Enter the Ninja

Enter the Ninja is an American action film from 1981, made with the involvement of Golan-Globus Production and The Cannon Group. Emmett Alston began directing it, and during shooting producer Menahem Golan took over. The main character is Cole (Franco Nero), a mercenary trained in ninjutsu who visits his war comrade Frank Landers in the Philippines. Landers's family is being harassed by Charles Venarius, who wants their land because of the oil beneath it. Cole stands up for the family, and Venarius therefore hires the ninja Hasegawa. Ninjutsu is the central art of the film: Cole went through ninjutsu training in Japan, and the ninja Hasegawa stands against him. Hasegawa is played by Sho Kosugi, who according to the English Wikipedia really did practise ninjutsu, alongside Shindo jinen-ryu karate, kendo, judo, iaido, kobudo and aikido. For Franco Nero we did not find evidence of ninjutsu training in the sources, and he plays Cole as an actor. The fight scenes were choreographed by the karateka Mike Stone. According to Wikipedia, the film started a wave of ninja films in Hollywood in the early nineteen-eighties and launched Kosugi's career. Wikipedia's article on Kosugi states that his films helped create the “ninja boom” of the first half of the nineteen-eighties. They were followed by Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Ninja III: The Domination (1984), both directed by Sam Firstenberg, in which Kosugi played the hero. According to Wikipedia, it is a series with no continuity of characters or plot.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

The role of Cole was originally to be played by Mike Stone, who also contributed to the concept of the film. The role finally went to Franco Nero, and Stone remained in the credits for fight choreography and stunt coordination. Emmett Alston began directing, producer Menahem Golan took over during shooting, according to TCM by February 1981, and Alston stayed on as second unit director. According to Wikipedia, shooting began in January 1981 and ended in late March of the same year in Manila in the Philippines, although Tokyo had originally been planned. The dojo and a fight scene were shot, according to it, in a Japanese garden in Manila's Rizal Park. TCM, by contrast, states that shooting took place in both Japan and the Philippines.

Fight choreography

The fight choreography and stunt coordination were led by Mike Stone. According to the English Wikipedia he trained in Shorin-ryu karate, won 91 tournaments in a row, and his career is linked with the first World Karate Tournament in Chicago (1964) and the World Professional Karate Championship (1968). A review cited by Wikipedia states that the best direction in the film comes from the choreographer Stone himself. The sources disagree on whether Stone also stood in for Franco Nero in the fight scenes: Wikipedia lists him as Nero's stunt double, while according to TCM he does not appear in the finished film. The ninja Hasegawa is played by Sho Kosugi, according to the English Wikipedia a former All Japan Karate Champion who, besides ninjutsu, also studied xingyiquan, taekwondo and Shito-ryu and Shotokan karate.

People and martial arts

• Menahem GolanDirector
• Emmett AlstonDirector
• Mike StoneFight choreographer· Karate (real practitioner)
• Franco NeroActor — as Cole· Ninjutsu (portrays the art on screen)
• Sho KosugiActor — as Hasegawa· Ninjutsu (real practitioner)
• Mike StoneStunt coordinator· Karate (real practitioner)