Showdown in Little Tokyo
Encyclopedia
Showdown in Little Tokyo is a 1991 action film
. It features Brandon Lee
in his first American film role, starring alongside Dolph Lundgren
. Set in Los Angeles, California
, two police
officers attempt to take down a new and deadly Japan
ese drug
gang
. The tone of the movie follows the traditional buddy cop formula.
(L.A.) cop Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren
) is an American who was raised in Japan
. He is given a new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee
), an American
of partial Japanese descent
.
Kenner does not appreciate American culture, while Johnny does not much like Japanese culture. One thing they both enjoy are the martial arts, of which they are both experts.
The two are assigned to L.A.'s Little Tokyo, where they break up some criminal activity in a Japanese restaurant
, and an arrest is made.
While Kenner and Johnny are questioning the suspect, Kenner loses his temper and rips the suspect's shirt, and the tattoos that Kenner sees on the suspect remind Kenner of when he was 9 years old, a time when he witnessed his parents being killed by a member of the Yakuza
. The tattoos are the trademark
of the Iron Claw Yakuza clan. However, before Kenner or Murata can get any information out of the suspect, he kills himself in the interrogation room by breaking his own neck.
On the other side of town, the leader of the Iron Claw, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
), kills the owner of a popular downtown nightclub
called the Bonsai Club by crushing the owner, Tanaka (Philip Tan), in a car compactor.
To celebrate "gaining" ownership of the Bonsai Club, Yoshida throws a party
at his house with all of the club staff.
One of the girls at the party, named Angel (Renee Griffin
), is revealed to have warned Tanaka about Yoshida behind his back, and this infuriates Yoshida. Yoshida questions Angel about her loyalty, and she attempts to appease Yoshida by offering her body to him. Yoshida then drugs Angel and strips off her clothes, and then fondles her from behind before beheading her.
When the coroner runs an analysis on Angel's body, it is revealed that she had a large amount of methamphetamines in her system (induced by Yoshida) which would have led to her death
anyway. This discovery of drugs, together with the suspect having Yakuza tattoos, cause Kenner and Johnny to go to the Bonsai Club in search of information. There they meet lounge singer Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere
), who was a good friend of Angel's. Before they can get any useful information out of her, they are ambushed and taken to see the nightclub's owner—and Kenner recognizes the owner Yoshida as the man who killed his parents. Yoshida is now a drug manufacturer using a local brewery
as his distribution center. He uses smaller gangs such as the Hells Angels
, Crips
and Sureños to peddle the drugs for him, in return for a percentage of the profit.
Kenner and Johnny escape from the nightclub. Later that night, Yoshida rape
s and kidnaps Minako and vows to kill Kenner. Kenner and Johnny set out for Yoshida's heavily guarded home, where they rescue Minako.
His pride wounded, Yoshida sends his men out to get Minako back. He has Kenner and Johnny captured and tortured, but Kenner and Johnny manage to escape, and they take on Yoshida and his men in a battle to the death.
Except for these markets, the film was released direct-to-video elsewhere in 1992.
In the US opening weekend, the film grossed $455,192 from 140 theaters which was an average of $3,251 per theater. This accounted for 20% of the film's total gross.
It ranked #9 in Hungary's Top 10 of 1992 Overall Box Office Grosses (according to the 1994 Variety International Film Guide).
The shooting script was 95 pages and includes a longer opening scene that was filmed featuring Kenner's former Japanese partner Eddie Yosuto. There was also a chase scene after the Japanese bath scene where Dolph and Brandon go after the fleeing yakuza, it ended up in an action scene set in a mall.
In the US, around 13 seconds were cut in order to avoid an NC-17, namely:
-An extra topless shot during the pool party.
-Some of Yoshida caressing Angel before chopping off her head was cut. Her initial decapitation
lost an extra shot, reducing it from two to one. Later, when her severed head is shown, the head is shown once due to an extra shot being cut.
-When Kenner stabs a guy underwater, a brief closeup of him stabbing him in the gut and twisting the knife around was edited out.
-In the version screened for test audiences, Minako's rape was longer and more brutal.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
. It features Brandon Lee
Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee was an American actor and martial artist. He was the son of martial arts film star Bruce Lee...
in his first American film role, starring alongside Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...
