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Original title:The Master
Category:TV Series / Adventure / Drama / Action
Actors:Lee Van Cleef,Timothy Van Patten,Shô Kosugi
Duration:1h
Video type:TV Series

Rating 4.5: Votes 787

Lee Van Cleef Timothy Van Patten Shô Kosugi

Short summary

John Peter Macallister was a Korean veteran who, after serving, decided to live in Japan, and, while there, he studied Ninjitsu and became a Ninja. Thirty years later, he learned that he has a daughter, so left to find her. Apparently, though, he can't leave the sect that he is with, because it means that he is now marked for death. He manages to escape, and, upon arriving in the States, he meets Max Keller, a drifter who has a penchant for getting involved with other people's problems and helping them out if he can. Max and Macallister hook up, with Max helping Macallister find his daughter, and Macallister teaching him the ways of the ninja. At the same time, evading Okasa, one of Macallister's students, who is now sworn to kill him.

A lot of the shows episodes were filmed in 1983 and the show released in Winter 1984 as a mid-season replacement by NBC.

Sho Kosugi who plays the ninja villain Okasa on this show plays a villain not unlike this one in his debut in Enter The Ninja, three years earlier and also was an evil black ninja.

The costume that Sho Kosugi wears as the ninja villain Okasa is not a traditional one seen in prior films such as Enter The Ninja and Revenge of The Ninja. This one features metal chains around the hooded part of the face and around his calves which resembles more of a knight from the ancient times than a traditional Japanese warrior assassin. The only thing that it has in common with the ninja films is the color, which is black.

In the Episode Kunoichi, in middle of the episode it is revealed that one of the villains was a female ninja in training Allison Grant, a reporter who turned out to be Okasa's student. Sho Kosugi would later after this series aired, would battle of a "possessed" female ninja played by Lucinda Dickey in Ninja 3: The Domination as the good guy not the villain like he was featured on the show.

Sho Kosugi also doubled as Lee Van Cleef's stunt double on a few episodes that he was not featured or did not appear in as he also handled the stunt work for the show as well.

The show was inspired by the success of Enter The Ninja, which was released in 1981 and starred Sho Kosugi and Franco Nero and was a major success for Cannon Films which would spawn two sequels also starring Kosugi, Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja 3: The Domination and then followed by American Ninja, which would spawn four sequels. Kosugi also had three more ninja films in which he starred in: Pray For Death, Nine Deaths of the Ninja and Rage of Honor.

The Butterfly medallion that Lee Van Cleef wears on the show is a symbol of his family in Japan. If anyone kills Van Cleef was to have been killed on the show, any ninja could've claimed it as a true master destroying his family legacy in the process. The only time that the medallion was taken away from Van Cleef's character was by the female ninja, Allison Grant after her revelation as Okasa's ninjitsu student and wore it before Van Cleef reclaimed it after foiling her assassination attempt in the episode, Kunoichi.

The van that Timothy Van Patten drives around in the show is quite similar to the one featured on The A-Team, with a different striping color. Both shows were on NBC in 1984.

Every episode after the pilot began with a recap of Lee Van Cleef's character backstory with a flashback to the same scene from the pilot episode with Timothy Van Patten narrating and blending into the latest episode.

If the show had continued, Timothy Van Patten would've become a ninja since Lee Van Cleef had been training him almost indirectly in every episode in his own way and already had most of Van Cleef's moves.

Oscar Winner Bill Conti composed the music for the main theme to the show as well as a few episodes would also write the original score to the hit film, The Karate Kid, which was released during the Summer 1984 just as this series was about to end in August of that year.

Ashley Ferrare who was in the episode "Failure To Communicate" was also in Revenge of the Ninja, which also starred Sho Kosugi, who played the main villain in this series. Ironically, her character's name in the episode was also named Kathy not unlike Revenge of the Ninja where her character's name was Cathy.

Kane Kosugi who appears in the shows' final episode is the son of Sho Kosugi, who plays Okasa, the series villain and stunt coordinator. Prior to this they also appeared together as father and son in Revenge of the Ninja, which also featured Ashley Ferrare, who also appeared on the show.

