The Story Behind Ninja III: The Domination
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- čas přidán 15. 11. 2021
- Ever wonder who came up with the idea for a supernatural ninja avenging his own death through an aerobic instructing telephone engineer? I spoke to members of the cast and crew, including writer/director Sam Firstenberg, to discover the story behind Ninja III: The Domination.
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Cannon was the ultimate purveyor of cinematic schlock during the Eighties. You knew you were in for a good time when you saw their logo.
Truth! The Barbarian Brothers was my favorite movie as a kid 😄i had an awesome childhood lol
Not always a good time but mostly
Every once in a movie, they would put some good money and talent behind the productions. The first American Ninja movie, and famously Commando, were well produced and well done action films.
@@RobinDale50 I assume you're referring to Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger. That movie was produced by Silver Pictures, not Cannon. Cannon did produce Cobra with Sylvester Stallone.
Thank.
God.
As a kid, I was always impressed by the evil ninja’s seemingly endless supply of ninja stars. 🌟⭐️🌟⭐️🌟
Oh man, just found this video. I saw this movie in the theaters the weekend it came out - I was 7 and forced my mom to take me, hah! We went to a dump of a grindhouse local theater in my neighborhood, the pre-gentrification rough and tumble lower east side of Manhattan, NYC, in the early 80s. LOVED this movie!
I just finished watching “The Story Behind Ninja III: The Domination” and in my opinion it is fantastic. This is the must accurate and precis description of the behind the scene of this movie that I have encountered to date. Excellent research and presentation, informative and entertaining at the same time. It reveals new unknown facts and set the record straight on some misconceptions. I am sure it will delight the army of loyal fans and followers of Ninja III: The Domination.
Thank you very much, Sam. Those words mean a lot to me! And thanks for the time you gave up to make it happen.
Just love revenge of the ninja you did :D "Only a ninja can stop a ninja"
Yes I second this i don’t think I came across a video for ninja 3 on CZcams that wasn’t just making fun of it but actually had some production info…I had no idea that it was filmed before the original Breakin’
Ninja IV with Kane and Sho Kosugi, Michael Dudikoff, Lucinda and other Cannon alumni sounds good. Maybe like a "Ninja" expendables???? I hope this can happen.
You never know, it might.
This movie is my 80s growing up!! I went as a ninja like 4 times for Halloween during the 80s.
Yes! Great fun in the 80s...i went as Ninja for Halloween too..even hid on neighbors rooves😛
Did no one recognise or see you the first three times?! :) 😅 80s we’re so good indie ninja flicks.
@@KeithWilsonUK lol 😂😂😂 nobody seen me!
Yeah! 🤣
I had a broom handle that I painted black, with gold tips!
My ninjering stick!
I was lucky enough to catch the beginning of this movie on Showtime or Cinemax back in 1985 or '86 while my parents were out of the room. I was about 7 or 8 and just sat in wide-eyed horror at the amazing golf course massacre sequence. My parents came in and turned off the set, but the damage was done: I had become a ninja fanatic!! That opening golf sequence is still as awesome all these decades later.
Same story here around the same time, I remember this movie getting a lot of play on at least one of the movie channels then. Between all the people who saw it on cable and VHS, it had to have been considered a big success even if people didn't go to theaters for it. It's one of those.
I was lucky with my parents. They took me to see this masterpiece in the theatre in Chicago. It was part of a double feature with C.H.U.D. I was around 8 or 9 years old. I was blown away and that opening scene was tattooed on me forever. Loved the movie. I don’t remember none of CHUD, but I vividly remembered this movie. The theatre was packed so I don’t know, to me it looked like people wanted to see it.
I remember Enter the Ninja with Franco hero I believe.
@@ChristopherNeeme HBO and cinemax
Same exact scenario. The billiard ball crush scene has not left my consciousness.
Ninja 3 "the Abomination" is an all-time classic in the Ninja movie genre. I saw it in the theatre when I was a teenager, then had it on VHS for awhile, & it's still one of my favourites. The Hunted (1995 Christopher Lambert) is the best.
Sam is a great guy. Always talks to his fans. And this.....this video! Masterpiece! Thank you.
