Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)

A man tries to rescue a woman with a little help from his half brother.

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers:

Mark Feldberg, Mitchell Klebanoff (as Mitch Klebanoff)

Stars:

Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Robin Shou

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Farley	...	Haru
Nicollette Sheridan	...	Allison Page / Sally Jones
Robin Shou	...	Gobei
Nathaniel Parker	...	Martin Tanley
Soon-Tek Oh	...	Sensei
Keith Cooke	...	Nobu (as Keith Cooke Hirabayashi)
Chris Rock	...	Joey
François Chau	...	Izumo
Dale Ishimoto	...	Old Japanese Man
Daming Chen	...	Head Kobudosai
Burt Bulos	...	Mr. Ozaru
Curtis Blanck	...	Billy
Tom Bailey	...	Billy's Dad
Jason Tobin	...	Busboy (as Jason J. Tobin)
Richard Kline	...	Driver

Storyline

Following a ship wreck, a baby is rescued by a clan of Ninja warriors and raised by them as one of their own. But Haru, as he is called, never quite fits in, nor does he manage to make a worthy Ninja. However, the good-natured and persevering Haru, in his own bumbling way, and with some help from Gobei, manages to prove himself to be a winner in the end.

---

Plot Keywords:

slowness | ninja | ship wreck | murder | japan | 

---

Taglines:

He puts the Mortal back in Kombat

---

Genres:

Action | Comedy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex related humor, martial arts violence and a humerous drug related scene

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 January 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le ninja de Beverly Hills

Filming Locations:

950 Mei Ling Way, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,220,920, 20 January 1997

Gross USA:

$31,235,710, 15 June 1997

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$37,639,029, 31 December 1997

Company Credits

Production Co:

3 Arts Entertainment, Beverly Hills Ninja Productions, Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christian Bale, when asked what his favorite film was, named this film, saying he watches it all the way through every time it's on TV.

---

Goofs

When Haru somersaults down to fight with the Ninjas it is obviously a much thinner stunt double. (However, given the comedic nature of the film this may have been a deliberate joke).

---

Quotes

Sensei: Twenty five years ago, an ancient legend of this sacred art came alive. It spoke of a foreign child who would come among us and become a Ninja master unlike any other. How he arrived on our shores will forever remain a mystery. We Ninjas thought that this child would be the great white Ninja of the legend. We were wrong. We were very wrong.

---

Alternate Versions

Another scene that was deleted from the original release, but appears when shown on TBS shows Sinsei telling Haru that perhaps he should do something else with his life than be a ninja. Haru tells him that if he couldn't be a ninja, he would commit Hari-Kari (Ritual suicide)

---

Connections

Featured in Masters of the Martial Arts Presented by Wesley Snipes (1998)

---

Soundtracks

Turning Japanese
Written by David Fenton (as David Vinten Fenton)
Performed by The Hazies
Courtesy of EMI Records

User Reviews

Chris Farley Is Funnier When He's With David Spade

Chris Farley's first starring vehicle without his frequent costar David Spade suffers from not giving Farley a suitable replacement costarring foil. Nicolette Sheridan has a practically no nonsense role as an elusive woman who goes to Japan and hires American ninja Farley to secretly spy on her boyfriend (Nathaniel Parker) who she suspects may have killed her sister. Farley's knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time gets him accused of murder twice. He has to try to clear his name while taking on the real murderers. Robin Shou and Chris Rock have fairly amusing costarring roles but the film's biggest laughs come from Farley's actual attempts at perfecting martial arts.