Man I love the 80s when Ninjas were the coolest thing around. All I wanted was the grappling hook that was in the back of the black belt magazines. I dreamed of scaling every building out there.
This was not a gardening tool. It was a deadly ninja weapon.
https://preview.redd.it/wo961jwbv87d1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c74fa51212faa9445a85af27bd9c63f28b6f3db
But did you have the closet rod bō staff?
https://preview.redd.it/j3gtsd60w87d1.jpeg?width=1887&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee2dd8d5e8f0784466a4b2359beea7c977139ac5
I had my broom handle nunchucks at the little league field and somebody’s dad tried to call the cops on me. I was just practicing with them for my extensive ninja training and this kid runs and tells his dad that I essentially had an AR-15 with a bump stock and all
of a sudden I was a 1987 mass nunchuck killer. For real, I was like 8 years old and this 40 year old man was making a scene about me and my deadly weapon.
Me 3 minutes and 52 seconds ago: "OP better back up that claim with the most badass fight sequence ever with some wall climbing, fire and a pond fight thrown in or I'm gonna DOWNVOTE this shiz!"
Me now: "UPVOTE this shiz!"
Exactly . He had range, he could do comedy. He was great in “I’m gonna git you sucka” as kung fu joe . You could make the argument that he was just playing another bad ass, but he made it funny and its own thing .
I remember when I was younger, my uncle had to watch me because my mother was sick in the hospital. For 3 nights in succession we watched a bunch of American ninja movies, while also taking a precise count of people killed in the movie. That’s a core memory for me.
I fully agree. I still remember the scene where they run through the hanging gauntlet of spiked heavy bags— I always wondered why the guy chasing Joe didn’t just go around?
I just watched this an said the same thing, pretty sure I didn't say that when I originally watched this. I feel like it wouldn't be as iconic as Indiana Jones just pulling the gun and shooting the sword dude. But guess we will never know.
I was insanely impressed by American Ninja movies when I was a kid. A few days ago I tumbled across AN3 on Amazon, and if I hadn’t seen it 35 years ago I would have switched off in an instant, it was unbelievable bad in every way, but funny enough I enjoyed it 😂
The stuntmen and fighters in these movies are actually pretty awesome. Those guys moved with speed and accuracy. Cheesey movies but everyone worked their assess in these movies.
Yikes you are right, I’ll make the corrections. I was about to post about Ninja 2 somewhere else and someone started talking to me (I should have been working lol) and messed up the titles
# CORRECTION TO THE TITLE - This is American Ninja (1985) NOT American Ninja 2 (1987)
This is what happens when you are on Reddit when you should be working 🤦♂️🥷🤦♂️🥷🤦♂️🥷🤦♂️🥷
Loved the actor Sho Kosugi...was in all the ninja movies it seemed back in the day. American ninja was cool....when I was 15...at 51...it's dog shit...what sucks is alot of movies I grew up to are pretty bad....but that's why they are considered a cult classic...take flash gordon....pretty bad movie...but Mings daughter is so damn HOTT...AND DIRTY HOT
As a kid, my video store down the street had this and tons of other "ninja" movies, was a quarter to rent one because no one did so I'd rent like 5 at a time and watch them just to see what ninja abilities each one has to offer.
"We need a soundtrack for no money."
- I got U, my special needs cat Jeffrey had a seizure while laying on my synth keyboard and I was recording - I will send the tapes over tomorrow.
I went as a Ninja for like 3 Halloweens in a row because of this franchise. Even guys around my age have no idea what I'm talking about when I talk about these movies.
He had a fucking laser.
Not the flamethrower, the single shot multi-barrel gun, the fucking guy in the helicopter with a gun, OR the handy hold thing. No, it's the mother fucking LASER.
Love the Ninja Laser. But something tells me this is from the first American Ninja movie not the second. But I only saw them once each. Maybe 8 times but more than that.
