WHEN NINJAS COLLIDE: HOW THE ’80S DIVIDED MARTIAL ARTS FANS

If you were a fan of cinematic ninjas during their 1980s heyday, chances are you fell into one of two ninja camps…Team Dudikoff: The fans of Michael Dudikoff and the American Ninja films– or Team Kosugi: The fans of Sho Kosugi and the Revenge of the Ninja films series. Granted, there were other ninjas, ninja films and ninja-like opponents for Chuck Norris to conquer in the ’80s– but nothing as storied as the 5 movies in the American Ninja series or the Cannon Film Group’s ‘Ninja Trilogy’.

While the ‘Ninja’ chapter of American-made martial arts films was relatively short-lived, these two ninjas were at the peak of their game before the genre shifted from theaters to straight-to-VHS and DVD– long before Chris Farley and films like Miami Connection and Kung Fury re-cast the ninja as satire. Today, CHARGE! takes a closer look at these two ninjas and what makes their films so memorable lo, these many years later… read more >