The Challenge

“He has trained every thought, every muscle, every nerve, for the moment of truth!”

Rick (Scott Glenn), a washed-up American boxer, is hired to carry an old sword to Japan, and nobody tells him the job is bait in a feud between two brothers. One, Toru Yoshida (Toshirō Mifune), keeps to the samurai way, while the other has gone into business. John Frankenheimer sends Rick to train under Toru, and in the household he is drawn toward Toru's daughter Akiko (Donna Kei Benz).