SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO (Mark L. Lester, 1991)

[alex.sp89]

I never heard Tia Carrere talking about SILT in her interviews. Mostly are Wayne's World ,True Lies and her singing career are mentioned. Maybe admin had the opportunity to meet her or someone from this group ?

Interview with Toshishiro Obata is also a must ? After Ninja Turtles, SILT, small role in Demolition Man he vanished from the big screen . Reid Asato (sumo guy) is also very interesting to hear ...

[Jox]

Obata was not in the film business in the first place, he's been a martial artist (and founder of his own style) in the traditional sense of the word, so I'm not surprised after he returned to his roots after a few roles.

[alex.sp89]

Obata was a good character actor. I know being typecast as villain asian or stuntman is not always wanted but still his face is very memorable.
Many people mentioned the fact that all known asian actors and stuntmen from Hollywood from that era have been cast in SILT as Yoshida henchmen, police officers etc. Producers and studio made possible what was impossible ... Strange enough later on many of them worked on Rapid Fire with Brandon Lee,Universal Soldier and Joshua Tree. Dolph was always surrounded by asians starting The Punisher (1989). Is he fluent Chinese by chance ?

[Jox]

Dolph speaks a little Japanese but not fluently, and no Chinese.


Interview with Phillip Tan:
https://kungfukingdom.com/interview-with-philip-tan/

What a way to reconnect! You also worked, of course, alongside the late Brandon Lee and Dolph Lundgren on “Showdown in Little Tokyo” what memories stand out to you most vividly from then?
Well, Brandon was a lovely guy, we talked a lot about life and his father and where he was headed in his future. He also told me about the movie he had coming up, “The Crow”, and he was just a humble, good dude. We didn’t know he’d pass away so soon after that, but it was great to hear him share stories about Bruce, and I asked him what he thought about the conspiracy theories around Bruce’s death, and he said, “No, the medical people showed that he’d died the way it was reported, and it is what it is.”

Dolph was also a lovely guy and a real martial artist, he was a real European kickboxing champion, which a lot of people aren’t aware of.

[alex.sp89]

The great Philip Tan. Not many people know that this guy was a fight coordinator in Batman 1989 directed by Tim Burton. James Lew also a legend of martial arts alongside Tan and charismatic villain in many movies.

I do not know if this pic provided again by Jimmy Taenaka was posted here

Asian baddies before action

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[alex.sp89]

What is the name of the guy sitting next to Brandon ? Also the name of yakuza who broke his own neck at the police station ?

Brandon in SILT BTS.jpg (13.3 KiB) Viewed 4791 times

[alex.sp89]

Showdown in Little Tokyo cast of illustrated characters Chris Kenner & Johnny Murata by Marten Go.

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[alex.sp89]

Johnny Murata

[alex.sp89]

Funekei Yoshida

[alex.sp89]

As I see DL is becoming a pop culture phenomenon which is not that bad today. Maybe soon they will start to make cartoons with him... AKA Dolph Lundgren Show

[Jox]

Those have been posted a while ago in "Fan Art" thread.

Marten Go (aka Preserved Dragons) makes many of those, including BEST OF THE BEST characters, does this mean BOTB and Phillip Rhee have become cultural phenomenons?
(Don't get me wrong, I love BOTB)

[alex.sp89]

Phillip Rhee has never become a cultural phenomenon. He will always be just Tommy Lee from Best of the Best (1989). He doesn't have any other iconic characters to be a pop culture icon. Dolph have -He Man, Punisher, Kenner, Andrew Scott and always Drago - fair enough to become a pop culture star.

I also never understood BOTB POPULARITY . The fights are really bad choreographed. Only Rhee shows some skills, everyone else is just a joke. Chris Penn (RIP his soul) karate champion is just a joke (like Arnold playing some Pacino characters or Jack Nicholson characters). It effects more feelings but not professional crew making the movie. The same as No Retreat No Surrender - honest it is a bad movie. The only good thing in it is Van Damme debut in karate stuff movie and maybe some songs. The supporting cast is just acting for 5-6 years old kids. It is hard to believe that NRNS was made by Corey Yuen who later on made Jason Statham a new star of action movies with Transporter.

Dolph early movies were all good made. Maybe Red Scorpion has more of this Cannon flavor aka sort of Missing in Action type because it was directed by the same director. I had a wish to give Dolph more dialogue to say and a bigger final action scene and good action scene at the beginning (as scripted in the snow) than just that long discussion scene with generals. Any other his early movies were good and if even Dolph admitted the fact that he was bad in MOTU supportive cast pulled the movie and worked fine.

SILT was ideal made for Dolph because he was involved in every single action scene, dialogue was descent and good amount and it was very stylish. Make up stylist worked really good on DL character. Kenner. It is fair to say that SILT is one of hist best movies (if not the best according many opinions) were he played the lead role ( not supportive or the bad guy).

[alex.sp89]

I think many of u already realized the fact that the house from Saving Minako seq. where Yoshida lives after Tanaka dismissal was used in many other Hollywood movies filmed in late 80s early 90s. One of them being Loaded Weapon 1(1993) a parody movie starring Emilio Esteves and Samuel L Jackson. In this house was killed Denis Leary character.

[alex.sp89]

Rare Russian VHS edition of SILT

[alex.sp89]

Back Cover Russian VHS of SILT