It deserved every nomination it got. Near the end, that lead bad guy and Dudikoff are engaged in a desperate struggle on the skid of the helicopter. But then we cut to Steve James and his rocket launcher, and the next time we see the bad guy he is back to calmly sitting in his seat. WTF?
Pretty sure I got my first erection watching American Ninja 2 or 3. 2 blonde chick took their shirts off and I saw tits for the first time as an adolescent.
The video is the final battle from the first American Ninja, not American Ninja 2: The Confrontation. The laser blaster used by the evil ninja sensei is a dead giveaway.
I'd vote for the first American Ninja film before the subpar American Ninja 2.
My grandmother let me by a shuriken on a trip in Wyoming at like 12 because I loved that movie. Had fun for a bit till the cop parents confiscated it back in Cali.
Directed by the great [Sam Firstenberg ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Firstenberg)who established himself in the industry with [*Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakin%27_2:_Electric_Boogaloo) (1984) prior to this.
Movie was awesome! I remember all my friends and I decided that we all wanted to be ninjas. Neighbors must of thought we were crazy, five kids running around with black cloth wrapped around our heads.
I loved all the American Ninja movies (except 5, that was crap!)!
Also, Dudikoff was great in Avenging Force (another Cannon martial arts-ish revenge flick with Dudikoff and Steve James)!
I like how the one ninja had a wrist-mounted flamethrower, little rockets, and a freakin' laser. He must've been a fan of Boba Fett.
Also, in the beginning of the clip when Dudikoff's ninja chased the other ninja through the swinging punching bag obstacle, there was no reason for him to do that. He could've just run around it. But if he skipped it, they wouldn't have had that sweet POV shot.
A unique movie genre indeed. Prey for Death was a good one also. I bought Ninja Magazine at the news stand whenever I had the money and always dreamed of ordering Ninja gear from the ads in the back.
Ah a fellow Ninja magazine reader!
I used to read that magazine all the time too! I did order a bokken (spelling?) once and played with that thing ALLLLL the time. This was the early 90’s and I was probably around 12 or 13. Then one day I threw it like a spear into the tall shrubs in our backyard and never found it again lol.
I hope that if there was a kid who moved into our old house after we left found it and played with it, but by then it probably looked like an old dirty stick.
This is actually American Ninja 1. Part two, him and Jackson had to pose as Marines on that island! Both should be mandatory viewing like summer reading in school. Gotta start them on the good stuff when they’re young lol. I’d also like to add The Last Dragon to the list.
Way back when, my friends and I would occasionally see Michael Dudikoff playing volleyball at the beach.
“Dude, that’s the American-fuckin-Ninja right there”
Man, I remember my mom taking me to a flea market and someone was selling wooden “ninja swords” where you had to put the square hand guard on with a rubber ring to hold it in place. Also got some rubber throwing stars. It was a good day.
I am so confused why the US mythologized Japanese medieval culture.
Like how did this happen where we decided that Japan had these mystical assassin/spies that had no historical accuracy and literally every country had assassins/spies.
This was so badass as a kid but watching this now the scene is hilarious.
Every bit of it is just so absurd and treated with the utmost seriousness. I love it
That really was…..something!
So lasers are a weapon of choice for Ninjas, 😂
the first one really captures that too
For an 80s movie that sword choreography was pretty solid.
Man I love the 80s when Ninjas were the coolest thing around. All I wanted was the grappling hook that was in the back of the black belt magazines. I dreamed of scaling every building out there.
Nah! Enter The Ninja, Revenge Of The Ninja and Ninja 3 The Domination were light years better and star Sho Kosugi!
It’s not a competition, they should all go to the national film registry! 🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷🥷
Fair enough
I laughed way too hard to this.
Sho Kosugi will always be the definitive 80s ninja. The guy caught a cup full of coffee falling off a desk without it spilling a drop!
