It's really part of the nature of this blog that most of the time I'm writing about "classic" films - older, black and white, even silent-era movies that have moved into the public domain because of the time that they were created. And since, due to the changes made in copyright law over the years (especially since the late 70's) no new movies (or books or music or anything else for that matter) will enter the public domain until at least 2019, it's likely to be that way for awhile. Still, there are some more recent films that over the years have in various ways "slipped through the cracks" and made their way into the public domain, and some of those movies could even be considered modern-day classics. Such is certainly the case with today's entry, the rousing Sonny Chiba martial-arts flick
The Street Fighter.
Actually, The Street Fighter is notable for a number of different reasons. Though it was not Chiba's first movie, (he had been making science fiction and crime films and appearing on television in his native Japan for at least a decade before) it wasn't until this film that he became an internationally known superstar. The film also gained notoriety because it was the first movie to garner an X-rating from the MPAA solely because of its violence. It is also noteworthy because of the number of spinoffs and sequels that it spawned.
