One movie from 1985, every day. "American Ninja"

The deadliest art of the Orient is now in the hands of an American.

Streaming: Amazon w/Starz

Storyline

Joe Armstrong, an orphaned drifter will little respect for much other than martial arts, finds himself on an American Army base in The Philippines after a judge gives him a choice of enlistment or prison. On one of his first missions driving a convoy, his platoon is attacked by a group of rebels who try to steal the weapons the platoon is transporting and kidnap Patricia, the base colonel's daughter, who happens to be along for the ride. Joe rescues Patricia and gets her safely back to the base, but everyone else in the platoon is killed, leading his superiors to conclude that Joe is guilty of cowardice, collaboration or simple incompetence. At the same time, the rebel leader vows revenge against the serviceman who disrupted his plans, and sends an army of ninjas to assassinate him and bring back Patricia. If he wants to survive and save the girl, Joe's going to have to draw on every last ounce of his training.

Rating: R (adult situations/language, violence)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Romance
Directed By: Sam Firstenberg
Written By: Paul de Mielche
In Theaters: Aug 30, 1985 Wide
On Disc/Streaming: Oct 2, 2001
Runtime: 96 minutes
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment

STARRING:

Michael Dudikoff was born on October 8, 1954 in Redondo Beach, California, USA as Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff. He is an actor, known for Platoon Leader (1988), American Ninja (1985) and Bachelor Party (1984). He has been married to Belle since September 18, 2004. They have three children.

Steve James was often cast in action movies as the hero's sidekick, despite usually being a better actor and fighter than the star. James was raised in New York City, attended C.W. Post College as an Arts and Film major, and upon graduating, became involved in stage work and TV commercials. He started in film as a stuntman, working in such New York productions as Ghostbusters, The Wiz, The Warriors, and The Wanderers. His first major film role was as Robert Ginty's sidekick in The Exterminator; he later played sidekick to such stars as Michael Dudikoff (3 times), David Carradine, and Chuck Norris. His last 2 films were the pilot for the TV series "M.A.N.T.I.S." which aired on the Fox network just a few weeks after his death at age 41 of cancer (of unknown origin) and "Bloodfist V: Human Target" with Don "The Dragon" Wilson which premiered after Steve's death.

Born in Los Angeles, California, the fourth of five daughters, she was dubbed "the baby with the beat" by her family - a title she earned for her frequent song and dance routines. Aronson began her professional acting career at a young age. In the height of her success, she left acting to attend UCLA as a Theater Arts major. Upon graduating from UCLA, Judie followed a unique idea she had, and was successful in creating several eclectic stores, which were featured in Los Angeles Magazine's "top 50 stores in LA" issue.

John Fujioka was born on June 29, 1925 in Olaa, Hawaii, USA. He is an actor, known for Pearl Harbor (2001), Mortal Kombat (1995) and Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure (1981).

TRIVIA! -Courtesy IMDB

1. Michael Dudikoff knew no martial arts before filming began.

2. Steve James said in an interview that Michael Dudikoff was anxious about working with him, since James knew martial arts and Dudikoff didn't and he didn't want to be shown up. James even requested his final fight scenes be filmed on the other side of the compound, far away from Dudikoff, to avoid any further problems. It wasn't until halfway through filming the sequel that the two of them set their differences aside.

3. Body count: 114

4. Director Sam Firstenberg admitted in an interview that audiences didn't like seeing a woman ninja in Ninja III: The Domination (1984). This is why Cannon Films sought to find a "James Dean"-like action star to be the ninja in this film. The studio wanted someone who looked like James Dean, didn't talk much and seemed to carry a chip on his shoulder. During this process Sam auditioned 2000 actors and narrowed it down to 200. Though Michael Dudikoff had no martial-arts training, he had the look Cannon was looking for and was cast in the lead.

5. In an interview in the late 1980s, Steve James stated that when he signed to do this film, he wanted to change a lot of the dialogue, as it was written like "no problems, whatever you say, partner."

6. In an interview with German media in 2012, Michael Dudikoff revealed he had contracted malaria during filming, and that he can be seen to be excessively sweating at the end of fight scenes as a result.

7. A rare 1984 poster featuring the rock band KISS advertising their album "Animalize" can be seen on the wall in Joe's squad's sleeping quarters. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Eric Carr have their faces hidden by additional stickers to avoid any potential legal problems, and Mark St. John's head seems to be cropped off by the camera angle.

8. Originally the studio chose Chuck Norris to star, but he chose not to do the film because he didn't want his face hidden on camera. He stated, "If I'm going to be in a film, I don't want my face hidden. I'm going to be me".

9. In the trailer the film was called "American Warrior" but was changed to "American Ninja" by the time the film was released.

10. Director Sam Firstenberg has stated in an interview that his two favorites of the films he's directed are this one and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984). He said that this film "has a special quality of innocent, true friendship, love and youthful idealism."

11. The first of three films that Michael Dudikoff would go on to work with director Sam Firstenberg. The other two were Avenging Force (1986) and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987).

12. All three major cast members of the "American Ninja" franchise starred in three entries of the series. They all starred with each other at least once but NEVER all three in the same film. Michael Dudikoff starred with Steve James in this film and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987) and with David Bradley in American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990). Bradley starred with James in American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989) and by himself in American Ninja 5 (1993).

13. Kurt McKinney auditioned for the title role but was considered to be too young.

14. Some musical tunes were re-used from Enter the Ninja (1981), also produced by Cannon Films.

15. After interviewing over 400 actors for the role of Joe Armstrong, it was Menahem Golan who saw Michael Dudikoff during one of his auditions and saw that he had a James Dean look to him and immediately stated "Get the Dudikoff kid!".

Have a great day folks!