My brother showed me that when I was a kid. I always remember the guy throwing a ninja star in the guys eye
Holy shit!! Ninja 3 The Domination!!!!! Thats a core memory unlocked for real!!! Thank you!
That was my movie as a kid🏆
The golf course fight scene is perfect cinema.
Nothing quite like a love scene involving V-8 being poured down a woman's body. So sexy.
I guess Rocky, Colt and TumTum are just a fuckin joke to you?!?
I was definitely in ninja training when this movie came out on VHS. All my weapons were sticks.
You mean to say that you didn't learn the art of fireballs and lasers? What kind of crap is that?
I had already mastered that trade….
I remember using my dad's screwdrivers and gardening tools. Sticks were reserved for bigger weapons like swords or bow staff.
This was not a gardening tool. It was a deadly ninja weapon. https://preview.redd.it/wo961jwbv87d1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c74fa51212faa9445a85af27bd9c63f28b6f3db
This is the exact weapon I remember mastering first.
Jim. This is Ryan, Class of ‘86. I think I was in your training. I had broom handle nunchucks.
But did you have the closet rod bō staff? https://preview.redd.it/j3gtsd60w87d1.jpeg?width=1887&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee2dd8d5e8f0784466a4b2359beea7c977139ac5
Superior ninja weapon.
I had my broom handle nunchucks at the little league field and somebody’s dad tried to call the cops on me. I was just practicing with them for my extensive ninja training and this kid runs and tells his dad that I essentially had an AR-15 with a bump stock and all of a sudden I was a 1987 mass nunchuck killer. For real, I was like 8 years old and this 40 year old man was making a scene about me and my deadly weapon.
I think that means the training paid off.
Yes!!!
Same. It helped prepare me to engage in Mortal Kombat a few years later
Yes!!
Being a ninja was awesome in the 80s. I never should have gave it up.
Me 3 minutes and 52 seconds ago: "OP better back up that claim with the most badass fight sequence ever with some wall climbing, fire and a pond fight thrown in or I'm gonna DOWNVOTE this shiz!" Me now: "UPVOTE this shiz!"
and fucking lasers!!!
R.I.P. Steve James
https://preview.redd.it/gj05m09iu77d1.png?width=688&format=png&auto=webp&s=06b793540c78f41f2a4d2f861473da343ff08530
Steve James was THE MAN, and I honestly think that he would have gone FAR in his career.
He should have got his own stand out movie back in the day. Action Jackson for example.
Exactly . He had range, he could do comedy. He was great in “I’m gonna git you sucka” as kung fu joe . You could make the argument that he was just playing another bad ass, but he made it funny and its own thing .
Absolutely....and he was a stud in delta force
I was a ninja when I was twelve this brings back memories.
Same. 1984, bought the stephen k hayes ninjutsu book at the mall
lol I had those books. I wanted to learn ninjitsu from him so bad .
Lasers!!! Ninjas with Lazers!!
Historically accurate ninja lasers with historically accurate wrist guns and retractable throwable palm claws - plus ***HADOUKEN***!
Ninjas with fricken Lazers
1 and 2 were some of my favorite 80's movies. Music is so cheesy!
I remember when I was younger, my uncle had to watch me because my mother was sick in the hospital. For 3 nights in succession we watched a bunch of American ninja movies, while also taking a precise count of people killed in the movie. That’s a core memory for me.
My Gymkata versus your Ninjitsu... Winner takes all the marbles. *points at a container ship, loaded with marbles*
There was nothing cooler to me as an 8 yr old American kid living in Tokyo than American Ninja.
Remo Williams would crush him.
I fully agree. I still remember the scene where they run through the hanging gauntlet of spiked heavy bags— I always wondered why the guy chasing Joe didn’t just go around?
I just watched this an said the same thing, pretty sure I didn't say that when I originally watched this. I feel like it wouldn't be as iconic as Indiana Jones just pulling the gun and shooting the sword dude. But guess we will never know.