As a boy, I was part of the "Sho Kosugi Fan Club"......complete with an eye patch, root beer powder (yes), paper and pencil that can work underwater, paper that dissolves in water after you write a message on it (mixing those up was a fun experience), the greatest Kosugi Ninja poster, and the best plastic sword a nine year old had ever seen (really....still have it). This video brought back some great memories. Your channel is priceless.
I miss Sho very much. I'm still in martial arts, and teach children jiujitsu (well...I'm sure I will again once the plague is finally contained).
Thanks kindly. That sounds like the best fan club ever, now very jealous.
Childhood memories are precious I am happy I contributed to yours.
@@samfirstenberg3719 God bless ya, Sam! Hope all is well
When I was a kid I rented this movie every single week from blockbuster. My parents could have bought me a thousand copies I rented it so much.
Why didnt you just downloaded from internet? You could have saved alot of money
@@fitnesschefen 😂
Amazing video man! I so remember seeing this VHS rental back in the 80s and just recently watched it again on Amazon Prime. Awesome movie.
I saw interview recently with Lucinda Dickey...my mind was blown to realize she was in 2 movies i really liked as a kid(Breakin 2 and Ninja.3)(didnt know she was same actress in Ninja 3)🙂...soooo cool..so
went back and watched both....really fun -loved Ninja 3..reminded me of my own imitative Ninja phase as a kid..😃🥰🎥
David Chung Sho kasugi...I watched this movie over and over on VHS Back in the late 80's. David Chung as the evil green ninja is epic. RIP David Chung,thank you.
This shit was indeed epic. I was lucky enough to see this in the theatre and then a billion times on cable and VHS rental.
Sho Kosugi stared in an episode of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger along with his son, Kane Kosugi who was playing Ninja Black, Jiraiya. It was a two-part episode and the both father and son fought each other in a bloody, spectacular battle. I highly recommend checking it out.
Used to watch his two sons compete in several ninja warrior contests.
@@rogueJ They are also in some of the video games based on that show
Yeah I watched that last month
I checked Ranger Wiki. Kane Kosugi also has the honor of being in a season of Kamen Rider and Ultraman.
@@chwenhoou Yeah he was a renagade evil Kamen Rider in a spinoff speacial episode of Kamen Rider Revice (2021) and he played as Ultaman Powered which was an American made Ultraman show that ran for 13 episodes around 1995 but was never aired in the U.S. or on Japanese TV just straight to Japanese home video plus a 3DO video game.
This movie brings back childhood memories. I remember one if the first things I wanted to be as a kid was a ninja! Loved the whole mythology of the story. This movie is one of my favorites and will always be a classic to me.
I helped look after Sam Firstenberg for a week at a film festival a few years ago. He's quite possibly the nicest man I've ever met, and yeah, everything in the video is pretty much true. Kosugi fumed at "American Ninja" as well, which is why, for a while, it was known as "American Warrior". Weirdly, Samurai Cop, Troll 2 and The Room feature side by side. At the same festival, I've looked after Matt Hannon, (the same year as Sam), Claudio Fragasso and Rossella Drudi and Greg Sestero from each film respectively too! As for Sam returning to directing, he told me he had the chance to go into big-budget movies when Hollywood took over (much as Andrew Davies went from Seagal and Norris to The Fugitive), but he said he didn't want to have a studio controlling him, and, though he sometimes misses directing, he just had too much fun (and freedom) in Cannon. Now, he makes and sells furniture, which makes him happy and seems to be quite profitable, meets up with Dudikoff, who lives nearby, on a regular basis, and sent us the film he made in 2003 in his house to screen the year after he came. I made the mistake of asking him pretty much the minute we met about Steve James. He got really choked up talking about him. He loved Steve dearly, and desperately wanted Riverbend, which he directed as a favour to Steve, to be a huge hit to show Steve could lead a film as well as having martial arts skills. Alas.
Thanks for sharing. Was the festival you mention CutreCon in about 2016? The first time I approached Sam for an interview (that's in the Bad Movie Bible book), he'd just got back and had had a great time. Either way, yeah, one of the nicest guys I've come across in this industry. An absolute diamond.
