The Challenge ** (1982, Scott Glenn, Toshirô Mifune, Donna Kei Benz, Atsuo Nakamura) – Classic Movie Review 8525

Director John Frankenheimer’s 1982 American-Japanese macho action movie The Challenge stars Scott Glenn as the down-and-out American boxer Rick, paid to take an inherited sword from the States to Japan and finding himself caught in the middle of a bitter blood-feud between two brothers (Toshirô Mifune and Atsuo Nakamura).

The screenplay by Richard Maxwell and John Sayles is sometimes thoughtful and sometimes exciting, but Frankenheimer has his usual latter-day problem in establishing effective pacing and atmosphere to pull the movie together into a satisfying whole.

But luckily the acting is more convincing than the story and the handling, and there is plenty to interest martial arts aficionados. The good intentions and the exciting scenes are enough to recommend The Challenge – cautiously.

Also in the cast are Calvin Jung, Clyde Kusatsu, Sab Shimono and Miiko Taka.

Made by CBS Theatrical Films and Poncher-Rosen-Beckman Productions and released by Embassy Pictures (1982) (US), and shot in Eastmancolor by Kozo Okazaki, The Challenge was not a hit, taking $3,534,852 in the US.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8525

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