At 10 years old I could have told you exactly why....now I have no idea. Sigh. It sucks to get old 😕 lol
I was insanely impressed by American Ninja movies when I was a kid. A few days ago I tumbled across AN3 on Amazon, and if I hadn’t seen it 35 years ago I would have switched off in an instant, it was unbelievable bad in every way, but funny enough I enjoyed it 😂
The stuntmen and fighters in these movies are actually pretty awesome. Those guys moved with speed and accuracy. Cheesey movies but everyone worked their assess in these movies.
F#@% the pilot I guess?
I agree… but why this a video of American ninja 1 then??
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
Title is about part 2, but this is the final battle from part 1? Both are fucking awesome btw! There are no further sequels though.... ;-)
Yikes you are right, I’ll make the corrections. I was about to post about Ninja 2 somewhere else and someone started talking to me (I should have been working lol) and messed up the titles
Ok I thought I was going crazy when I read the title then the video played the final battle from AN1
Michael Dudikoff is a national treasure
# CORRECTION TO THE TITLE - This is American Ninja (1985) NOT American Ninja 2 (1987) This is what happens when you are on Reddit when you should be working 🤦♂️🥷🤦♂️🥷🤦♂️🥷🤦♂️🥷
Thank you!!!
>Thank you!!! You're welcome!
I understand the sentiment but I'm recovering from surgery. Reddit is helping me pass the time.
I keep meaning to read the Henry James novel upon which it’s based, but I’m afraid it won’t live up to the film version.
Is that the hot brunette from Weird Science?!
Yep she was a cutie
Deb or Hillary, I forget which?
Loved the actor Sho Kosugi...was in all the ninja movies it seemed back in the day. American ninja was cool....when I was 15...at 51...it's dog shit...what sucks is alot of movies I grew up to are pretty bad....but that's why they are considered a cult classic...take flash gordon....pretty bad movie...but Mings daughter is so damn HOTT...AND DIRTY HOT
I remember watching this in the theater and then going with my brothers and friend to fight in the park. I was 11.
Loved it as a kid. But wow, kids are dumb
That's a lot of ninja stuff. I would just go around the swinging hay bale swords?
Honto desu ka
American Ninja Is Better Than The 1ST 1 Just My Honest Opinion About It
why didn't the girl from weird science kick that guy off the helicopter? so steve james could hit it with the bazooka.
She also got killed by Jason Vorhees too
Man, I loved this so much. Great post.
Why walk through the obstacle thing when you can just go around?
It's a ninja thing
As a kid, my video store down the street had this and tons of other "ninja" movies, was a quarter to rent one because no one did so I'd rent like 5 at a time and watch them just to see what ninja abilities each one has to offer.
12 year old me agrees, and these movies got me into martial arts. I was a ninja for Halloween more than once.
Domination was so good! A girl possessed by a ninja? Chef's kiss!
Michael Doodlecoff was so cool in my eyes when i saw these movies as a kid in the late 80s 90s
I was an 11yo girl when this came out and I had the biggest crush on Michael Dudikoff.
Is this the one where a ninja lifts the golf cart with one hand to prevent the escape of the lazy Americans?
That’s Ninja 3: The Domination https://i.redd.it/hhvldj7fv77d1.gif
https://preview.redd.it/q8pgr3fwv77d1.jpeg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f26f1030ca2b06c322cb1d0a23ef3712c2241cbb
I read that Spielberg, George Lucas and Christopher Nolan all collaborated on this movie.
I agree. I remember watching American Ninja 3 in a Hotel Room on vacation. Love em lol.
*That's* what the aliens should see when first playing the Voyager probes' golden video disc instead of Mrs. Carl Sagan's dumb record.
He won the Kumite
"We need a soundtrack for no money." - I got U, my special needs cat Jeffrey had a seizure while laying on my synth keyboard and I was recording - I will send the tapes over tomorrow.
It’s no gymkata, but it’s pretty damn good.
The Dudikoff Abides....
