10 Things to Know About 'Ninja III: The Domination' (1984)

10 Things to Know About Ninja III The Domination

10 Neat Weapons

Just a quick rundown of the weapons on display in Ninja III The Domination

Kamayari : A spear with an attached sickle blade

Shuriken : Metallic stars that serve as nifty throwing weapons

Tesu-bishi : Steel jacks thrown in front of a pursuer, when stepped on, the sharp points penetrate the shoe and foot.

Samin Bari : Poisonous darts

9 Lucinda Dickey Didn’t Know What a Ninja Was

In an interview featured on the 40th anniversary Blu Ray Release of Ninja III The Domination, star Lucinda Dickey admitted that when she landed the lead role, she had no idea what a ninja was.

8 Lucinda Dickey Was Afraid of Heights

Not only did Dickey not know what a ninja was, she was also afraid of heights, affecting the other part of her lead character’s life as a telephone line-woman. Dickey had to do real pole-climbing for the role and thus had to do her best to overcome her fears.

7 Lucinda Dickey Did Many of Her Own Stunts

Lucinda Dickey worked her butt off on Ninja III Domination, learning how to fight like a ninja, delivering realistic kicks and punches and learning sword fighting techniques so that she could play a convincing, deadly black belt.

6 That V8 Scene

V8 Tomato Juice is perhaps the least sexy drink one could try and make sexy. But that didn’t stop Cannon Films and director Sam Firstenberg. Not only did Cannon Films cut a deal that kept the set swimming in V8, Sam Firstenberg claims that he made the call to have Lucinda Dickey pour the V8 on her chest and have co-star Jordan Bennett lick it off of her. Bennett, for his part, claimed that the sexy tomato juice scene was his idea.

5 Sho Kosugi Was Not a Fan of Ninja III The Domination

Sho Kosugi found the idea for Ninja III The Domination outright embarrassing. Speaking to the Chicago Tribune in 1986 while promoting a different film, Kosugi addressed Ninja III stating

“I tell you the truth. This was Menahem Golan. I said, ‘It doesn’t work.’ But he was believing in ninja mystery, plus breakdancing and also trying to make psychic concept.”

4 Kosugi Quit the Film

Sho Kosugi quit Ninja III The Domination. Not because the premise was embarrassing or because his top billing in the franchise was usurped by Lucinda Dickey. Nope, it was a simple contract dispute. Kosugi felt he deserved a better payday for the successful franchise and thus walked, leaving the film without its lead ninja. The film was completed with a stunt double picking up a few of Kosugi’s scenes.

3 Bouncer

There is a strange focus on an arcade cabinet game in Ninja III Domination. The game is called Bouncer and it was supposed to be a real arcade release. Entertainment Sciences was the company behind Bouncer and they apparently made between 5 and 20 cabinets of Bouncer, testing them in several southern California arcades around the time of the release of Ninja III The Domination. One working prototype of Bouncer was provided to the movie along with a cabinet shell that was used for special effects shots. This was a product placement deal with Cannon Films even as it didn't work out for Entertainment Sciences.

2 What Was Bouncer Supposed to be?

Bouncer featured trackball-controlled gameplay that blended action and platforming, casting players as a security guard at a club known as The Ritz. The objective was to physically eject unruly patrons such as Fatso, Soppy, Romeo, and Scooter while ensuring the high-quality clientele remained undisturbed. For its era, the game was notable for utilizing intelligent animation and presenting players with distinct narrative paths.

1 Bouncer is One of the Most Memorable Aspects of Ninja III The Domination

Arcade fans still talk about Bouncer and to this day, it’s among the most coveted arcade cabinet games among collectors. According to arcade insiders, no remaining cabinets of Bouncer exist in any known collections and none have popped up on the collector markets over the years, though fans continue to pursue it and its sister game, Turbo Sub, the only other game made by Entertainment Sciences before the company went out of business.