The Street Fighter

The Street Fighter
Japanese theatrical poster
Japanese name
Kanji	激突! 殺人拳
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Gekitotsu! Satsujin-ken
Directed by	Shigehiro Ozawa
Written by	Kōji Takada Motohiro Torii
Starring	Sonny Chiba Yutaka Nakajima
Cinematography	Ken Tsukakoshi
Edited by	Kozo Horiike
Music by	Toshiaki Tsushima
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date	February 2, 1974 (1974-02-02)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	$1,565,000[1]

The Street Fighter (Japanese: 激突! 殺人拳, Hepburn: Gekitotsu! Satsujin-ken, lit. Clash! Killer Fist) is a 1974 Japanese martial arts film produced by Toei Company, directed by Shigehiro Ozawa, and starring Sonny Chiba. It was released in the United States by New Line Cinema and became one of the first films to be a commercial success for the distributor.^[2][3] It is notable as the first film to receive an X-rating in the US solely for violence.

A commercial success, The Street Fighter spawned two direct sequels, Return of the Street Fighter and The Street Fighter's Last Revenge, and the Sister Street Fighter spinoff series. There was another spin-off entitled Kozure Satsujin Ken, which was brought to the US by a different company under the title Karate Warriors.

In the United Kingdom, the film was originally released as Kung-Fu Street Fighter presumably to avoid confusion with the Charles Bronson movie Hard Times which was initially released as The Streetfighter in the UK.