. Set in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, two police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
officers attempt to take down a new and deadly Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese drug
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
. The tone of the movie follows the traditional buddy cop formula.
Plot
Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(L.A.) cop Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...
) is an American who was raised in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He is given a new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee
Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee was an American actor and martial artist. He was the son of martial arts film star Bruce Lee...
), an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of partial Japanese descent
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
.
Kenner does not appreciate American culture, while Johnny does not much like Japanese culture. One thing they both enjoy are the martial arts, of which they are both experts.
The two are assigned to L.A.'s Little Tokyo, where they break up some criminal activity in a Japanese restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
, and an arrest is made.
While Kenner and Johnny are questioning the suspect, Kenner loses his temper and rips the suspect's shirt, and the tattoos that Kenner sees on the suspect remind Kenner of when he was 9 years old, a time when he witnessed his parents being killed by a member of the Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
. The tattoos are the trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
of the Iron Claw Yakuza clan. However, before Kenner or Murata can get any information out of the suspect, he kills himself in the interrogation room by breaking his own neck.
On the other side of town, the leader of the Iron Claw, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
is a Japanese-American actor.In addition to his extensive film work, he has appeared on television in Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Encounter at Farpoint" , Thunder in Paradise , Nash Bridges , Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding , and Heroes . He also provided the voice of Sin Tzu for the video game...
), kills the owner of a popular downtown nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
called the Bonsai Club by crushing the owner, Tanaka (Philip Tan), in a car compactor.
To celebrate "gaining" ownership of the Bonsai Club, Yoshida throws a party
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
at his house with all of the club staff.
One of the girls at the party, named Angel (Renee Griffin
Renee Griffin
Renee Griffin, aka Renee Ammann, , is an American actress.Renee Griffin is married to actor James Marshall, who is the father of one of her sons...
), is revealed to have warned Tanaka about Yoshida behind his back, and this infuriates Yoshida. Yoshida questions Angel about her loyalty, and she attempts to appease Yoshida by offering her body to him. Yoshida then drugs Angel and strips off her clothes, and then fondles her from behind before beheading her.
When the coroner runs an analysis on Angel's body, it is revealed that she had a large amount of methamphetamines in her system (induced by Yoshida) which would have led to her death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
anyway. This discovery of drugs, together with the suspect having Yakuza tattoos, cause Kenner and Johnny to go to the Bonsai Club in search of information. There they meet lounge singer Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere
Tia Carrere
Tia Carrere is an American actress, model, voice artist, and singer, perhaps most widely known for her role as Cassandra Wong in the feature films Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, Queen Tyr'ahnee in Duck Dodgers, and as Sydney Fox in the TV series Relic Hunter.-Early life:Carrere was born in...
), who was a good friend of Angel's. Before they can get any useful information out of her, they are ambushed and taken to see the nightclub's owner—and Kenner recognizes the owner Yoshida as the man who killed his parents. Yoshida is now a drug manufacturer using a local brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
as his distribution center. He uses smaller gangs such as the Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
, Crips
Crips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams...
and Sureños to peddle the drugs for him, in return for a percentage of the profit.
Kenner and Johnny escape from the nightclub. Later that night, Yoshida rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s and kidnaps Minako and vows to kill Kenner. Kenner and Johnny set out for Yoshida's heavily guarded home, where they rescue Minako.
His pride wounded, Yoshida sends his men out to get Minako back. He has Kenner and Johnny captured and tortured, but Kenner and Johnny manage to escape, and they take on Yoshida and his men in a battle to the death.
Cast
- Dolph LundgrenDolph LundgrenDolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...
... Sgt. Chris Kenner - Brandon LeeBrandon LeeBrandon Bruce Lee was an American actor and martial artist. He was the son of martial arts film star Bruce Lee...
... Det. Johnny Murata - Cary-Hiroyuki TagawaCary-Hiroyuki Tagawais a Japanese-American actor.In addition to his extensive film work, he has appeared on television in Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Encounter at Farpoint" , Thunder in Paradise , Nash Bridges , Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding , and Heroes . He also provided the voice of Sin Tzu for the video game...