@@TheBadMovieBible Yeah, end of January 2016, if I recall. I've met some great folks thanks to Cutrecon (still can't believe I'm become friends with Steven de Souza), but Sam's on a whole other level of nice. I remember sitting with him during a screening of trailers of bad films. He cracked up the whole time, but started wheezing with laughter at one particular trailer. He said "Toni, this is sh*t! You have to tell me what film it is! I have to see it!" That was when I reminded him it was Cyborg Cop 2. Which, as you know, he directed. When I told him, he nearly died laughing.
Including Neil Breen as a foreign director (Martian) was a nice touch, although Mars is in the Solar system. He's definitely from another star system.
He created that star system too.
characters he play literally do indicate they come from another world so...
Breen is from the planet Schlock....lol
.....Some say he came to our solar system in a vehicle
that oddly looked exactly like a big can of tuna.
Ninja 3: The Domination was my first experience of a good, bad flick. Nobody I knew heard of it, but it was my favorite of the ninja movies (I had them all). I knew it was bad and cheesy. But I loved it for that! I love this movie. Funny that Sho Kosugi didn't like this film as this movie made him a super star in my eyes.
Only as an adult did I ever pick up on how creepy the boyfriend was. Trying to pick up a girl after 20 of his co-workers were just brutally murdered and stalking her later when she said no. The actress did a good job with what she was given. It's no masterpiece. Just massively entertaining!
Bad and cheesy? Back then? Cheesy dialog existed in all 80s films. This movie was amazing, and everyone I knew thought so as well.
@@LurnWell I had a running joke as a kid, "Notice the wind?" that drove my friends nuts. It was always there when she turned. It wasn't bad as I LOVE this movie. But come on, it wasn't going to win any Oscars for acting and story. She tries to dance a demon away, the V8 thing (I hate V8), the over the top stuff like crushing the ball, ninja demon exorcisms, the spinning around on the ropes, etc. Yeah, a lot of cheesy dialog existed in other movies this movie just had more of it. After a hundred+ viewings I knew its shortcomings but I also loved them. Many of those viewings continued throughout the 90s so it may affect my perception. The beginning attack is more fun and awesome than most of the CGI fests of today's movies.
Sho Kosugi may not liked her but I thought she did great. I would have loved seeing them team up and fight together at the end. Maybe some of his fighting abilities and knowledge sticks with her after the exorcism. Could have set up for a possible sequel. If horror movies taught me anything is you can never fully kill a great bad guy. We can dream, right?
Revenge of the ninja . Was the most entertaining of them.
@@jerrywoods4066 Yeah I agree, 'Revenge' is the best overall ninja Cannon flick, heaps of fun but not as wacky as Ninja3
(All 3 make for great 'movie night with the boys' material tho)
@@zetetick395 interesting I just watched it like a month ago . Haven't actually seen it in atleast 10 years
Van Damme is such a badass that he managed to make an appearance in this martial arts movie review that isn't even about him 🤣
He just kicks holes through any 4th wall he chooses!
_"Hoooly shit! He's in a breakdance movie now!!"_ '@_@'
Revenge of the Ninja is one of my favorite movies ever. Fun fact...as an 80s kid... I thought the American Ninja movie was based on Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe 😂
AVENGING FORCE WAS ANOTHER STONKER . . . WEAPON OF A HOME MOVIE :)
Also one of my favourites 👌
This movie is awesome and scary as shit. To think a single ninja was capable to almost wiping an entire police force was terrifying to me as a kid back then. The movie made me believe that shurikens and katanas were more eficient than shotguns.
My friends and I used to rent “Ninja3” almost every weekend as kids. It was great, the supernatural aspect made it the most over the top fun time watching.
I've seen a number of videos on this movie, and this is the first time I am hearing Lustbader being mentioned. His book, The Ninja is fantastic, and I would love to see it on screen one day. On another note, Lucinda Dickey, what a treat for my teenage eyes back in the day. Also, dude, 6:03 "hairy love interest"? 🤣🤣🤣
Revenge of the Ninja was a fckn classic. I remember watching that movie over and over as a kid. Everyone was into martial arts and especially ninjitsu. The 80s was a cool time and we all wanted to be ninjas or Bruce lee
Your Neil Breen joke was to the point, non-verbal and funny. Well done sir.
