Ninja the Protector (1985)

Ninja the Protector (1985)
Aka: Ninja: The Story; Ninja’s Terror
Original Footage: ??? (Taiwan, 198?)

 

Starring: Richard Harrison, David Bowles, Andy Chworowsky, Clifford Allan, Phillip Ko Fei, Chiang Tao, Suen Kwok-Ming, John Ladalski, Wa Lun, Li Mu-Chen, Tian Ming
Director: Godfrey Ho
Action Director: Chiang Tao (as Donald Kong); Fred Chan

 

After looking around the internets for some time, I have been unable to identify the movie that served as the backbone for this IFD Films cut n’ paste ninja epic. It may very well be that the film, clearly a Taiwanese feature, remained unreleased in its native territory before Joseph Lai and Betty Chan scooped it up to give the ninjitsu treatment. That said, this film was a particularly peculiar choice, as the plot of the original film seems to be about a man who becomes a model, only to be whored out by his boss to her wealthy female clientele! Imagine trying to hang a ninja film off of that!

The movie opens with a bunch of black-clad ninja entering their Secret Ninja Base—watch for the security camera that focuses on them, at which point the screen flashes a photo of their “alter ego”, including non-ninja characters from the original footage! The ninja all answer to the evil Red Ninja (David Bowles)—they inform him that they’ve killed the traitor. We also learn from this ninja meeting that they are not only ninja assassins, but are ninja counterfeiters, too.

Switch to an Interpol building in Hong Kong, where the Chief (Richard Harrison, Challenge of the Tiger and Ninja Thunderbolt) is telling his team about said counterfeiters. They all answer to the Big Boss—the alter-ego of the Red Ninja. The Chief tells his team that one of the counterfeiters’ front is a modeling agency run by a woman named Susan, whose business partner is Albert “Four-Eyes” Wong (Tian Ming, of Knight Errant Four Chin Kang and The Blood Flower Sword) and his girlfriend, Lily. The Chief also tells his team that he has already planted an undercover agent, Warren Lee (Wa Lun, of The Lady Avenger and The Little Hero of Shaolin Temple), to try to find evidence against Four-Eyes and Susan.

We then switch the original footage, where Warren’s brother David (Li Mu-Chen, of Lover and Killer and Thunder Cat Woman) is getting harassed by some thugs for “borrowing” one guy’s motorcycle. He’s able to fight them off and escape. The film then switches to Susan’s office, where she’s hiring Warren as a model despite his lack of experience. After a few weeks or so, he’s helped Susan win some lucrative contracts, so she awards him with sex on the beach and a new house…plus a new motorcycle for David! No more stealing from the riff-raff for him to get his motorcycle kicks, now!

A couple of scenes later, Warren is doing some work at a runway when an older lady shows up in his dressing room and starts coming onto him. She tells him to meet her at her place, after which she slips Susan a cool ten grand. It’s this moment where I’m led to believe that Susan is pimping out her talent—or to use a Brazilian term, faixa rosa (transl. “pink sash”, term used for women who work  at events and trade shows that do sexual favors on the side).

Some time later, we see Warren at a bar, drinking himself silly. I’m guessing that it might be due to his self-loathing at allowing himself to become a gigolo. Anyway, Lily happens to be at the bar, too. When some drunken barflies start harassing her, Warren steps in and protects her, getting a knife in the shoulder in the process. She takes him back to her place, patches him up, and screws his eyes blue, too.

It's at this time that we learn that Warren hasn’t been spending a lot of time with his girlfriend, Judy Chan. So little time, in fact, that the woman slits her wrists in a suicide attempt. She’s taken to the hospital by David, who’s pissed off at Warren’s treatment of her. There’s a lot of drama and Warren ultimately is able to apologize and get a reconciliation with Judy. However, Albert Wong keeps Lily on a short leash and his men photograph her having sex with warren. When he finds out, he rapes Lily and plans revenge against the Warren and David.

As expected, this story is broken up with scenes of Richard Harrison tracking down some member of the Red Ninja’s organization, like John Ladalski and Phillip Ko. Harrison will follow one of them, use magic to switch into his camo-ninja outfit, have a fight with them, and then leave them handcuffed for his men (played by Andy Chworowsky and Clifford Allan) to arrest and bring in. Sometimes, he even kills the ninja he’s fighting, like in the case of the female ninja who’s supposed to be Susan. Finally, he has a big fight with the Red Ninja that involves motorcycle jousting and swordfighting. Harrison defeats the Red Ninja, but walks off into the sunset…without even arresting the guy!

There are at least two sex scenes and a rape sequence, although there might possibly be more. The Martial Arts 50-Movie Pack version is missing a good 20 minutes or so of footage, mainly involving the initial drama between David and Warren over the latter’s philandering, then the same drama but with Judy, and the scene where Albert Wong finds out about his woman’s infidelity. There is a hard cut at a scene involving David and his motorcycle floozy, Mary, at the beach, which suggests that there might have been a sex scene there. I’m also guessing that there might have been some footage of Warren with his clientele, too.

There is also some fight action in the original Taiwanese footage, mainly involving David. It’s choreographed in that early 70s “basher” style of fighting, full of haymakers, weak and flailing kicks, and just general crudeness. I think there was a smidgen of undercranking to give the fights a bit of energy, though. You gotta love Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 1980s and 1990s: even their softcore porn had an action director!

Probably the most important thing about this film is that it establishes the well-known bit of ninja lore: “Only a ninja can defeat a ninja.” It’s spoken twice in the movie and was the film’s tagline.