Ninjas are trained to be invisible. However in this show, Lee Van Cleef's character is often seen in his ninja uniform in public such as a Halloween party in "Out-Of-Time-Step" and "Kunoichi" where he is arrested and his picture posted on the front page of a newspaper and interrogated in his uniform.

The show starts out with a glowing Ninja star (Shriken) in red, which is the same one that Okasa (played by Sho Kosugi) throws in the pilot episode hitting John Peter McAllister (played by Lee Van Cleef) in the back and the same one that he carries around and then gives to Max Keller later on.

Lee Van Cleef who plays "The Master" was also in The Octagon starring Chuck Norris, which also featured a rogue Ninja played by Tadashi Yamashita as it's main villain.

Demi Moore who was in the pilot episode of the show, also starred in the film, Blame It On Rio, which had also just come out at the same time this show premiered on NBC in January 1984.

When Lee Van Cleef is fighting someone on the show, you almost immediately tell that it is Sho Kosugi in his place. The way you can spot it is by his height, his poses, his eyes and his yells. Van Cleef does not do any of these during his fights with Kosugi as Okasa.

Okasa's (played by Sho Kosugi) back story is that he is a former pupil of John Peter McAllister (played by Lee Van Cleef) who is out to kill him and become the master ninja after McAllister decides to leave Japan to search for the daughter he never knew he had in the United States. Which explains why he appears wherever McAllister and Max travel to and always attempts to kill him.

The series ended without anyone knowing who was John Peter McAllister's daughter really was and never appeared on the show in person. The closest was the character played by Janine Turner, who was an actress posing as his daughter in a blackmail scheme. The other closest time was the New Orleans episode where his daughter was an informant in a black arms deal led by shady businessman Robert Pine.

User reviews

Author: Chinon

I thought that the first couple of episodes of "The Master" (later released as "Master Ninja I') had some nice moments. Lee Van Clief may have been far too old, flabby, and frail to physically convince the audience that he could be a ninja master (amazing how "he" lost his gut whenever the stunt double stood in for him in the black ninja costume) but he did project a certain old school machismo and he could always deliver a good line. Yes, Demi Moore stuck out like a sore thumb in episode 1, and the wheelchair chick and the dancer from episode two delivered some of the worst lines in the history of television, but still...There were some decent stunts (for a TV series) and some energetic sword fights and a few decent attempts at wry East-meets-West humor. It was never 'great' the way "The Fugitive" was great, but it didn't actively suck...at first. And episode 2 had one great line (even though Van Patten flubbed it): "I knew the Master would find a way to get me up on a tightrope sooner or later." Given the situation, it was pretty funny.

The problem lay in the fact that a) the producers rapidly ran out of ideas after the first few episodes, reducing the show to a buddy version of "Then Came Bronson", and b) Timothy Van Patten's mush-mouthed delivery and frozen faced acting got old quick and c) there was very little chemistry between the two lead actors. Anyone who wasn't a male adolescent with an obsession with martial arts would find very little to interest them, especially since the series producers watered down the 'ninja' content extensively - they seemed to be trying to increase the series' appeal to American audiences, but they only alienated that core element who was only watching the show for the ninja action in the first place.

Especially annoying was the fact that Van Patten was supposed to be some kind of "Tiger Beat" teen-idol and had a different love interest in every episode, but the lack of chemistry between him and his female of the week was apparent even to a blind man. To be fair to Van Patten, the writers put him in some incredibly contrived situations and gave him some very dopey dialog to convey his hipness...I'm not sure Cary Grant could have pulled off some of those scenes.

Although I spend a lot of time thinking about and practicing martial arts, I gave up on this series by episode 4, and every time I checked in on it for a minute or two (as the season wore on) I found even less to keep me going back. It looks like everyone else agreed, and the show sank without a trace. Too bad...but the series was a day late (to cash in on Bruce Lee) and a dollar short (wasn't willing to live up to the potential of its concept).