The method of engaging the film itself in a (self-effacingly silly) "dialogue" via extremely clever edits has got to be the most refreshingly original take on the b-movie video essay format I have yet encountered. A perfect way to drive home your point throughout.
Profound observation
@@samfirstenberg3719 thank you :)
I didn't know that these Ninja movies were somehow connected to the Lustbader's series of book. That's actually very interesting, as I approached ninja movies thanks to the novels
The golf course scene is class.
In the early 80's, ninjas were everywhere. Literally everywhere! Even Magnum P.I. jumped on the bandwagon and did a couple of ninja-themed episodes. By 1987-ish, they were all gone...
amazing video again. you bring a very certain quality to your videos. I can't place it but they feel like the rare gems of doc-vids you would find late on channel 4 pre Internet era. excellent stuff!
When I was a kid I had to spend summers with my family in Lake Tahoe, There was a total of 1 Video Store. I rented Pee Wee's big Adventure and Ninja 3 Every weekend. I loved the movie, But even at the time I was like 12 or something I laughed from beginning to end at how bad the movie was. Ty for the stroll down memory lane.
Another excellent and informative video! Great stuff!
My favorite Ninja movie of all time.
Discovering a new YT channel that hits the right notes is a rare thing indeed. Glad I've stumbled upon this one. Great videos. Down the rabbit hole I go. Neil Breen-Martian. Nice touch.
I was 6 years old back in 85 when I seen this on the HBO and fell in love with this movie I never looked at it as a girl fighting a man . I seen it as a ninja’s revenge movie and yes the mad Sho showing us had badass ninja really are .
It’s my favorite movie also didn’t know sho played the bad ninja too and also Steve is a legend he played most of the ninjas in the films
Yes! New content! Thank you!
"Neil Breen: Martian" XD I almost choked on my lunch.
You're my sensei. You did your homework. The Neil Breen joke was so funny.
I'm actually speechless after seeing that Ninja Temple was a Matte Shot... The thing is seamless.
Love these "story behind...". It's unique to this channel
Sho Kosugi kept it all together for me his authenticity was natural.
I just found your channel. Absolutely wonderful stuff.
Great stuff, brother.
Man great video....me and my buddies rented this from the local video rental store EVERY weekend. Fascinating to hear the story being this film
It has been the best ninja movie from 84 till now
Eric Van Lustbader's novel The Ninja is a damn fine read. Complex, intense and gives the ninja characters a real sense of power. He can't write female characters to save himself, but everything else really sizzles. Read it if you haven't. Damn shame it never saw the big screen.
Ninja 4…!!! Let’s Go.!
I grew up watching these movies on VHS. It brought back a lot of memories watching this video and thinking Sho was the sh**.!
Thank you for the back story and walk/kick down memory lane.!
Great Vid! So many fact i never knew
Now that's a video. Excellent research.
In the first 6 seconds of this video, they are filming in what is now the Great Arizona Puppet Theatre (back then it was an abandoned Mormon church) in Phoenix. I do know why it makes me super happy to see it.
It's so fascinating how smaller productions like this had more leeway than mainstream franchises.
they have more freedom to do what they want than the big studios
@@henryscafe8364 'had', because are there any independent studio today that makes films like this?
@@B.B.Digital_Forest They could if they tried but it would be considered dated today. I read director Ed Wood tried to sell a 30s/40s style horror script to Universal (this was he 50s) but they didn`t buy cause they weren't in that market anymore. That`s how he did films himself like Bride of the monster which was his 30s/40s style horror movie in the 50s.
The basic answer to your question, no they don`t make movies like this today :/
I'm proud to be the one thousandth 'like' on this breakdown of the flick with the best opening ten minutes this side of Pixar's Up. Well done, sir.
