Lady Street Fighter (1981) ** (out of 4)Linda Allen (Renee Harmon) travels to Los Angeles after her sister was tortured and murdered by some mobsters. Before long she is killing one right after another but getting to the top guy is going to be challenging.LADY STREET FIGHTER comes from director James Bryan who is best remembered for his 1981 slasher DON'T GO IN THE WOODS. This film here was apparently shot in the 70s but didn't get a release until the following decade. This film has no connection to the Sonny Chiba movies as the title was clearly added on just to try and attract people who might be interested in martial arts movies.As far as the film goes, it's actually not too bad as long as you don't go in expecting something that the film isn't. If you're looking for great action and a tight, suspenseful plot then you're in the wrong movie. This here has a very low-budget and it's clear that the production was running out of money and probably various times. The film's first part works because of what the director was able to do with such a low-budget. The action scenes aren't special but they're at least fun and they keep you glued to what's going on. Bryan throws in plenty of nude scenes that are here for no other reason than people watching this film would want to see them.The biggest issue with the film is the middle portion where the action stops and we're given a bunch of dialogue scenes that are both boring and make very little sense. I'm not sure why the action just stops but it just kills the film. Thankfully the action picks back up towards the end but by then it's too late. The film features a really annoying music score, which adds some camp value. The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this.

Linda Allen (Harmon) travels from somewhere in Europe to Los Angeles to get to the bottom of the torture/murder of her sister. She becomes embroiled in a tangled web of evil gangsters, killer pimps, shady FBI agents, and downright strange partygoers. But who can Linda trust? Luckily, her wits and Martial Arts skill (?) should get her to the bottom of things. Will Linda ever casually wear a gold jumpsuit again? Find out today! Like most people who have ever seen her in anything, I am a confirmed Renee Harmon fan. She's impossible not to like. Her thick German accent isn't unintelligible; it says "I'm not going to let this stop me from achieving my dream of being in American movies". There's something charming and likable about her, as I've witnessed in Frozen Scream (1975) and the must-see Night of Terror (1986). So imagine my delight when I saw her in Lady Street Fighter - AS the lady street fighter in question - punching and kicking the bad guys and getting into a bunch of highly silly shootouts, car chases, love scenes and fights.Adding to the fun are some hilariously abrupt film and sound edits, some wonderfully wooden line readings, and inexplicable dubbing. On top of that are two main musical themes: one Spaghetti Western-influenced, the other positively Kraftwerkian. And there's even a "sexy" undercurrent to it all. Apparently the film was shot in 1975 and not released on VHS until a full decade later. Interestingly, Frozen Scream is also from '75 and that was the first year Harmon appeared on the scene. She really exploded out of the starting gate with these two films. While the Kung Fu movie craze was in full effect then, with plenty of aspiring Bruce Lee's out there, it may seem somewhat counterintuitive to make the heroine of such a film a 48-year-old German lady. But that's all part of the fun. Plus, it's better than Policewomen (1974) or the Ginger series.Besides, Harmon was a true trailblazer in that respect. Now we fully accept heavily-accented action stars such as Schwarzenegger and Van Damme. But Harmon did it first. And backwards and in high heels, as the saying goes. Her accent, while charming, does seem to get worse as the movie goes along. Is that possible? But she also wears a lot of great outfits and gives it her all. And she really loves celery, as we see in the centerpiece of the film, the party scene. It's here she meets a girl named Inez, and gives her highly sensitive and medically-accurate diagnosis of her mental state. Interestingly, the spectral character in Night of Terror, one that is very important plotwise to that film, is also named Inez. Could that possibly be a coincidence? Not to be confused with being a part of the Sonny Chiba Streetfighter series, Lady Streetfighter is distinct in its own right. And at only 73 minutes, you can't afford not to watch it. After the end credits, it promises, "watch out for the return of Lady Streetfighter!" Sadly, this never came to pass, as this was director Bryan's last film. (And third collaboration with Harmon, after Hell Riders and The Executioner, Part II). He also directed Don't Go in the Woods, for those that don't know).So have as much fun as the partygoers in the film that are continually shouting "Toga!" and see Lady Streetfighter soon.

Cunning and deadly foreign beauty Linda Allen (a hilariously atrocious performance by Rene Harmon, who sports an adorable heavy German accent) arrives in Los Angeles to track down the evil mobsters who tortured and murdered her sister. Meanwhile, the mobsters try to find a tape with incriminating information on it. Plus Linda has to deal with both a nasty pimp and a crooked FBI agent who intends on killing her. Boy, does this deliciously dreadful doozy possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a real four star stinkeroonie: exceptionally inept (mis)direction by James Bryan (the same cinematic genius who blessed us with the similarly shoddy "Don't Go in the Woods" and "The Executioner, Part II"), uniformly terrible acting from a lame no-name cast, clumsily staged action scenes (the car chases, shoot outs, and especially the rough'n'tumble martial arts fights are all uproariously awful), a hopelessly muddled and meandering narrative, a simply astounding kinky swinging sex party (Rene suggestively sucks on celery stalks with a certain remarkably sensuous aplomb), poorly recorded post-sync dialogue, and a handy helping of gratuitous female nudity that's largely provided by dumpy and unattractive ladies with a few too many miles (and pounds) on them. The legendary Liz Renay, looking aged, pasty and chubby, pops up in all her sexy and uninhibited fortysomethingish splendor as a stripper who bumps and grinds for all its worth in a seedy nightclub. Max Reed's shaky'n'scratchy cinematography gives this tacky flick an appropriately ratty look. An absolute cruddy hoot.

Don't go into this one with visions of Sue Shihomi kicking in your head. This is a lame 70s action flick from James Bryan of DON'T GO IN THE WOODS infamy. Linda (Renee Harmon) arrives in Las Vegas and is immediately attacked by some thugs. She is searching for some list on microfilm that involves a pimp and everyone wants to kill her. Seriously, that is all I could make out of this film's plot. It runs a scant 76 minutes, but I often found myself thinking, "What is going on?" Harmon - looking like a low rent Chesty Morgan - has zee zickest Cher-man ackzent so at least her dialog delivery is entertaining. Oh, and she does throw some wild karate kicks, licks a phone, sucks on a celery stalk, and gets nude. Naturally, a film this bad demands I immediately dive into the rest of Bryan's work.