Recently it was brought to my attention how tame action movies have become. When movies are discussed it's usually to say how much more violent, more sexual, more loud, more, more, more they have become when -for the most part- that isn't the case. Today's action movies almost seem apologetic for their violence, either draping it in stylized editing or a distancing sneer of irony. The sense of brutality is gone as is the sense of sexism that often comes up in something as overtly macho as an action movie. For example, take the recent film XXX. The promotion for XXX went to great pains to make it sound as if the main character Xander Cage was a dark, rebellious anti-hero who played by his own rules. The truth was the guy was a total square. His outlaw status was shown to be something he outgrew once he understood the importance of serving his country by shooting people [in a rather non-violent, six shooter way], sleeping [off-screen] with trashy women and eventually riding off into the sunset with an equally tattooed girl. In the end Xander is no different from a character played by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or any other actor who might show up at a GOP convention. Flagrant nudity, questionable taste, and bald faced attempts to shock the audience can still be found in some dramas and, oddly, comedies but modern action movies are strangely blunted. This is why genre classics such as Street Fighter are so important.

Street Fighter [or Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken] tells the story of Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi [Sonny Chiba] a tough martial arts master for hire who goes around Japan hitting people for fun and profit. After Terry turns down a job offered by the local mobsters and their Hong Kong associates to kidnap Sarai [Yutaka Nakajima], the daughter of a recently deceased oil magnate, they decide Terry knows too much and has to go. That's not much of a story but it's enough for the movie and it's enough for Terry to start doing his thing.

As an aside, at some point one would think that underworld organizations would learn not to try and sell out their elite super killers. Some random underling can probably be pushed around with impunity but double crossing a total bad-ass doesn't make good business sense. Not only do they annoy Terry with the attempts on his life they inadvertently make Terry switch sides and start protecting Sarai. That's not the way to run a would be successful criminal empire. Also, why would anyone join a extra-legal group that would so willingly sell out it's best free-lancer? So much for company loyalty to it's employees but, judging from the body count in Street Fighter, most hired goons don't make it to retirement age anyway.

Played with snarling ferocity by Chiba, Terry is probably the meanest man alive. The stylish speed of Bruce Lee was still enjoying it's initial burst of popularity but Street Fighter was having none of that. Terry fights with a brutal and direct... well, street fighting style of martial arts. He punches, kicks, bends, folds, spindles, and mutilates anybody stupid enough to tangle with him in a manner that's as effective as it is graceless. When he's not literally stomping on someone Terry is busy doing bizarre hissing breathing exercises that sound more like a leaking tire than anything else. But Terry makes up for his posing and breathing sessions -as well as for his goofy sidekick Ratnose [Waichi Yamada]- by beating the holy crap out of anyone who gets in his way. It may sound like I'm harping on the violence but considering Street Fighter ended up with an X rating when it was first released in 1974 due to carnage it becomes apparent that skull splitting is the main selling point of the movie.

But it's not the violence by itself that makes Street Fighter. Nor is it the pedestrian and sometimes shaky direction of Shigehiro Ozawa. Nor is it even the sight of Chiba hamming it up to a degree that's impressive even by martial arts movie standards. Instead it's the attitude that Street Fighter brings to the screen that makes it so interesting. Most action movies feature their hero fighting to protect their family, their country or some other noble cause. Even most anti-heroes will conform by the end of the movie in order to protect the girl, dojo, or whatever. Violence is acceptable only when used to support the status quo. What makes Street Fighter different is that it doesn't bother to have anything backing up it's glorification of violence. Terry is big and mean because he can be. Not only does nothing come along to make Terry reconsider his life but every obstacle he confronts in the movie only serve to confirm that his view of how he should live is the correct one. When Terry wins in the end it's not because he was inspired by love or loyalty or any of the other common heroic excuses. Instead he won because he never stopped being a mean bastard. Small wonder Street Fighter remains a cult favorite with misanthropic lunatics the world over.

Most action movies simply do not have the nerve to present as mean an outlook as Street Fighter. Even if they flirt with the idea they will invariably pull back in the end. Perhaps it's a fear of alienating audiences, perhaps it's hard to find an actor who is willing to take on such a role or any other number of factors that causes common sense to take over. Street Fighter takes the road few dare to tread and is joyfully mean from beginning to end. For making a movie that doesn't repent it's sins in the least Street Fighter has earned it's place in action movie history.

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