15:35 First you put Robocop up there with Casablanca and Chinatown, THEN you call Neil Breen a Martian......You sir, have a new subscriber!
well very well done easily my favorite ninja trilogy but again yes this is very well put together excellent job 😎👌
The 80's was such an awesome time to grow up, I loved this movie and all the other ninja movies when I was growing up
My friends and I snuck into the theatre to see this- loved every second of it.
Amazing video you blow other more popular movie reviewers out of the water including a couple of hack frauds who will remain nameless. You deserve much more followers than you have.
I always thought Sho Kusugi scenes were the highlight from this movie.
Nice job!! 💪💕
Ninja 3 is on of the first movies I ever seen on the big screen in theaters as a child. This movie started my fascination with Ninjas and at the same time my one of the first fine woman I recognized as kid lol
There was an obscure fighting game in the arcade that never had any home console on any generation called Survival Arts and a quick cash in to Mortal Kombat.
Since Ninja III The Domination has Lucinda Dickie as an aerobics instructor/Ninja, the video game Survival Arts had a female Ninja character named Tasha and her attire consist of Aerobics tights and leotard and wields a Katana, in which sorta drew inspiration to Lucinda Dickie in Ninja III The Domination.
Sounds like a great game! This was a great movie. Very fun and awesome and it captured our imaginations. That’s what movies are supposed to do.
nah, the game is shitty, unfortunately.
I can still see the VHS box sitting on the shelf of the local video store. Ah, memories 😊
Ah yes, back during the glorious Ninja Craze of the 80s. Growing up, I loved watching martial arts movies on Saturday afternoons(mostly old Shaw Brothers movies) on the UHF TV channel.
Many of the Ninja movies were pretty bad, but they were just as entertaining as those Shaw Brothers movies. It was great.
Neil Breen's nationality as "Martian". Love it.
I LOVE THIS MOVIE HAD SUCH A CRUSH ON Lucinda Dickey. 😘😍😍😘😘😍😘😍 And Heather Thomas from The Fall Guy, TV series.
As a child I used to get so happy when this movie came on,still one of my favorites!
I love this movie. My buddy and I went to see it in the theater when it came out, we were absolutely obsessed by ninjas back then. When it came out on VHS, he and I had every single line memorized, could point out almost every single goof (we never noticed the sound guys sunglesses until I saw this video) and could almost reenact the entire movie.
I first saw this movie on cable TV, I think it was HBO. This was in 1986, and I thought this was the best ninja movie ever.
I adored Revenge Of The Ninja as a kid. I now live a few blocks from the stone fountain where the hobo took a shuriken to the eyeball in that film.
If you're ever in Salt Lake, it's on the south east corner of 1st and State Street.
Ah yes. This and Revenge of the Ninja are the ones I watched in my home Cable TV when I was 4th and 5th Grade Elementary student.
Good times.😌
Your editing skills are quite impressive.
Watched "Revenge of the Ninja" at the cinema, age 8 and I loved it. The days you could watch pretty much anything at the cinema (at least in Spain).
Was the 'ninja craze' a B movie studios reaction/exploitation of the fears of a rising Japan in the 80s?The 80s and early 90s had a US fear that Japan was gonna eclipse everyone else through economic prowess. So was the ninja theme the way action movies responded to it?
I was a kid at the time (I'm 51 now). Martial arts became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the US. Anything to do with martial arts was considered very cool at the time. I'm not sure how it started -- maybe Bruce Lee? But anyway it really took over the national consciousness for a handful of years. Everybody was talking and thinking about ninjas and kung fu masters. They were in movies, TV, comics, toys and videogames. There was even a No. 1 hit disco song called "Kung Fu Fighting," which is not only a great disco song but also the ONLY good disco song. (Just kidding, disco rules.)
man we loved these movies as kids back in the 80s.
Loved this movie as a kid and thought she was so gorgeous, I loved Gymkata also.
I only seen these movies when I stayed all night at a friend's house or cousins. Ninjas were huge back then. We use to all, make numbchuks and throwing stars. We would cut up broom handles and stuff, there was a local hardware store right by our street. We would by a little chain and eye screws. That was the days, until one of the assholes thought they would wack you in the leg. Lol
For some reason I get Sigourney Weaver being possessed in Ghost Busters, and even Lisa in Weird Science, vibes every time I see Christy in this movie. But yea, it makes sense that her persona was derivative from Flash Dance and Poltergeist, which preceeded it.