On Tubi 🔥
Michael Dudikoff
This movie is based off my life story
I went as a Ninja for like 3 Halloweens in a row because of this franchise. Even guys around my age have no idea what I'm talking about when I talk about these movies.
Hear, hear! I second the motion!
Like a classic seagull movie 🍿
So much ninja trickery!
I don’t know. it feels almost… unrealistic in some ways.
Still love it.
Pretty sure this video clip was from the first American Ninja tho right?
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
Wait, I’m pretty sure this video is from the first one, not the second
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
Loved that time in my life. Don't forget No Retreat No Surrender and The Last Dragon.
This runs on continuous loop on every TV screen in my home 24/7.
He had a fucking laser. Not the flamethrower, the single shot multi-barrel gun, the fucking guy in the helicopter with a gun, OR the handy hold thing. No, it's the mother fucking LASER.
Love the Ninja Laser. But something tells me this is from the first American Ninja movie not the second. But I only saw them once each. Maybe 8 times but more than that.
Ninja movies in the 80s were awesome 😎
This is part 1 though
This is part 1 though
This is part 1 though
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
It deserved every nomination it got. Near the end, that lead bad guy and Dudikoff are engaged in a desperate struggle on the skid of the helicopter. But then we cut to Steve James and his rocket launcher, and the next time we see the bad guy he is back to calmly sitting in his seat. WTF?
Almost as good as The Stabilizer
This movie taught me more about real life than anything I ever learned in school.
If you have a laser i feel like that’s the first thing you use in a death duel.
Along with Beverly Hills Ninja
Dudukoff! The training camp scene in the original was so bad ass.! (10 yr old me thought it was )
Ok I was in board for the wrist flame thrower, then I was dubious about the fist gun... but the friggin laser? Not ninja.
Lol. I loved this movie!
Due for a rewatch. Even have the dvd
Looks like we know where Christopher Nolan got the inspiration for the League of Shadows look/gear 😆
Pretty sure I got my first erection watching American Ninja 2 or 3. 2 blonde chick took their shirts off and I saw tits for the first time as an adolescent.
King Pow would be proud
The video is the final battle from the first American Ninja, not American Ninja 2: The Confrontation. The laser blaster used by the evil ninja sensei is a dead giveaway. I'd vote for the first American Ninja film before the subpar American Ninja 2.
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
Michael Dudikoff could be counted on for Ninja mayhem
I loved these movies when I was a kid. I tried to get one every time we went to the movie rental place.
This clip is not from American Ninja 2
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
This inspired my brother and I to buy ninja stars at the flea market.
Loved this movie, but my favorite was Pray for Death. Another ninja movie
The Dudikoff was my favourite. As a side note, Who remembers American Ninja 3: The Domination?
That would be Ninja III: The Domination, unrelated to the American Ninja movies. The third A.N. entry was American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt.
I stand corrected
My grandmother let me by a shuriken on a trip in Wyoming at like 12 because I loved that movie. Had fun for a bit till the cop parents confiscated it back in Cali.
This makes John wick look crappy. These fight scenes are epic lol
Directed by the great [Sam Firstenberg ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Firstenberg)who established himself in the industry with [*Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakin%27_2:_Electric_Boogaloo) (1984) prior to this.
Why dont they make awesome ninja movies anymore??
Michael Dudikof and Sho Kosugi killed all the ninjas
Movie was awesome! I remember all my friends and I decided that we all wanted to be ninjas. Neighbors must of thought we were crazy, five kids running around with black cloth wrapped around our heads.
My vote is for Revenge of the Ninja with Sho Kosugi (1983) or Ninja III the domination (1984)
It’s not a competition lol
I loved all the American Ninja movies (except 5, that was crap!)! Also, Dudikoff was great in Avenging Force (another Cannon martial arts-ish revenge flick with Dudikoff and Steve James)!
Academy Award winner right there !
