Shinichi Chiba (千葉 真一,Chiba Shin'ichi?), also known as Sonny Chiba (born January 23 1939 in Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese actor. Sonny Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience.
Born Sadaho Maeda (前田 禎穂,Maeda Sadaho?) he was the second of five children in the family of a military test pilot.
As a boy, he manifested an interest in both theater and gymnastics, and he was serious enough about the latter to earn a place on the Japanese Olympic team in his late teens until he was sidelined by a back injury. While he was a university student, he began studying martial arts with the renowned World Karate Grand Master Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama (who he later played in a trilogy of films), leading to his becoming a first degree black belt.
Sometime around 1960 (the dates are uncertain, because it is possible that he had television appearances to his credit as early as 1959) he was...
Created by dipity on Feb 7, 2008
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 04:25 PM
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Kill Bill is the fourth film by writer-director Quentin Tarantino. Originally conceived as one film, it was released in two separate volumes (in Fall 2003 and Spring 2004) due to its running time of approximately four hours. The movie is an epic-length revenge drama, with homages to earlier film genres, such as Hong Kong martial arts movies, Japanese samurai movies and Italian spaghetti westerns; an extensive use of popular music and pop culture references; and deliberately over-the-top violence.
Kill Bill is one story, divided into two volumes with five "chapters" each, presented in a nonlinear style (as is common among Tarantino's films).
The Bride (Thurman) is introduced to the audience in a blood-spattered wedding gown immediately after a violent showdown at an El Paso, Texas wedding chapel. She attempts to tell her would-be killer, Bill (Carradine), that she is pregnant with his baby, but he shoots her in the side of the head.
Four years later, The Bride arrives at the house of...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378194
Survive Style 5+ is a 2004 Japanese film directed by Gen Sekiguchi. It stars Tadanobu Asano, Reika Hashimoto, Jai West, Sonny Chiba and Vinnie Jones.
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430651
The Storm Riders (風雲之雄霸天下) is a 1998 Hong Kong film directed by Andrew Lau. It is based on a comic book called Fung Wan (or Tin Ha). This movie is known for its brilliant special effects. It stars Ekin Cheng as Wind and Aaron Kwok as Cloud. The plot involves two children, Whispering Wind and Striding Cloud, who become powerful warriors under the evil warlord Conquer's tutelage. This film won several Hong Kong awards.
While the film was released in an 'official' form in the United States, it was so heavily edited that many had trouble following the events. As a result, it is still often sold in pirated formats with the original cut.
The evil Lord Conquer, head of Conqueror's Clan, is given a prophecy from a prophet named Mud Buddha. It is said that if Conquer finds two young children by the name of Wind and Cloud he will have good fortune. Mud Buddha tells Conquer to look for him 10 years later so that he can tell the rest of Conqueror's fortune. Conquer issues an order that every...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165499
Legend of the Eight Samurai (里見八犬伝,Satomi Hakkenden?) is a 1983 Japanese historical martial arts fantasy film, directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The script is adapted from a 1982 novel Shin Satomi Hakkenden (新・里見八犬伝) by Toshio Kamata, a loose reworking of the epic serial Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Kyokutei Bakin.
The story follows Shizu-hime (Hiroko Yakushimaru), her family slain and on the run from her enemies. As the escapes she is found by the vagabond Shinbei (Hiroyuki Sanada), before being rescued from her pursuers by Dōsetsu (Sonny Chiba). He tells her the legend of a curse on her family, and of eight beads that identify eight dog-warriors who can lift it, of which he and his companion are two. To defeat the evil queen Tamazusa (Mari Natsuki) who killed her family, they must find all eight. But Shinbei hears of Shizu-hime's identity, and vows to collect the reward for capturing her.
Name as Character
Sonny Chiba ... Dosetsu
Hiroko Yakushimaru ... Shizuhime
Hiroyuki Sanada ... ...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086244
Dragon Princess (,Ryu no Oujo?) is a Japanese karate film about a girl who wishes to avenge her father.
