Bodyguard Kiba (1973 film)


Bodyguard Kiba is a 1973 Japanese martial arts film starring Sonny Chiba. It is based on an action manga by Ikki Kajiwara.
A recut version was released in the United States in 1976 as The Bodyguard, with added footage in the first ten minutes of the film.
Bodyguard Kiba was followed by the sequel Bodigaado Kiba: Hissatsu sankaku tobi, released later that same year. There were then three more film adaptations with Takeshi Yamato in the role of Kiba released in 1993, 1994, and 1995 by Takashi Miike at the beginning of his career.

Plot summary

On his way home to Japan, karate master Kiba thwarts a terrorist attack on the airplane. He then gives a press conference, stating he saw the attack as a good opportunity to promote his karate school and announces that he's starting a bodyguard service. He is soon approached by his first customer, a woman who pays him for four days of protection but is secretive about the nature of the threat against herself. Kiba finds himself wrapped up in the international drug trade and has to fight the mafia.

Cast

On November 20, 2007, BCI Eclipse released the film in their Sonny Chiba Collection DVD set, which also includes Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, The Bullet Train, Dragon Princess, Karate Warriors, and Sister Street Fighter.
In 2024, Eureka released the film as "Bodyguard Kiba 1 & 2", on a 2-Disk Blu-ray. The extras include "The Bodyguard – alternate US version of Bodyguard Kiba".

Sequel

Director Ryuichi Takamori released a sequel, Bodigaado Kiba: Hissatsu sankaku tobi on October 13, 1973. The sequel also starred Sonny Chiba as Kiba Naoto.

In popular culture

The American version of the film opens with a quotation:
An altered version of the same passage, complete with erroneous attribution to Ezekiel by the character of Jules Winnfield, appears in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction.