Scarecrow-88 Rival gangs in Los Angeles are always at odds with each other. Tony(Phillip Rhee) is in love with nemesis Chan's(James Lew) sister, Lily(Rosanna King). Tony's pal, Young(Jun Chong), came from China along with his mother who married a white man. Young is skilled at martial arts and equips himself quite well against street punks and gangs who wish to cause him harm. Young gets his boys mixed up with rich drug dealers as well(hired as "security" to make sure no problems interrupt a drug deal involving cocaine). Drug dealers aren't exactly happy campers when their coke money is stolen(which is what Young unwisely does in the heat of the moment)so two separate hit men, Yoshida Kim(Ken Nagayama;an assassin with a kitana sword from Osaka, Japan)and intense brute Kruger(Bill Wallace) from New York are hired to teach these kids a lesson. There's a sequence which reminded me of GAME OF DEATH where Young must go up floors in a building, combating hired thugs(including Kim and Kruger)on each loft, trying to find and save his friends, captured and beaten by Kruger who wants to know the location of the drug money. And after enduring this, poor Young still has to worry with Chan and his army! While Young doesn't fare so well against Chan(mommy is in the line of fire), Tony gets a chance to dual with his enemy to the death. The minor plot, what little there is, plays second fiddle to kung fu between numerous LA gangs, mostly against Young, Tony, and their group. The fight choreography can be a bit clumsy and rough-around-the-edges mainly due to the fact that Tony and Young are often in battles against inferior foes who mostly take a beating. No matter where Tony and Young go, it seems trouble follows them. And that's the point, isn't it? Put these two in as many combat situations as possible to provide the movie with excuses to have them duking it out with street scum to beat the crap out of. There are melodramatic moments a die hard action fan might cringe through(in particular, Tony's problems with his alcoholic mom), but the final twenty minutes delivers plenty of fisticuffs and bludgeoning with weapons. Brinke Stevens shows up in a cameo(unclothed, of course) as a drug-lord's plaything.

aneeljan Every millenia an event occurs that can change a persons life.This happened to me on a stormy December evening in 1994.That was when I was first introduced to La Streetfighter.I just don't know where to begin....The basic plot involves a youth named Young(played by a forty-something) who joins an inner-city gang which in turn leads to the usual high school japes(gang-fighting,stealing from drug barons,working as doormen,urinating on triad gangs car,etc).I wont go into detail with the plot because it is irrelevant along with the acting,directing,sound editing,fight choreography et al. In one one memorable scene the gang decides to plan an intricate drugs robbery.This highly complicated heist basically involves one gang member to open a door,run in,pick up the drugs and run out like sewer rat who's just found a slice of pizza with extra cheese.Ocean's 11 can't match these uber-criminal masterminds.The victim of this crime of the century decides to bring in a couple of professional assassins to help him gain revenge.One of them is a Japanese samurai who proceeds to hunt them throughout LA while dressed in a 14th century samurai outfit complete with huge sword.Inevitably, one of the gang member is captured by the assassins and ends up being strung up from the ceiling.The other assassin declares to him the immortal words..."i'm gonna break your balls".He then goes and does exactly that! He punches and kicks the poor guy exclusively in the nether region.Apparently this assassin is played by a former dick,sorry,kick-boxing champ called Bill'Superfoot'Wallace.This film contains a heart rendering moment too when one of the gang member has a birthday cake presented to him amongst all the chaos. He solemnly declares, "nobody ever give me anything before" and proceeds to wipe a tear.Even as I write this I have lump in my throat...I too had a tough upbringing as I was growing up in the mean streets of Welwyn Garden City. This film has changed my life.I suggest you watch this masterpiece so you too will have an accurate insight into life as a forty year old schoolboy who gets involved in stealing drugs,hunted by a Japanese in a samurai costume with a sword,kick boxed by a man with a groin fetish while having just eaten a birthday cake.

