Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) Biography, Plot, Cast
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)
Showdown in Little Tokyo is a 1991 American buddy cop action film directed by Mark L. Lester and starring Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee; it was the latter’s first American film role. The film was released in the United States on August 23, 1991 to poor reviews and was a financial failure. It gained a cult following among action fans especially for the chemistry between Lundgren and Lee.
Plot:
Los Angeles cop Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren) is an American who was raised in Japan. He is given a new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee), an American of partial Japanese descent. Kenner does not appreciate American culture, while Johnny does not like Japanese culture much. One thing they both enjoy are the martial arts, in which they are both experts. The two are assigned to L.A.’s Little Tokyo, where they break up some criminal activity in a Japanese restaurant, and an arrest is made.
While Kenner and Johnny are questioning the suspect, Kenner notices that he has tattoos of the Iron Claw yakuza clan. This reminds him of when he was 9 years old and he witnessed his parents being killed by a member of the yakuza. Before Kenner or Murata can interrogate the suspect further, he kills himself in the interrogation room by breaking his own neck. The leader of the Iron Claw clan, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), kills the owner of a popular downtown nightclub called the Bonsai Club by crushing the owner, Tanaka (Philip Tan), in a car compactor.
Cast:
Dolph Lundgren as Sergeant Chris Kenner
Brandon Lee as Detective Johnny Murata
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Funekei Yoshida
Tia Carrere as Minako Okeya
Toshishirô Obata as Sato
Philip Tan as Tanaka
Rodney Kageyama as Eddie
Ernie Lively as Detective Nelson
Renee Griffin as Angel
Reid Asato as Muto
Takayo Fischer as Mama Yamaguchi
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