Rick, a down-and-out boxer, is hired to transport a sword to Japan, unaware that the whole thing is a set up in a bitter feud between two brothers, one who follows the traditional path of the samurai and the other a businessman.

Rick undertakes samurai training from the other brother, and joins his cause.

He also becomes romantically involved with the samurai's daughter.

When you watch this, for some reason you cannot help but think about The Last Samurai. A 'foreigner' joins a group, shut out from the world, and learns and gradually respects their ways.

Other than that, its a fairly brutal movie, but unfortunately, due to Glenn being miscast, the film fails on many levels. Glenn is a great actor, but an action star he is not, and when you see him running during set pieces, its laughable.

Mifune is their because he adds a little gravitas, and the other brother wears a suit because hey! It's a sign of the times.

Many have stated that this is a fantastic movie, and it appears to have a cult following, it a decapitation cannot justify this status.

And the supposedly powerful death with the chap in the wheelchair, is sadly hilarious.

Watch Enter The Ninja instead, at least its a little tongue in cheek.

Director John Frankenheimer has made some great features; some not quite so and there are those which have fallen down the cracks. "The Challenge" happens to be one those forgotten oddities, but grippingly awesome pulpy martial arts entertainment. Establishing the violently vigorous action with the dramatically thoughtful material (a westerner coming to respect the traditional ways of eastern culture) --- as Glenn's washed-up American boxer Rick finds himself caught up in a family feud when smuggling a sacred samurai sword back to Japan. There he encounters trouble, so he wants out and gets the owed money for doing the job. However there's a change of heart as he wants to learn from Toru Yoshida at his school, but secretly his paid to steal the sword for Toru's brother, Hideo. Who's a businessman more concerned with modern methods, than anything traditional.

It's an outrageously sharp, but meditatively-laced screenplay by Richard Maxwell and John Sayles, which packs plenty of punches (also humour),plot surprises and sets up some memorable set-pieces (bug-munching anyone?) within its Tokyo backdrop. Composer Jerry Goldsmith contributes a flavorers, flighty musical piece. Frankenheimer's lean and mean directorial style, goes down well with the superbly staged action (helping out as a material arts supervisor was Steven Seagal) and his leering camera covers numerous creative angles that don't shy away. What we have to sit through is well worth the wait for an outstandingly honourable climatic samurai battle (swift, blood-gushing and intense confrontations -- even a stapler can be dangerous!) within a futuristic-like building between the likes of Scott Glenn, Toshiro Mifune and Atsuo Nakamura. The characters are well-defined with tremendous performances to make that possible. Glenn's rough, dogged persona simply works, but there's also a compassionate side with the relationship he shares with a young boy. Mifune brings a respectable temperament and Nakamura perfectly pitches a callous edge.

Possibly overlong, but "The Challenge" is cracking entertainment.

A down-and-out American boxer (Scott Glenn) becomes involved in a feud between two Japanese brothers.

This is one of those hidden gems you never hear about. A great blend of American and Japanese cinema, some action and some grit. The film really ought to be a cult classic, and yet I feel like very few people have ever heard of it. Most surprising to me is how the film did not seem to get a bump after the Netflix series "Daredevil" took off. In some ways, Scott Glenn's character on that show is very much a continuation of his character here.

Thanks to Kino, the film is available on Blu-ray though it does not seem to have any features. That is too bad. I am always ready for an audio commentary.