HaemovoreRex Now here is an unusual film.....Where to begin?.....Well intrinsically what we have here is a tale of high school student angst and gang related tribulations....well....sort of anyway.What we actually have is some hilariously poor directing, actors who have no idea of the concept of timing their lines correctly or of any remote cognisance of acting ability in general for that matter and a tacked on 'plot' that doesn't really kick in until almost an hour into the films running time!Basically the story involves Young, a pupil at high school (and an hilariously inappropriate name as the actor playing him is at least in his forties!!!) who befriends Tony and introduces him into his gang (although note that this is in fact a 'good guy' gang as opposed to the various stereotypical 'bad guy' gangs prevalent throughout the movie) In honourable capitalist style, the gang in question actually earns honest cash by taking on various security assignments.On one such assignment however, Young decides to indulge in a bit of theft and high tales it with some drugs money, thus prompting the dealer to send a Ninja and another sadistic character played by legendary kickboxing champion Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace after him.....Okaaayy......Actually as previously said, this actual story doesn't occur until almost an hour into the proceedings. Up until this point we are subjected to lots of impromptu gang fights and some hilariously woeful attempts at serious interpersonal drama designed to make us sympathise with the various protagonists' plights. For example, in one such supposedly touching scene we witness one of the 'good guy' gang members crying when he is presented with a birthday cake, the emotional gratitude just too much to bear....ahhhhh..... Far from wringing any empathy from me however, I found that such scenes curiously only induced uncontrollable laughter, certainly not what the makers would have wanted, for the film tries so hard to be taken seriously that it's just painful to behold.Still credit where credit's due, at least the makers of this tried to do something different from the usual martial arts revenge plot (the staple of about 99.9% of ALL martial arts films!)The ending is especially noteworthy in this movie in fact, and is surprisingly downbeat (and gory to boot!) Another accolade must be awarded to the martial arts choreography on display throughout, which is admittedly top notch.Overall then, whilst the disorganised and oddly structured nature of the film would ostensibly donate that the director was absent for most of the filming, this is actually against all odds, a rather entertaining movie with a particularly intriguing final half hour. Well worth a watch if you can track down a copy (note: The movie also goes under the alternative title of 'Ninja Turf')

janitorclyde And to think I kinda saw this movie on accident... This movie was included in one of those crappy 4 movie DVD packs called "Kung Fu Wars." I bought it because it had "The Crippled Masters," a heartwarming film that shows that one should not be chained down by disabilities. Anyway, on the first side of the disc was this Ninja Turf, which I figured would be funny because 80s Martial Arts + the word "Turf" = an always unforgettable experience. My God, this movie is amazing! How can you not love rival high school gangs who are all in their 40s, talking about teen life and how their mommy doesn't understand them, and beating the crap out of each other! Also, the 80s action movie homo-eroticism is in full swing in this baby! In one scene, one of the guys from the good gang is naked, taking a shower, and Young (played by the bad ass Jun Chong!!!) approaches the naked guy, hands him a banana, and in crappy dubbing says, "Hey Tony! Bring you something to eat!!" If that's not gay, I don't know what is. In another scene, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace is fighting Jun Chong, and after a few minutes of grab-assy martial arts fighting, they break apart, and the camera zooms to Wallace's face, who looks down towards Chong's groin region, smiles real big, and proceeds to fight some more. By the way, I'm in no way against the GLBT community, I just know that 80s movies are notorious for such scenes, and I love to point them out. Anyway, another great thing about this flick is the memorable characters. Young (Chong), even though he was like 45 when he made this film, somehow manages to play the part of a swaggering, yet troubled teen very well. It's kinda funny to note that his mother in this film looks younger than him!! Another character worth mentioning is Belly Shirt Guy, leader of the Spikes Gang. This man has to be seen to be believed... And let's not forget the leader of the Blade Gang (who looks a lot like Panama Jack)! I could go on and on about this movie, because there is so much about this movie that is wonderful. The only bad thing about this film is the lack of lighting, and it doesn't help any that most of the scenes take place at night. In the Wallace Vs. Chong scene, apparently Wallace is using a whip at one point, but if it weren't for the sound effects, you'd have no idea that he was using a whip. This film is truly amazing, a brilliant yet mostly unheard of film. I encourage everyone out there to check this movie out. It will change your life!!