{"id":10861,"date":"2025-01-28T15:28:04","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T20:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10861"},"modified":"2025-01-28T15:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T20:28:04","slug":"the-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/01\/28\/the-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Challenge <\/strong>(1982)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Embassy Pictures\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence, language, brief sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John Frankenheimer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Maxwell, Marc Norman and John Sayles\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerry Goldsmith\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cinematography: Kozo Okazaki\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 1982 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Scott Glenn, Toshiro Mifune, Donna Kei Benz, Atsuo Nakamura, Calvin Jung, Clyde Kusatsu, Sab Shimono, Kiyoaki Nagai, Kenta Fukasaku, Shogo Shimada, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Miiko Taka.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $3.6M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s a picture I\u2019ll bet a lot of you forgot even existed. It\u2019s hard to believe that The Challenge<\/strong>, a martial arts actioner starring Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lambs), is directed by John Frankenheimer, the same guy who did Birdman of Alcatraz, The Manchurian Candidate and Black Sunday. He\u2019d go on to direct criminally underappreciated films like 52 Pick-Up, Dead Bang, The Fourth War and Ronin. You\u2019d think he\u2019d have better things to do with a resume that impressive. After all, it could have easily featured Chuck Norris or David Carradine in the lead role. However, The Challenge<\/strong> is hardly a routine chop-socky flick. Frankenheimer sees to that by taking a more serious approach to the material especially where family tradition and honor are concerned. Don\u2019t let that give you pause; there are also some very nicely orchestrated action scenes choreographed by Steven Seagal (Above the Law) before he became a star.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Glenn stars as Rick Murphy, a washed-up boxer just fired from his gig as a sparring partner for young contenders. Luckily, he catches the attention of a Japanese guy in a wheelchair, Toshio (Shimono, Gung Ho), who offers him a lot of money to smuggle a sword into Japan. What\u2019s so special about a sword? It\u2019s one of a pair of swords called \u201cThe Equals\u201d passed down through the generations until the treachery of one son caused it to be lost during WWII. Now that it\u2019s been found, Toshio wants to return it to its rightful owner, his father Toru (Mifune, Seven Samurai). The problem is his uncle, a rich businessman named Hideo (Nakamura, The Ceremony), wants the sword too and will stop at nothing to get it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Upon arriving in Japan, Rick finds himself in the middle of a feud between brothers Toru and Hideo. After being injured by one of Hideo\u2019s henchmen, he\u2019s taken to Toru\u2019s martial arts training school to recover. All he wants is the money promised to him by Toshio. He\u2019s ready to leave Japan when he\u2019s offered more money to steal the sword and deliver it to Hideo\u2019s right-hand man Ando (Jung, RoboCop). Initially tempted, he has a change of heart when he begins to realize how much the sword means to Toru. After that, he\u2019s on the side of good as Hideo challenges his brother to a duel, a fight to the death to determine ownership of The Equals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Challenge<\/strong> sags a bit in the middle and it\u2019s predictable. For example, it\u2019s obvious from the start that Rick will end up in the sack with Toru\u2019s daughter Akiko (Benz, Pray for Death). The moment she tells her brother that the American isn\u2019t worthy of bringing home their family\u2019s legacy, you just know the two will fall for each other by movie\u2019s end. Then there\u2019s the matter of who in Toru\u2019s school will eventually betray him to Hideo. I didn\u2019t trust this guy from the first moment I saw him. The Challenge<\/strong> has a fair amount of clich\u00e9s like the little kid (Fukasaku) that bonds with Rick and the student (Nagai) that dislikes Rick, eyeing him with contempt until they finally duke it out mano-a-mano. Of course, there are the mandatory training scenes where Rick learns to perform feats like cutting down bamboo trees with a single swipe of the sword. There\u2019s also the predictable character arc of the American loudmouth who comes to appreciate and respect a new culture. This is all stuff we\u2019ve seen before, but The Challenge<\/strong> is good enough that you don\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Glenn is a decent stand-in for Norris and Carradine who were busy making Lone Wolf McQuade when The Challenge<\/strong> was in production. Or maybe they weren\u2019t even approached by Frankenheimer to star. I really don\u2019t know. I do know that Glenn is a total bad ass once he gets going. Mifune, of course, is great as Toru. He encompasses honor and tradition as he tries to protect his family\u2019s legacy from his greedy, corrupt brother. As the villain, Nakamura represents all that\u2019s corrupt in Japan. He rarely leaves his well-fortified stronghold of an office building. Benz is pretty good as the daughter who would like to be the recipient of the family\u2019s birthright, something that\u2019s typically denied to women. Sadly, this aspect of the story is barely touched upon. Why bring it up if you\u2019re not going to explore it? It would have added an element of depth to the proceedings. Instead, Akiko serves only two purposes: (1) love interest to the hero and (2) damsel in distress. When all else fails, Hideo has her kidnapped and holds her hostage until her father agrees to fight. Who didn\u2019t see that coming?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The real reason to watch The Challenge<\/strong> is the sword action. The climactic scene is AWESOME! My inner gorehound loves it. The good guys rack up a nice body count. Guards are hit with arrows and throwing stars. One guy is disemboweled. Another is decapitated. One guy\u2019s head is split in half. What can I say? I live for stuff like this. There\u2019s also a decent chase scene through a fish market in the early part of the movie. The martial arts (aikido<\/em> style) stuff is cool. Action junkies will not be disappointed by The Challenge<\/strong>. I didn\u2019t even know it was on DVD\/Blu-Ray until recently. I was glad to see it again after so many years. I have to revert back to 15YO Movie Guy and say it\u2019s a cool flick.<\/p>\n

TRIVIA TIDBIT: When The Challenge<\/strong> aired on TV, it was retitled Sword of the Ninja even though there are NO ninjas in it. It was the early 80s and ninjas were in. I like its original title better.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Challenge (1982)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Embassy Pictures\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 109 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong violence, language, brief sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John Frankenheimer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Richard Maxwell, Marc Norman and John Sayles\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jerry Goldsmith\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cinematography: Kozo Okazaki\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 1982 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Scott Glenn, Toshiro Mifune, Donna Kei Benz, Atsuo Nakamura, Calvin Jung, Clyde Kusatsu, Sab Shimono, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/The-Challenge-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10861"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10921,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10861\/revisions\/10921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}