#amir shervan

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Samurai Cop (1991)

[theactioneer]

Killing American Style (Amir Shervan, 1990)

[l-ultimo-squalo]

Samurai Cop (1991) Dir. Amir Shervan

[mudwerks]

Samurai Cop (1991) dir. Amir Shervan

[adamwatchesmovies]

Samurai Cop (1991)

In terms of movies that are so bad they're good, Samurai Cop has it all. The razor-thin plot is little more than an excuse to string together car chases, overly violent fights, ridiculous characters, equally bewildering dialogue, gratuitous sex scenes, laughable performances, unconvincing wigs, badly dubbed extras, befuddling editing choices and the kind of mistakes only a director drunken on their own power could make. It constantly surprises you despite a story devoid of any imagination.

To combat the Japanese gang that’s taken over Los Angeles' cocaine trade, “samurai” policeman Joe Marshall (Mathew Karedas) joins the force. With his partner Frank Washington (Mark Frazer), the two make a break in the case when Joe catches the eye of Jennifer (Janis Farley), a woman whom crime lord Fuj Fujiyama (Cranston Komuro) is attempting to romance.

You might’ve seen one of the film’s best scenes on YouTube at some point: the one where Joe talks to a flirty hospital nurse whose pickup lines you’d expect to hear coming from a drunken frat boy. Trust me, that’s just the beginning. This movie feels like it was conceived by a horny, bloodthirsty 13-year-old and written by aliens. While on a bust, Joe will say something to fellow officer Peggy (Melissa Moore) and you’ll think “That’s a weird line; you could probably take that one the wrong way without trying much…” only to realize the innuendo wasn’t accidental at all! You shouldn’t be surprised when it happens over and over, but you will be.

Eventually, you’ll realize this movie was shot most of the way, only for the production to run out of money and shooting to resume months later (it explains why Matthew Maredas has to wear a wig in his first scene). It's obvious, but you're taken aback. You’re not used to seeing movies this earnest made this badly. Samurai Cop has recurring jokes, the kind of recurring jokes that anyone with any kind of good sense would’ve thrown away and then burned out of shame. When writer/director Amir Shervan shoots a man emerging from a burning vehicle, he doesn’t think to ask the stunt guy to scream or act like he's in pain. All he sees is a man COVERED IN FLAMES, exactly as he’d envisioned it, which means it's a flawless take.

The plot of Samurai Cop is so basic it would’ve been as dull as a butter knife if it weren’t for the constant blunders. In one scene, the actors are clearly done delivering their lines and are waiting for the director to yell “CUT!” After he did, the editor (either Ruben Zadurian or Amir Shervan once more) didn’t go ahead and eliminate those extra few seconds of nothing; they kept them in. You’re as dumb-struck as the performers, wondering if there’s something you’re supposed to do to make this ordeal end… and then it does, so you breathe a sigh of relief. If Samurai Cop pulled that stunt on you, there's no telling what's next. Will it be two goons dubbed over by what has to be the director, using the same voice, in a row? How about someone going from 0 to 100 in one second, or some pointless nudity? You don’t know but every time, your response will be “Oh, well of course!”

The glory that is Samurai Cop cannot be contained in a few hundred words, and it can’t be summarized in a “best of video” either. If you have friends who don't understand why you like watching bad movies, show them this one. They'll be howling in no time. (September 1, 2021)

[shortmeteor]

The only movie I've seen where you get a glimpse of the clapboard in the actual released final cut is "Young Rebels."

[schlock-luster-video]

On September 5, 2016, Samurai Cop was screened at the Paris International Fantastic Film Festival.

Here's a new drawing of Matt Hannon to celebrate!

[junkfoodcinemas]

JUNKFOODCINEMAS PRESENTS SO BAD IT'S GOOD JUNK: PART 1

The Room (2003) dir. Tommy Wiseau

Troll 2 (1990) dir. Claudio Fragasso

Batman & Robin (1997) dir. Joel Schumacher

Samurai Cop (1991) dir. Amir Shervan

Fateful Findings (2013) dir. Neil Breen

Miami Connection (1987) dir. Y. K. Kim, Park Woo Sang

Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010) dir. James Nguyen

Tammy and the T-Rex (1994) dir. Stewart Raffill

Mac and Me (1988) dir. Stewart Raffill

Super Mario Bros. (1993) dir. Rocky Morton, Annabel Jankel

[bens-things]

Samurai Cop (1991) dir. Amir Shervan

When the local mob gets an American samurai so do the cops.  Incredibly low budget in a very charming way.  Not well made in any sense of the word though.

[doodleforever]

Samurai Cop taught me it’s okay to be different.

