After exploring all of Eureka’s Hong Kong cinema offerings, I now turn to their release of Sonny Chiba’s Karate Beast Fighter films. Karate Bullfighter and Karate Bearfighter are as good a showcase for Chiba’s brutal style as the Street Fighter films which Tarantino referenced in True Romance.
Inspired by the life of Masutatsu Oyama, Chiba plays Oyama in his early competitions after the Allied occupation of Japan. This includes his legendary fight with a bull, though elaborated for the sake of cinema. They print the legend all over the world.
By the time of Bearfighter, Oyama basically goes around picking fights, and fights come for him too. This leads to fighting a bear, although this time it’s a guy in a bear suit although wide shots may show Chiba circling a real bear at a safe distance. It’s still closer than I would ever get.
A video essay on the Bullfighter disc puts all Karate movies in the post World War II context, retaining Japanese identity after Allied occupation.
Mike Leeder and Arne Venema turn their attention to the Japanese martial arts in both commentary tracks. They compare Bullfighter to historical accounts of the real Oyama. By Bearfighter, they share a lot about 2024 era Japan to contrast it with when the films were made and set.
Despite the Tarantino shoutout, and casting in Kill Bill and Tokyo Drift, Sonny Chiba never got the American exposure of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or other Hong Kong martial artists. The Beast Fighter films are as good a place to begin exploring his work as the Street Fighter films.