Karate Kiba

Karate Kiba or Bodyguard Kiba (ボディガード牙) is a martial-arts film starring Sonny Chiba, released in 1973 and based on an action manga by Ikki Kajiwara.[1][2]

Karate Kiba
Directed byTatsuichi Takamori
Simon Nuchtern (US footage)
Produced bySusumu Yoshikawa
Terry Levene (US footage)
Written byComic Book:
Ikki Kajiwara
Ken Nakagusuku
StarringSonny Chiba
Rinichi Yamamoto
Masutatsu Ōyama
CinematographyJoel Shapiro
Release date
May 24, 1973
1976 (American release)
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

A recut version was released in the U.S. in 1976 as The Bodyguard, with added footage in the first ten minutes of the film.

There were three more film adaptations released in 1993, 1994, and 1995 by Takashi Miike at the beginning of his career.[3]

Plot summary

"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?"

The American version of the film opens with a quotation:

The path of the righteous man and defender is beset on all sides by the iniquity of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper, and the father of lost children. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious anger, who poison and destroy my brothers; and they shall know that I am Chiba the Bodyguard when I shall lay my vengeance upon them!

— Ezekiel 25:17

An altered version of the same passage (substituting "Chiba the Bodyguard" with "the Lord"), complete with erroneous attribution to Ezekiel by the character of Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), appears in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction.

Home media

On November 20, 2007, BCI Eclipse released the film in their Sonny Chiba Collection DVD set, which also includes Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, The Bullet Train, Dragon Princess, Karate Warriors, and Sister Street Fighter.[4]

References
  1. "ボディガード牙". Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  2. "ボディガード牙". Agency for Cultural Affairs映画情報システム. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  3. "Bodyguard Kiba". DVD Talk. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  4. "Sonny Chiba Collection". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2017-08-19.
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