The Challenge (1982) on Netflix
A down-and-out American boxer, Rick, is hired to smuggle a katana to Japan. The sword is a Yoshida family heirloom, and its return sets him between two estranged brothers, Toru and Hideo.
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- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb6.2/103,052 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes53%
Trailer
Plot summary
A katana known as one of 'The Equals' was an heirloom of the Yoshida family, lost during World War II. Siblings Toshio and Akiko track it down in California and hope to return it to their father, Toru, a traditional samurai. Toshio hires Rick, a down-and-out American boxer, to smuggle the sword into Japan. When they arrive, thugs working for Toru's estranged brother Hideo seize them. Hideo is a kuromaku, a fixer who operates behind the scenes for the Yakuza. The two brothers are locked in a bitter blood feud, and the sword's return places Rick in the middle of it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Challenge (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- John Frankenheimer brought in John Sayles to rework the script of The Challenge in only five days, because, Sayles says, the Writers Guild and Directors Guild were about to go on strike.
- On The Challenge, star Scott Glenn found the surrogate father-son scenes between his boxer and Toshiro Mifune's sensei were being shortened or cut during filming, with character-driven moments dropped in favour of genre elements.
- Yoko Shimada, Toshiro Mifune's co-star in the 1980 miniseries Shōgun, was first choice to play Akiko but was rejected by John Frankenheimer for not being fluent in English; Donna Kei Benz, who got the part, took a four-month crash course in language, etiquette and martial arts.