... Funekei Yoshida - Tia CarrereTia CarrereTia Carrere is an American actress, model, voice artist, and singer, perhaps most widely known for her role as Cassandra Wong in the feature films Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, Queen Tyr'ahnee in Duck Dodgers, and as Sydney Fox in the TV series Relic Hunter.-Early life:Carrere was born in...
... Minako Okeya - Toshirô Obata ... Sato (also as Toshishiro ObataToshishiro Obatais a Japanese actor and the founder of the International Shinkendo Federation.He studied under Gozo Shioda in the Yoshinkan Honbu Dojo, and studied the sword arts of Nakamura Ryu, Ioriken Battojutsu, Toyama Ryu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, Kashima Shin ryu, Ryukyu Kobudo, and others...
) - Philip Tan ... Tanaka
- Rodney KageyamaRodney KageyamaRodney Kageyama is an American stage, film and TV actor. He is a Nisei Japanese American .In 2007, Kageyama was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy and as of spring 2008 was declared cancer-free.-Theatre:...
... Eddie - Ernie LivelyErnie LivelyErnie Lively is an American actor.Lively was born Ernest W. Brown in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1979, he married talent manager Elaine Lively and took her name. They are the parents of actors Blake Lively and Eric Lively, and he is stepfather of her children from her previous marriage Lori Lively,...
... Detective Nelson - James Taenaka ... Hardboy
- Renee GriffinRenee GriffinRenee Griffin, aka Renee Ammann, , is an American actress.Renee Griffin is married to actor James Marshall, who is the father of one of her sons...
... Angel - Reid Asato ... Muto
- Takayo FischerTakayo FischerTakayo Fischer is an American stage, film and TV actress, as well as voice-over actress and singer.-Personal life:Fischer was born in Hardwick, California, the daughter of Issei Chukuro and Kinko Tsubouchi...
... Mama Yamaguchi - Simon Rhee ... Ito
- Vernee Watson-JohnsonVernee Watson-JohnsonVernee Watson-Johnson is an American actress. She is best known for her recurring roles as Vernajean Williams on Welcome Back, Kotter and as Viola "Vy" Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, playing the mother of Will Smith's character.She played a small role on Sister, Sister as Lisa's best...
... Nonnie Russell - Coroner - Lenny Imamura ... Kickboxer #1
- Roger YuanRoger YuanRoger Yuan is a Los Angeles-born actor, martial artist, stunt man and fight choreographer. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California Los Angeles. Yuan is a black belt in Chun Kuk Do...
... Kickboxer #2
Reception
The movie faced largely negative reviews from critics. Vincent Canby of the New York Times described it as "violent, but spiritless."Box office
Warner Bros. were not too happy about the film and re-edited it, only to give it a limited theatrical run in the United States, Mexico, Italy, Israel and Hungary. It is estimated that the film was shown in only 140 theathers in the United States alone.Except for these markets, the film was released direct-to-video elsewhere in 1992.
In the US opening weekend, the film grossed $455,192 from 140 theaters which was an average of $3,251 per theater. This accounted for 20% of the film's total gross.
It ranked #9 in Hungary's Top 10 of 1992 Overall Box Office Grosses (according to the 1994 Variety International Film Guide).
Cuts
An older version of the script (104 pages) had a slightly different outline and had a more serious tone to it, less tongue in cheek.The shooting script was 95 pages and includes a longer opening scene that was filmed featuring Kenner's former Japanese partner Eddie Yosuto. There was also a chase scene after the Japanese bath scene where Dolph and Brandon go after the fleeing yakuza, it ended up in an action scene set in a mall.
In the US, around 13 seconds were cut in order to avoid an NC-17, namely:
-An extra topless shot during the pool party.
-Some of Yoshida caressing Angel before chopping off her head was cut. Her initial decapitation
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
lost an extra shot, reducing it from two to one. Later, when her severed head is shown, the head is shown once due to an extra shot being cut.
-When Kenner stabs a guy underwater, a brief closeup of him stabbing him in the gut and twisting the knife around was edited out.
-In the version screened for test audiences, Minako's rape was longer and more brutal.