By Todd Garbarini
From the first frame of Amir Shervan's
1989 film Samurai Cop, you know that
you're in for a treat. Cheesy 1980s artificial
pop music that sounds like it was generated by a Casio keyboard, courtesy of
Alen Dermarderossian, with white credits set against a black background (a surefire
indicator that you're watching a low-budget film) give way to Okamura (Gerald
Okamura) complaining that they are not an established gang, and as such, they
should be very cautious to make friends with the Chinese and Japanese gangs. He
grunts and groans and makes exclamations that aren't always decipherable. Former porn star Krista Lane, who is part of
the gang, says things like, “Here comes the boss!†or “The boss is
coming.†Robert Z’Dar, best known for
the Maniac Cop films, is an imposing
figure who does the boss’s dirty work. Needless
to say, they get into a fight with a gang they want to do business with after
being rebuffed and several people are killed.
Enter black and white cop team Frank Washington (Mark Frazer) and Joe
Marshall (Matt Hanon), the poor man’s answer to Roger Murtaugh and Martin Riggs
from Lethal Weapon (1987). Washington looks like Michael Winslow from
the Police Academy series and Marshall
is a samurai expert(?!) who looks like former model Fabio. They spout some of the most quotable, ludicrously
awful dialogue I’ve heard in a long time.
When they go out on assignment in a beaten up Chevrolet Caprice Classic,
one of them says, “His boss was killed by the Katana Gang. There’s the blue van over there.†The other asks, “So, the van belongs to the
Katana Gang?†He must've been at the
head of his graduating class. They
enlist the help of another cop, Peggy (Melissa Moore of 1990’s Sorority House Massacre II), in
following the culprits and later on Marshall beds her in one of the genre’s
most boring sex scenes.
The cops have run-ins with the Katana Gang in a laugh-out-loud sequence in
a restaurant where they threaten the boss and Marshall swoons over Jennifer,
the young attractive owner of the joint. There’s a completely unnecessary scene involving a ridiculously
effeminate waiter who looks like he fell out of an early Dario Argento
thriller.
The film is a time capsule of music, wardrobe, and hairstyles from nearly a
quarter-century ago. There is full
frontal female nudity, three attempts at sex scenes, and one of the funniest,
phoniest car chases I have ever seen (it makes you pine away for William
Friedkin’s touch.) The late Dale
Cummings plays their vociferous police captain, constantly yelling at the cops
to bring him results. One of the
funniest scenes takes place in his office (I won’t spoil it) as he threatens to
send Marshall back to where he came from.
The film has absolutely no cinematic style despite the best efforts of
cinematographer Peter Palian, who shoots much of the action in masters. There
is very little intercutting and therefore no excitement is generated. Unbelievably, all of these drawbacks add
considerably to the film's overall charm. I wish that the bulk of movies made today were one-tenth as entertaining
Samurai Cop turns out to be.
The film has been transferred from the original 35mm film negative and the
image is crystal clear. Some of the color timing appears to be off a little
bit, however this is a minor quibble. This is unquestionably the best the film
was ever going to look.
The extras that the disc comes with include:
An interview with actor Robert Z’Dar conducted over Skype which runs 25
minutes. The image quality is poor,
however Douglas Dunning, the interviewer, and the actor are both
understandable. Mr. Z’Dar talks about
how he got into the business and came to meet the late director Amir Shervan
with whom he made three films (Hollywood
Cop (1987) and Killing American Style
(1990) in addition to this one). Director Amir Shervan intended Samurai Cop to be a straightforward
action film. It took three weeks to
shoot on a budget of approximately $800,000.00.
An interview with actor and fight co-ordinator Gerald Okamura that runs 20
minutes. He discusses his time working
with David Carradine on Kung-Fu and
with John Carpenter on Big Trouble in
Little China (1986) and Escape From
L.A. (1996), in addition to Samurai
Cop.
An interview with cinematographer Peter Palian who talks extensively about
his career in the business runs 27 minutes.
There are also stills galleries and an amusing fan trailer for the
film.
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