Written by John Sayles & featuring martial arts choreography by Steven Seagal, a down-and-out American boxer gets hired to accompany a sword which is central to the feud between 2 Japanese families. Scott Glenn, Toshiro Mifune, John Frankenheimer, 1982.

 

He has trained every thought… every muscle… every nerve… for this moment of truth! The Challenge was co-written by John Sayles (Lone Star) and Richard Maxwell (The Serpent and the Rainbow), and stars Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lambs) as an American boxer thrust into a Japanese family feud involving the ownership of an ancient sword. Screen legend Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo), plays a master samurai who trains the American in the ways of Japanese martial arts and culture so that he can assist him in foiling his rich industrialist brother (Atsuo Nakamura, Trail of Blood). Boasting a muscular Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown) action score and handsome visuals, The Challenge entertains and should please fans of pictures like The Yakuza, Big Trouble in Little China and Remo Williams as well as The Seven Samurai, a fairly obvious cinematic forebear. Directed by the great John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, 52 Pick-Up, Ronin) and beautifully shot by veteran Japanese cinematographer Kôzô Okazaki (Goyokin, The Yakuza). NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles