The Challenge (1982) (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)

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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 stars Scott Glenn (Man on Fire) 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). Boasting a muscular Jerry Goldsmith (The Satan Bug) 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) and beautifully shot by veteran Japanese cinematographer Kozo Okazaki (Goyokin, The Yakuza).