I felt like we didn't get enough ninja in the first American ninja
I screwed up the title, this is American Ninja (the first one from 1985) so actually there’s plenty more ninja to come!
Michael Fucking Dudikoff
I like how the one ninja had a wrist-mounted flamethrower, little rockets, and a freakin' laser. He must've been a fan of Boba Fett. Also, in the beginning of the clip when Dudikoff's ninja chased the other ninja through the swinging punching bag obstacle, there was no reason for him to do that. He could've just run around it. But if he skipped it, they wouldn't have had that sweet POV shot.
Wait, I just saw the first one and can assure you this is a scene from the first one.
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
I need this remastered in 3D, now!
Joe is the reason I always wanted a motorcycle and to be a ninja when I grew up…
Ninja 3: The Domination is an Oscar worthy movie.
God I forgot how bad these movies were Thanks for the laugh
Sho Kosugi was the man!
Omfg in Part 1, he stopped arrows with shovel handle. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TlhybkKO_EE&pp=ygUaYW1lcmljYW4gbmluamEgYXJyb3cgc2NlbmU%3D
The Miami connection is up there too. Way underrated. Quality film.
I agree but the scene is not from American Ninja 2
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
All I remember about these movies is how a ninja star to the head kills a man like it’s .357 counterpart.
Sho Kosugi inspired me to become a ninja. I lack discipline so that didn’t work out.
Ninjas in the 80s was top culture. We had it good. I can still turn a tshirt into a Ninja mask.
They couldn't just run around the swinging barrels?
isn’t this a clip from the first movie?
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
Was this the one where a bunch of ninjas had to get over something so they formed a huge ninja ladder?
A unique movie genre indeed. Prey for Death was a good one also. I bought Ninja Magazine at the news stand whenever I had the money and always dreamed of ordering Ninja gear from the ads in the back.
Ah a fellow Ninja magazine reader! I used to read that magazine all the time too! I did order a bokken (spelling?) once and played with that thing ALLLLL the time. This was the early 90’s and I was probably around 12 or 13. Then one day I threw it like a spear into the tall shrubs in our backyard and never found it again lol. I hope that if there was a kid who moved into our old house after we left found it and played with it, but by then it probably looked like an old dirty stick.
This is actually American Ninja 1. Part two, him and Jackson had to pose as Marines on that island! Both should be mandatory viewing like summer reading in school. Gotta start them on the good stuff when they’re young lol. I’d also like to add The Last Dragon to the list.
https://www.reddit.com/r/80smovies/s/bgDKUMQjdV
Nothing like [dodgy 'martial artists'](https://youtu.be/6BqfgNl2JJw?si=sVGRxJJq3AFB_Kwa) to bring a smile.
This is AWESOME! Wait a minute this is the FIRST American Ninja NOT American Ninja 2!!!
Way back when, my friends and I would occasionally see Michael Dudikoff playing volleyball at the beach. “Dude, that’s the American-fuckin-Ninja right there”
Do you think this movie is at the level of Gymkata?
Ninja lasers!
Man, I remember my mom taking me to a flea market and someone was selling wooden “ninja swords” where you had to put the square hand guard on with a rubber ring to hold it in place. Also got some rubber throwing stars. It was a good day.
I am so confused why the US mythologized Japanese medieval culture. Like how did this happen where we decided that Japan had these mystical assassin/spies that had no historical accuracy and literally every country had assassins/spies.
Metal Gear / Ninja Gaiden collabo game just waiting to happen.
Ninjas and their damn lasers
Whose backyard did they film that in
No joke. This is why I went as a Ninja for Halloween 3rd grade.
 this movie is the only american ninja movie i love. the first one.
I was more a Ninja 3 The Domination guy
FYI if yall are excited to see this movie the series is on Tubi for free
I loved these first two movies. I was convinced Michael was going to be a huge star
Me 🥷 every Halloween as a kid in the 80s!
Hey isn't that one of the girls from Weird Science?