[hystpod]

superior production still

[vhs-ninja]

[theactioneer]

Killing American Style (Amir Shervan, 1990)

[damnablehumbuggery]

In 1988, auteur Amir Shervan introduced the world to the Death Sit-up and Gun Wave Fatality.

More tomfoolery at https://damnablehumbuggery.com

[thegirlwhorunsforthetrain]

Samurai Cop (1991)

Joe Marshall (Mathew Karedas, credited as Matt Hannon) and Frank Washington (Mark Frazer) are two tenacious police detectives who seek at all costs to stop the Katana, a renegade Yakuza gang composed of violent and sadistic killers who want to lead the drug trade in Los Angeles.

(more…)

[supercultshow]

Hello Supercult West! This is Supercult South Bad Movie Professor Cameron Coker (BS in “Turkey and the Jaguar” with a minor in “Talking Over Each Other’s lines”) and I’m reaching out to you from across the country to help hype tonight’s screening of Hollywood Cop!

Once upon a time Supercult watched a film called Samurai Cop. Released in 1991 Samurai Cop is about a Cop who is technically a samurai because he was “fluent” in Japanese and knew that “katana” means Japanese sword. He fights Yakuza gang members and drug traffickers and has trouble pronouncing the name Fujiyama. Samurai Cop was directed by prolific Iranian born actor, writer, and filmmaker Amir Shervan. Shervan directed 25 Iranian films from 1967 to 1980 before being forced to relocate to California after the Iranian revolution made it nearly impossible to produce anything without a pro-Islamic message. In 1980 he began anew, starting his own production company, Hollywood Royal Productions, where he would take inspiration from 1980s action hits like Lethal Weapon to carve himself a new niche in the states.

“Raping. Robbing. Kidnapping. Killing … The action never stops!”

Okay, we’ll sneak around back, take out the guards, hack the security cameras…oh wait, let’s just grab your kid through this open window. Done.

Hey there female cop, I’m Turkey. I am clearly an attractive bad boy who doesn’t follow the rules. Be still your heart, am I right? Gobble gobble.

This white girl be crazy…just another day in the life of Black Jaguar.

This is Joe Fresno. He is an 80s man. The most 80s of all the men.

“You’re real good, Matt. You know, I can see you weren’t born yesterday, cause no one could get that fuckin’ stupid in 24 hours.”

It wasn’t until 1987 that he made his first American Action film: Hollywood Cop. It’s about a cop who technically solve Hollywood crimes…because he is a member of the Hollywood police department. Which I guess would mean that the entire Hollywood Police department is made up of Hollywood Cops, but whatever. He’s an American bad ass named Turkey (the most American of names…and foods) and he has an equally American black partner named Jaguar. Black Jaguar. Together they would make a pretty good talk radio duo, but more often than not they spend their time botching negotiations and letting people get decapitated, getting drunk before starting a new investigation, getting sidetracked by oil wrestling bets with attractive women, going in without backup, lighting people on fire, taking shotguns to pitchfork fights, and rescuing kidnapped children. In short, they’re just like Lethal Weapon, if Lethal weapon was made by an Iranian with a shoestring budget.

Shervan went on to direct Supercult Classics Killing American Style and, of course, Samurai Cop where, together with showstopping C-listers like Robert Z’Dar and Matt Hannon, he appeared to be slowly perfecting the buddy cop film formula. And by perfecting I mean making crappy knock offs and slowly running out of money. Indeed, Shervan’s calling cards all seem to be cost-cutting strategies. The estate at which majority of Killing American Style is set is the same building that the climaxes of both Samurai and Hollywood Cop are set at. Most, if not all of Shervan’s films are shot entirely during the day to save on costly lighting equipment and many of Shervan’s car chases are filmed using his own production van.

Crotch shots, courtesy of Amir Shervan

After Samurai Cop in 1991 Shervan retired from film making and diminished into relative obscurity. Shervan passed away in 2006, his films forgotten and shunned by both his home country and his adopted country. But then, his films found cult acclaim! His films have been restored and re-released on DVD and for cult theater screenings. There was even a sequel, Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance which stars many of the same actors and features Tommy freaking Wiseau in a climactic sword fight with the now 50-year old Samurai Cop, Matt Hannon himself!

Fellow Supercultists, let us drink in remembrance to Amir Shervan, the man who traveled 12,000 miles to bring us this film and never saw it reach the peak of its popularity. Some say that Shervan’s films got worse as they went on and that Hollywood Cop is actually the best of his American action series. Dear God, we sure hope that isn’t true.

Supercult West is proud to present, Hollywood Cop!

Hollywood Cop Hello Supercult West! This is Supercult South Bad Movie Professor Cameron Coker (BS in “Turkey and the Jaguar” with a minor in “Talking Over Each Other’s lines”) and I’m reaching out to you from across the country to help hype tonight’s screening of Hollywood Cop!