Pour One Out - Sonny Chiba To Retire
It’s a sad day in TV in Japan land.
One of the world’s greatest action heroes (and inspiration for young actors/filmmakers everywhere) Sonny Chiba (aka Chiba Shinichi) has decided to call it a day.
The world-famous Japanese action superstar, now 67, has been suffering health problems as of late and will be retiring by the end of the year. Veteran of over 125 movies (including The Street Fighter, Doberman Cop and, more recently, Kill Bill) the man oozes awesomeness in ways that Chuck Norris could only dream of.
Below are a few clips to watch and ponder what we’ll no longer be seeing. Until he decides to come out of retirement. He’s not dead after all folks.
WARNING: Some SFX-based violence below.
First, the English trailer for Chiba’s first big hit “The Street Fighter”. Of note here the utter lack of sincerity to any of the voices that the Western man tried bestow upon Mr. Chiba.
Then, Sonny takes on the bulls and is totally not down with the running.
And best, and most insanely graphic, Sonny literally rips the balls off somebody.
Seriously, the man is/was a legend. If you’ve got other great Chiba clips drop them in the comments and I’ll update this post as we get more. Let’s show our love for the biggest badass ever to grace the face of the earth.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Action Packed!, Awesome Japan Links, Classic, Japanese Sports Like Stuff, Movies, Truly Awesome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
remister July 19th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Ahh, yes the good ol days of Sonny Chiba… Kill Bill also!