The Sonny Chiba Thread

[Baseball Fury]

You jokers, everybody knows that the best Sonny Chiba film is Kill Bill

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Baseball Fury

You jokers, everybody knows that the best Sonny Chiba film is Kill Bill

I thought his best film was The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift


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[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

A great place to start would be here-but those Optimum boxes must be OOP-Look at the prices.....


Amazon.co.uk: sonny chiba collection Film & TV

[InDogWeTrust]

Originally Posted by Baseball Fury

You jokers, everybody knows that the best Sonny Chiba film is Kill Bill

Is this sarcasm? Because I actually don't like Kill Bill that much.
It's my least favourite of all Quentin's films.

[Baseball Fury]

Yes. Yes it is.


KB is a great film though, but it's hardly a Chiba film.

[Splatterdragon73]

Originally Posted by g053584398

A great way to build up your Sonny Chiba collection would be to get hold of some of the better quality box-sets that are available. The downside is that many of them are now out-of-print. I was lucky enough to pick the better ones up for ridiculously cheap prices a couple of years ago, but prices have since risen considerably.

I got in there quick just like you did and the relevant U.S. and U.K. releases do indeed represent essential Sonny Chiba viewing.

Optimum's The Streetfighter trilogy box set is an especially worthy purchase and the title character is just such a remorseless badass you can't help but like the guy!

[g053584398]

Originally Posted by Splatterdragon73

I got in there quick just like you did and the relevant U.S. and U.K. releases do indeed represent essential Sonny Chiba viewing.

Optimum's The Streetfighter trilogy box set is an especially worthy purchase and the title character is just such a remorseless badass you can't help but like the guy!

Good man! I don't think I've ever been happier with DVD purchases than with those BCI box-sets, and the fact that I paid next to nothing for them was a bonus.

To be honest I was trawling Amazon one day and I found a reference to a Sonny Chiba film. Since I didn't know who he was at the time, and since I have little or no interest in the films of Tarantino, I decided to dig a little and I liked what I heard about his films. After effectively blind purchasing the main BCI box-sets of his films, which is quite unlike me, I was delighted with what I found when I came to watch the films. Jackie Chan used to be my favourite martial arts films star, but know it is Chiba all the way!

Yes, the Streetfighter films are fantastic in terms of both the exploitation genre and also as martial arts films.

[Splatterdragon73]

Originally Posted by g053584398

To be honest I was trawling Amazon one day and I found a reference to a Sonny Chiba film. Since I didn't know who he was at the time, and since I have little or no interest in the films of Tarantino.

I also came across those BCI Chiba box sets on Amazon only i was looking for specific Sonny titles at the time. I'm also of the same mindset when it comes to Tarantino and i only really tuned into the first Kill Bill for the graphic violence and Chiba. I've never bothered catching the second volume.

[g053584398]

Originally Posted by Splatterdragon73

I also came across those BCI Chiba box sets on Amazon only i was looking for specific Sonny titles at the time. I'm also of the same mindset when it comes to Tarantino and i only really tuned into the first Kill Bill for the graphic violence and Chiba. I've never bothered catching the second volume.

The thing that I will say in Tarantino's favour is that he clearly has great taste in cinema. He likes gialli, he likes poliziotteschi, he likes chambara, he likes pinky violence, he likes the films of Douglas Sirk and indeed all kinds of cinematic treats that are not on the radar of most people; and for that I like him.

I'm not really bothered about his films though, in part due to the fact that most of his ideas are stolen from other films, the fact that he creates soundtracks that are a mish-mash of those from other films, and the trying-so-damn-hard-to-be-hip dialogue and overuse of profanity just bores me really, but I acknowledge and appreciate the attention that he has drawn to such interesting cinematic figures as Chiba and Castellari and, in doing so, he has certainly helped to create an environment which has encouraged the release of some of their films.

[Jinx_Barkman]

Sonny Chiba is not the most polished martial artist and he may not have the most imposing physique but he has a certain raw, enigmatic presence that I think many other martial arts actors lack and that makes him my favorite. That being said, I would also like to give another recommendation for The Killing Machine. The Mas Oyama trilogy is a delightful experience as well.