You know that feeling when you're scrolling through 80s action flicks and everything looks like a cheap Karate Kid knockoff? Most of them are. But then there’s The Challenge. Released in 1982, it’s the Scott Glenn martial arts movie that doesn’t just play at being tough—it actually feels like it might draw blood.
Honestly, it’s a weird one. You’ve got Scott Glenn, looking lean and wiry, playing a down-on-his-luck American boxer named Rick Murphy. Then you’ve got Toshiro Mifune. Yes, the Toshiro Mifune from Seven Samurai. He’s playing an honorable sword master, because of course he is. The plot basically boils down to a family blood feud over two ancient katanas called "The Equals." One brother is a corporate shark; the other is a traditionalist dojo master. Rick gets caught in the middle and has to learn "the way" to survive.
Standard stuff? Sorta. But the execution is anything but.
Why This Isn't Your Average "White Guy Becomes Master" Story
Most 80s movies would have Scott Glenn’s character becoming a grandmaster in three days after a montage. The Challenge takes a more grounded, almost painful route. Rick is a brawler. He’s cynical. He’s there for the paycheck.
The training scenes aren’t pretty. He’s not doing fancy high kicks. Instead, he’s getting buried up to his neck in a pit, getting bugs on his face, and basically being broken down. There’s this one scene where he’s forced to eat live lobster and octopus. It’s gross. It’s uncomfortable. It makes you realize that Rick isn't just "learning karate"; he’s being deconstructed as a human being.
What’s wild is that Steven Seagal—before he was Steven Seagal—was actually a technical advisor and stunt coordinator on this film. You can see the aikido influence in how the bodies move. The joints snap differently. It lacks that choreographed "dance" feel you see in Van Damme movies. It feels like a fight.
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The Mifune Factor
Having Toshiro Mifune in an American action movie usually smells like a "paycheck" role. Not here. He and Glenn have this genuine, begrudging respect that builds. Director John Frankenheimer (who did The Manchurian Candidate) lets the camera linger on the silence between them.
Glenn isn't trying to out-act the legend. He just exists next to him. It’s a masterclass in screen presence. Rick stays a bit of an amateur with the sword until the very end, and even then, he wins by fighting dirty. He uses office supplies. He uses guns. He doesn’t suddenly become a samurai; he becomes a boxer who happens to be holding a sword.
The Climax is Absolute Chaos
If you haven't seen the ending, you're missing out on one of the best "assault on a corporate headquarters" ever filmed. It’s a collision of worlds. You have Mifune in traditional gear with a bow and arrow, and Glenn with a submachine gun.
They storm a high-tech 1980s office building. It sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous. But because Frankenheimer shoots it with such grit, you buy into it. There’s a scene where Glenn uses a stapler as a weapon. That's the level of "improvised combat" we're talking about here. It's way ahead of its time, pre-dating the kind of prop-fighting Jackie Chan would perfect later on.
The final duel isn't some noble exchange of blows. It’s messy. It’s desperate.
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Scott Glenn’s Real Life Training
People often ask if the Scott Glenn martial arts movie was just a fluke. Was he faking it?
Actually, Glenn is the real deal. He’s a former Marine. He’s been training in various disciplines since he was a kid. He didn't just pick up a sword for this role; he’s been a practitioner of Filipino Kali and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for decades. If you saw him as Stick in Daredevil years later, that wasn't just good editing. That was a guy in his 70s who could actually take you down.
In The Challenge, he did almost all his own stunts. You can see it in his eyes. There’s a certain "wiring" in a guy who actually knows how to fight that you can't fake for the camera. He has that lean, hungry look of a middleweight who hasn't eaten in two days.
Why Nobody Remembers It
The movie flopped. Hard. It only made about $3.6 million at the box office.
Part of the problem was the marketing. Was it a samurai movie? A Yakuza thriller? A boxing flick? It didn't fit into a neat little box. Then it got edited for TV and lost a lot of its teeth. If you saw the "TV movie" version, you basically saw a gutted version of a much better film.
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Thankfully, the Kino Lorber restoration brought it back to life. Seeing it in 4K or high-def makes a huge difference. The cinematography by Kozo Okazaki is stunning. Japan looks rainy, cold, and lived-in—not the neon-drenched fantasy we usually see.
Actionable Takeaways for Movie Buffs
If you're looking to track this down or understand its place in cinema history, keep these points in mind:
- Look for the Uncut Version: The theatrical cut is the only way to go. The TV edits (sometimes titled Sword of the Ninja) are garbage.
- Pay Attention to the Score: Jerry Goldsmith did the music. It’s percussive and weird, fitting the "East meets West" clash perfectly.
- Spot the Cameos: Aside from Seagal behind the scenes, keep an eye out for character actors like Clyde Kusatsu.
- Context Matters: Watch this alongside Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza (1974) and Ridley Scott's Black Rain (1989). It forms an unofficial trilogy of American men getting lost in the Japanese underworld.
The Challenge isn't a perfect movie. It’s a little clunky in the middle. The romance subplot feels tacked on by a studio exec who thought they needed a "love interest." But as a gritty, realistic-ish Scott Glenn martial arts movie, it’s essential viewing for anyone tired of CGI and wire-work. It’s just two guys, some cold steel, and a whole lot of honor-bound violence.
Go find the Kino Lorber Blu-ray. Clear out two hours on a Saturday night. Turn the volume up for the sword clangs. You'll see why Scott Glenn remains one of the most underrated action stars of his generation.
To dive deeper into this era of cinema, your next step is to research the "Westerner in Japan" subgenre of the early 80s, specifically looking into how John Sayles' screenplay for The Challenge influenced the gritty tone of later action scripts.