Author: Iphonedivorced

I remember my excitement, as an 11 year old at the time, when I learned that "The Master" TV series was going to come out on TV. At the time I was really into Bruce Lee movies and just about any Kung Fu/Ninja related movie or show I could find. Of course the same year saw the release of "The Karate Kid" so this was just a great year if you were a fan of martial arts.

Unfortunately this series didn't live up to the hype. But for me, it still holds a place in my heart because it happens to be the very first show that I ever taped with a VCR - a beta-max no less! I remember watching parts of that first episode over and over again as I marveled over my newfound ability to rewind and replay video.

All these years later I can see that the show has no real legacy and was cancelled after just 13 episodes. If you watch this movie, it is really just the first 2 episodes of the series.

Author: Kajishakar

I remember the series well... An, the memories.. only back then I

didn't realize how preposterous the whole thing was - Van Cleef looked more like a 90 pound weakling than a NINJA . He looked old and tired... But I LOVED him... VanPatten was the one miscast... NO Chemistry!! Be sure to see the last episode (If you can find any of them, I did on VHS)... The Master is back on an old West movie location, and feels right at home.. in fact he says so.. nice touch to end the series... Now that i'm old too, I wish I could move like the Master but then... that was a stunt double... Van Cleef you hombre.. rest in peace... you didn't seen at all out of place as a Ninja master but then... I never saw you as a old west Cowboy first! I loved this series!! Look

on VHS

Author: furious ox

I am groaning as I write this but during the early '80s with all the ninja craze as as a kid who practiced and loved karate, I loved this show. I never knew who Lee Van Cleef was prior to this TV show but my father did. He remember Lee in all the spaghetti westerns and would laugh that the villain of the cowboys was a good guy ninja now.

You have to wince at some of the shows you liked as a kid but, you know, thats what makes the memories of your childhood so amusing if your lucky.

Now, I am older and a father, and I appreciate actors like Lee more than the pinheads in Hollywood making $20 million + a picture. Actors like Lee kept us entertained and made guys like Clint Eastwood ("For a Few Dollars More") and Kurt Russell ("Escape From New York") look so good.

When he died in '89 it gave me pause. He deserves to be remembered and I won't forget this weird funny show he did that kept me glued to the screen with all it's oddball fantasy.

The 13-year old boy in me gives this a 9 star rating and a 10 star rating for the beady-eyed, hawk-nosed actor who played the lead.

Rest-in-Peace, Lee, you are remembered.

Author: Neol

This series will always live on in my memory despite my not having seen it for a number of years. Sho Kosugi was well cast as the ninja bad guy. It is such a shame that he never became a greater star, but such is life. However, the casting of Lee Van Cleef as the good ninja was just pitifully unrealistic. Whilst a fine actor, it required too much of a suspension of disbelief to believe he could do any of the martial arts maneauvers he was supposed to. He was just plain too old.

That said, I have many a fond memory of this series. No doubt, were I to watch them again now I would find many of the episodes cringe-inducing (just like some of the original Star Trek series). But still worth a look at on a rainy day.

Author: grand star

Ah the early 1980's......how I miss them! The era embodied a sort of innocence which dissipated towards the end of the decade and has sadly yet to return. Who can forget the fads of the time; In music we 'bopped' along to the sounds of New Romantics, pioneering synth pop acts and additionally were blessed with a wonderful array of 'big hair' heavy metal bands. On TV we enjoyed such classics as Knight Rider, Airwolf and the incomparable, The A-Team and in cinemas we were treated to probably the best decade for horror and action movies......yes, the eighties....ah, they were the days.

