American soldier, obviously very skilled in martial arts, single-handedly takes on mercenaries in the Philippines.American soldier, obviously very skilled in martial arts, single-handedly takes on mercenaries in the Philippines.American soldier, obviously very skilled in martial arts, single-handedly takes on mercenaries in the Philippines.
John LaMotta
- Rinaldo
- (as John La Motta)
Phillip Brock
- Charley
- (as Phil Brock)
Greg Rocero
- Bodyguard
- (as Gregg Rocero)
Jim Gaines
- Truck Driver
- (as James Gaines)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn an interview with German media in 2012, Michael Dudikoff revealed that he sweated so much during the later fight scenes because he had malaria.
- GoofsAfter Joe jumps Jackson's bike over the wall to the American base, the stuntman, who is not wearing a helmet, smashing his face into the bike's windshield.
- Alternate versionsAll previous cuts were waived for the UK DVD release which is uncut.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Movie Nights: American Ninja (2011)
Featured review
An hour and half of my childhood.
I think this should be required viewing for any male child 13 years or younger. I have no idea how many times I saw this movie growing up, but it is easily over 15 times. Maybe twice that. It has everything a boy who plays with action figures could want, NINJA's, G.I.Joe's (for god sakes his name was even Joe), lasers, flips, sai's, cat's claws, wrist lasers, machine guns, sword fights while in knee deep water (fights in water are always WAY cool), buff dudes with muscles, motercycles, a chick, characters with a disrespect for authority, a butterfly knife being flipped back and forth as Joe cooly leans against a truck, guys getting kicked in the nuts, did I mention flips? Anyway it goes on and on. All the cheesy effects make it all the more fun to view. I just watched the DVD after not having seen it for a few years and I just caught another good effect. When Joe and Patricia jump off the roof, there is an obviously inflated balloon on the roof that they land on. I remember my brothers and I putting sweat wrist bands on our hands as a child and pretending they were the cat's claws thingies that the black star ninja and Joe had. We had some awesome battles. I was probably a ninja for at least 3 Halloweens when I was a child as well. I was an "army guy" for another few Halloweens. I was the coolest. Anyway American Ninja rocks. By the way I don't know the name of the movie (I'm sure I could find it out here on imdb easy enough if I cared to look) but a few years back I was flipping throught the channels and I came across a movie where the Michael Dudikoff and Mark Hamill were fighting. Luke Skywalker fighting the American Ninja!??! I kids dream come true. So go see this movie. Or even better, show your young son, nephew, or whoever this movie.
helpful•431
- dice-5
- Mar 4, 2003
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $10,499,694
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,234,837
- Sep 2, 1985
- Gross worldwide
- $10,499,694
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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![Michael Dudikoff and Tadashi Yamashita in American Ninja (1985)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjcxMzc5ZWQtN2Y2OS00NGNiLWE4MDYtMzAyYWJkN2YyODliXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,3,90,133_.jpg)