The tomato juice seen was absolutely brilliant 😂that always stayed with me when I was a kid and watched this for the first time when it just went to VHS lol
Love your content 💯🎯👽🖤
This was the first ninja movie that I remember watching.
I love this movie... ever since I was a kid in the 80s. Not many people know this gem. I never even liked the other Ninja movies. This one was special! "He's only sleeping!"
@ 18:20 pretty positive that’s Anthony Keidis’ father Blackie Dammit. As the bad guy
I still rewatch these movies. They were the superhero movies of the 80s.
remember watching this in the 80's, loved it. but didnt see it for a while till 2020 I saw a clip. searched for it on a few apps I have, couldnt find it. so searched and bought the dvd.
nice work.
I remember these in school. Ninja 4. Hell yes
i loved it, i watched it 100 times.
Anything with Sho Kusugi back then was a sign of a good time. I don’t know how many times I rented Ninja III from the vid store….
I JUST FINISHED WATCHING ''THE STORY BEHIND NINJA lll THE DOMINATION.AND IN MY OPINION HAVING THIS PRIVILEGE BEING THE 2ND ACTION UNIT DIRECTOR,ACTION WRITER,STUNT COORDINATOR , STUNT DOUBLE FOR KOSUGI,CHANG AND DICKEY AMONG OTHERS IT IS A INACCURATE NOT CORRECT PEICE AND DESCRIPTION OF WHAT REALLY WENT ON BEHIND THE SCENES OF THIS MOVIE..THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE JUST CALL ME.I WONDER,WONDER WHY YOU DID'NT IN THE FIRST PLACE.THANK YOU AND STAY SAFE MY FRIENDS AND THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR LOYALTY FOR THIS MOVIE.IT MAKES ME VERY HAPPY EVEN TODAY YOU STILL ENJOY IT.
I’m very sorry you feel that way, Steve. I went only on interviews I conducted with cast and crew members, and other resources they contributed to directly. If there are specific factual inaccuracies then please share them with me, either here or via email. I’m aware a couple of minor points are remembered slightly differently (always the case, of course), but every one of those points came from someone who was on set.
From a personal perspective I’d have loved to speak to you at length about all sorts of movies, not just Ninja III. But for the actual video I felt I had what I needed on your role after talking to Sam about it, and listening to your excellent commentary track on the Eureka boxset. There could always be more detail but I wanted to keep the runtime down to make the video as accessible as possible.
As I say, please let me know the specifics if you’re inclined.
Much respect to you!
If they haven't done it already, how about a video on Gymkata?
19:13 Sam Firstenberg, with "Shmulik" facemaask, lol - Dude knew what kinda stuff he was making! 🤣_👍
Loved all these as a kid, but Revenge of the Ninja was the bomb.
I remember as a kid in the 80's, the golf course scene really scared me. I thought it was so barbaric. I would fast forward that whole scene. Now I take great pleasure in watching it. Being on Ninja 4!
My favorite 3 movies... Master Firstenberg ROCKS.
Oh man! Lucinda Dickey! From Breakdance to Ninja!
Wowee, I used to go running all through Papago Park & climbed those buttes when I worked at the Phoenix Zoo right there. Too bad they didn't work the alligator lagoon into their movie since they were filming it there.
The ninja craze helped propel this trilogy to popularity. Even though they have 3 different stories and make no sense
I was expecting the end tune to have the dude from Sleaford Mods sing about £land ninjas
Great video as always.
18:18 Is that villain Reverse Michael Jackson...?
The villain in Nine Deaths of the Ninja is Anthony Keidis', of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, father.
First they made Kosugi play "second fiddle" to a woman, then they made the story that she was a better Ninja than he was, then they had him show up in the final act of the movie, then they tried throw a mix of the exorcist with Ninjas, and to top everything off they had Kosugi wear a dumb eye patch like he's some sort of pirate not Ninja - them producers really had it in for Kosugi.
19:38 🤣🤣🤣 Neil Breen as a Martian. That would explain so much.