Ein Mann wird zum Killer (1978)

Ein Mann wird zum Killer: Directed by Cirio H. Santiago. With James Iglehart, Carmen Argenziano, Leon Isaac Kennedy, Jayne Kennedy. An American Vietnam soldier on his way home is left for dead and is saved by a pair of Japanese stragglers from WWII, who train him in the way of the samurai.

“With the belated rise in popularity of Asian exploitation; towering Grindhouse icon, Cirio H. Santiago, has become somewhat of a bona fide underground cinematic hero; this is due in no small part to his series of low-budget, high-octane, Post-Apocalyptic actioners, and ribald entertainments that were so exceptionally popular during home video boom of the 80u0026#39;s. The doyen of Post- Holocaust automotive Armageddon, Santiago perfected the machismo-soaked iconography of swarthy, leather-clad heroics, where dusty, embattled muscle cars, festooned with gaudy Motley Crue accoutrements blazed a furious trail of calamitous carnage across a noxious, corrupted landscape, where brutality and automotive prowess were the only viable remaining currency. Santiago directed these dystopian vistas with their crimson-hued skyline, mottled by the choking dust of deathly radioactivity with great gusto; so it came as no great surprise to discover that his earlier title, and wildly entertaining revenger, u0026#39;Fighting Madu0026#39; (aka) u0026#39;Death Forceu0026#39; was by no means an impoverished backwoods cousin to his better known PA extravaganzas. Brawny, James Inglehart, is part of a roguish trio of opportunistic thugs, and after a particularly frantic blag upon a yacht, things go rapidly south, he is left to rot in the midst of the briny sea. Being a purebred Grindhouse classic, the filmu0026#39;s unerring goal is unrelenting, blood-thirsty revenge; and after washing up on a deserted island he is trained by two Japanese soldiers stranded there since the end of WW2; naturally we have to endure a little ham-fisted cross cultural observations, pre-chop sock, but swiftly, Santiago constructs some amusing training vignettes, while certainly not on par with u0026#39;36 Chambers of Shaolinu0026#39; they prove to be an excellent aperitif before our vengeful black samurai (fortunately not the far less dynamic, Al Adamson interpretation) replete with diamond-edged Katana blade proceeds to exact a most furious and dreadful revenge. Ostensibly u0026#39;Fighting Madu0026#39; is the timeless fable of a muscular, super-irked black man decapitating dumbbell Mafiosi with a diamond edged katana blade. So whatu0026#39;s not to like?”