For years, I've been trying to identify a movie I saw as a kid. All I remember is there was an American guy in Japan and that, near the end of the film, he slits a Japanese man's head right down the middle with a katana. I vaguely remember a quick scene of men training in a dojo. I also vaguely remember there being a Japanese girl. Have I finally identified this movie as The Challenge?
shareYes.
You can't handle it. Get me Bruce Lee!
Ehh... Bruce Lee is dead.
Then get his brother!!!
I've got the same vague recollections as you. If I remember correctly, this movie also has...
...Toshiro Mifune chopping down a pine tree with a single stroke of his sword,
...Scott Glenn getting buried up to his neck in the training ground for failing to duplicate that feat,
...a demonstration of archery that involved a call for attention, a board thrown in the air, and half a dozen arrows piercing it within an instant of it landing,
...as well as, as you say, the final Bad Guy dying from having his skull split in half.
The best scene is when Glenn steals the sword, gets two steps down the road, turns back because he's starting to realize what honour really means, sees Mifune standing there, asks what would have happened if he had run, and sees six archers step out from the trees at the side of the road. It was a test, and he actually passed it.
I've got to track this down and see it again sometime!
It is not a pine tree , it is a Bamboo growth and a rather large one at that. Since Bamboo is really a grass I can't call it a tree. Cutting Bamboo with a sword is actually part of testing the Sword and the Swordsman and it is regularly done in Iaido and Kenjutsu. I would love to get the opportunity to cut some bamboo that large with my sword.
Dwight
"Scott Glenn getting buried up to his neck in the training ground for failing to duplicate that feat"
I do believe he got buried because he initially tried to steal the sword. They wanted to make sure he was worthy by burying him up to his neck as a test.
I hope they release this dam movie on DVD soon. I have been waiting for 10 years to see this movie again!
Oooh, I definitely second that DVD thought!
In my opinion, this is the best martial arts flick I ever saw, and I doubt there is a better one among those I did *NOT* see.