting three karate experts to take on a dope ring. Sonny's character was trained in the ninja arts, but has fallen on hard financial time. One of his cohorts is an ex-cop who is now a hit man and the other is a sleaze ball who Sonny has to break out of prison. After some cheap attempts to develop the plot and Sonny kicking ass, they go after the syndicate head while he's having some kind of party.

It's a little weak on the plot and there's way too much of the sleazy guy trying (in vain) to hook up with women, but it does have some pretty cool karate action. Sonny and the ex-cop banter back and forth, which gets a little annoying after a while. The sleazy guy doesn't really do much, except for shamelessly hitting on women (his character didn't advance the plot a whole lot), and some of the other karate experts were unremarkable.

Recommended only to true blue Chiba fans.