The film begins with a man (Sonny Chiba) and his daughter (Sue Shiomi) being attacked by a rival karate master who wants the man's job as top karate master. After cowardly teaming up with four other masters they manage to disable one of the man's arms and sticking a kunai knife in his eye. Leaving him alive but crippled the man trains his daughter to avenge him and the death of a friend. After his death, his daughter goes to Tokyo to kill her enemy, she enters into a karate tournament, being funded by a corrupt business man, to get to her target, but the coward, to assure his student's supremacy in the coming fight, sends his four top fighters to wipe out the competition. By the end the girl, with the help of another karate student, kills the boss and his minions. Her arm is permanently disabled, keeping her from continuing her karate but allowing her to continue on with the rest...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165256
Virus(復活の日,Fukkatsu no hi?) is a 1980 post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Masao Kusakari, George Kennedy, Robert Vaughn, Chuck Connors, Olivia Hussey, Edward James Olmos, Ken Ogata, Sonny Chiba and Glenn Ford. The film is notable for being the most expensive Japanese film ever made at the time.The movie opens with a shady transfer happening between an East German scientist and a group of American secret agents. The Russians have illicitly "acquired" a sample of MM88, a deadly virus created accidentally by an American virologist that magnifies the potency of any other virus or bacteria it comes in contact with. The scientist wants the virus taken to a colleague in Switzerland, but the Americans are only interested in recovering the stolen MM88. Escaping an attack by East German soldiers, the spies crash their plane and the virus is released, creating a world wide epidemic initially known as the "Italian Flu".The governments of the world watch...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080768
G.I. Samurai(戦国自衛隊,Sengoku jieitai (Time Slip)?) is a 1979 Japanese feature length film focusing on the adventures of a modern day Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) element that accidentally manages to travel to the Warring States period （戦国時代 or Sengoku jieitai）of Japanese history. The film stars Japanese cult actor Sonny Chiba.On their way to a maneuver, a wildly mixed group of Japanese soldiers with a tank, an APC, a patrol boat and a helicopter suddenly find themselves stranded 400 years in the past and under attack by samurai forces. Their designated leader, Lieutenant Yoshiaki Iba (Sonny Chiba), befriends and joins forces with Nagao Kagetora, the war leader of lord Koizumi. Seeing the stranded soldiers' war machinery in action, Kagetora persuades Iba to aid him in his struggle for supremacy in Japan.In the meantime, however, Iba finds himself facing the desperation of his men who want to return to their own time. Some make contact with the locals - one of the soldiers,...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083050
Karate Bearfighter (けんか空手 極真無頼拳,Kenka karate kyokushin burai ken?, literally "Fighting Karate-Ultimate Truth Brutal Fist") is a Japanese martial arts film made by Toei Company in 1975 and directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. It is the second installment of a trilogy of films based on the manga Karate Baka Ichidai (literal title: "The Fanatical Karate Generation") by Ikki Kajiwara, Jiro Tsunoda and Jōya Kagemaru.
In the film, a piece of grindhouse cinema, Sonny Chiba reprises his role from Champion of Death as Masutatsu Oyama, the historical founder of Kyokushin karate in Japan (Oyama makes a cameo appearance in the film as well). Chiba was an interesting choice for the role, as he had studied martial arts under the real-life Oyama for several years. True to the film's title, at one point in the course of the narrative he battles a "bear", actually a human actor in a bear costume.
...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188799
Karate Kiba is a martial-arts film starring Sonny Chiba, released in 1976.A recut version was released in the U.S. as Chiba the Bodyguard."Karate master and anti-drug vigilante Chiba returns to his home in Japan, where he holds a press conference announcing his intention to wipe out the nation's drug industry. He also offers his services as a bodyguard to anyone who is willing to come forward and provide information about the drug lords' activities. He is soon approached by a mysterious woman claiming to have important information and asking for Chiba's protection. She seems to be legitimate, but is she really what she appears to be?"...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164699
Champion Of Death (けんか空手 極真拳,Kenka karate kyokushinken?, literal translation: Fighting Karate-Ultimate Truth Fist), also known as Karate Bullfighter, is a Japanese martial arts film made by the Toei Company in 1975. It was the first in a trilogy of films based on the manga Karate Baka Ichidai (literal translation: The Fanatical Karate Generation), a manga based on Masutatsu Oyama's life by by Ikki Kajiwara, Jiro Tsunoda and Jōya Kagemaru.
Sonny Chiba stars as his former master Oyama who was the founder of Kyokushin karate. Chiba would reprise this role in two more films.
Japanese Movie Database...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165348
The Street Fighter (激突！殺人拳,Gekitotsu! Satsujin Ken?), literally Clash, Killer Fist!, is a Japanese martial arts film released in 1974 and produced by Toei Company Ltd.
Takuma (Terry) Tsurugi is a very violent and deadly martial arts master who will commit almost any crime for money.In the opening scenes, we see him audaciously break a condemned murderer (Junjo) out of prison by impersonating a monk, then using an ancient martial arts technique that causes delayed unconsciousness. When Junjo faints while ascending the gallows, prison officials rush him to a hospital, giving Terry a chance to free him at the expense of an innocent ambulance driver and a couple of guards. However, Junjo's brother and sister, who hired him for the job, don't have enough money to pay him, and, when he finds out, he throws the brother out a high window and sells the sister into sexual slavery.
The plot thickens when a wealthy oil tycoon dies, leaving his daughter, Sarai, as his heir. Tsurugi is sent to...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073756
Invasion of the Neptune Men (宇宙快速船,Uchû Kaisokusen?, Space Hypership) is a tokusatsu SF/superhero film produced by Toei Company Ltd. (as "New Toei") in 1961. The movie starred then 22-year old Sonny Chiba as the intergalactic superhero Iron-Sharp. (When listed in the credits in the Japanese version, "Iron Sharp" was played by "?", a gimmick often used in many similar Japanese superhero shows at the time) This was the only appearance of Iron-Sharp (who's dressed in silver tights, helmet, cape, carries a ray gun and rides a car-like rocketship), who is called "Space Chief" in the US version. In either case, this film is similar to many a show in the Toei Superhero genre from the same period, like Planet Prince (Toei's movie version).
Shinichi Tachibana, a scientist/astronomer who is, in reality, the superhero "Iron-Sharp" (Space Chief in the English dub) is friends with a group of children. When the children are almost attacked by a mysterious group of metallic aliens (called ...,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055562
Sonny Chiba was born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan
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