There was actually another craze that swept the western world during the early part of the decade also; What was it you may ask? Why it was Ninja Mania! We just couldn't get enough of these enigmatic stealth assassins in fact. The public obsession first began proper when the Cannon Film Group released the Sho Kosugi outing, Enter the Ninja in 1984. Kosugi himself went on to a semblance of super stardom literally overnight - this despite the fact that he was actually playing the films main villain! Such was the mystique and allure that these historical figures exuded on screen. Needless to say, more ninja flicks were swiftly put into production by a plethora of film companies, each trying to out do the last and cash in on the publics apparent insatiable fixation on all things connected to the ninja. It was inevitable of course that these seemingly semi-mystical beings would break out into other entertainment mediums also. This they did in the form of numerous comic books, novels, toys, games and in the instance reviewed here, a television series starring veteran actor, Lee Van Cleef and as it happens, the by this time living legend, Sho Kosugi.

The plot concerned Cleef's character returning from Japan where he had spent years studying the ninja arts, in order to find his estranged daughter. Also along for the ride was the token wise cracking side kick (as was a somewhat unfortunate trend of the eighties....) who becomes Cleef's new student. Unfortunately, our veteran ninja is also being hotly pursued by a fellow ninja from his clan (Kosugi) who is incessantly intent on sending him to the great beyond.

Despite ninja mania in full swing at the time, the show curiously lasted for only one season before disappearing as quickly as......um.......well, a ninja in fact.

Whilst mildly enjoyable in its own right, it has to be said that the series was unfortunately hampered by its incredibly formulaic treatment. As with the vast majority of eighties TV shows, the plot was never more ambitious than to set our heroes (who just like in every other eighties show), travelling around from place to place helping out those in trouble (invariably a sexy, feisty female) from evil property developers and the like. Every now and then to spice things up, Kosugi puts in an appearance and it's no coincidence that these episodes are the best of the series which sans his presence is somewhat pedestrian at best.

For a bit of nostalgia or else those still desperate for a fix of anything ninja related the series is probably worth a look as long as you don't set your expectations too high.

Author: Gosar

Top stuff. I've only ever seen episode 1 but I'm always on the lookout for the others. I loved the bit where Van Patten tried to use the approved "sleeper touch" technique to subdoo a baddie, and it didn't work !

Van Cleef's arrow-catching stunt was very impressive, and he handled that scene and a lot of other equally unlikely frames like the true pro that he was. Keeping a straight face through the takes must have been hard work at times for a guy who had worked with directors the caliber of Fred Zinnemann and Sergio Leone.

Demi Moore would likely prefer that her appearance in this B-grader remained largely forgotten, but we all have to start somewhere, and the show was probably a lot of fun to make.

R. B.

Author: DireRaven

I remembered that show from when I was a small kid. After each episodes, some friends and I played ninja outside in the woods near their house.

I remembered key scenes like when The Master plays dead on the hotel room floor and I remembered Max's van.

I recently got the series on DVD from Ebay. What a ride! It was as I remembered. A great show full of adventures. Typical of many shows from the 80's it involved the heroes dropping on some trouble or someone in danger in a random town...

If you have the 80's nostalgia or are a ninja movie fan, I recommend seeing this show.

Author: Brol

This Master aired on NBC in 1984 during the ninja craze of the 80's. It only lasted thirteen episodes. It starred Lee Van Cleef and Timothy Van Patten. Van Cleef plays John Peter McAlister, a ninja who comes to America from Japan searching for his long-lost daughter. Once in America, he meets Max Keller, played by Timothy Van Patten, who teams up with McAlister to help find his daughter. Along the way, the duo travel in an A-Team-like van and engage in various adventures while helping those in need. McAlister also teaches Keller the finer points of ninjitsu in his spare time. The Master takes place in various cities across America, however, it was shot entirely in Los Angeles, CA. Sho Kosugi also appears in a handful of episodes as Okasa, an evil ninja hunting McAlister.

While I enjoyed this series, the casting was questionable. Lee Van Cleef was a fine actor, but he was totally miscast in this series. He was in no shape to do any of the fighting required for this series. He is quite obviously stunt doubled by Sho Kosugi(wearing a skull cap!) in almost all of the fight scenes. Van Patten is also stunt doubled in some of the fight scenes.

This series was released as a series of seven videos with the name Master Ninja.

If you enjoy ninja flicks or martial arts in general, give this a try.

P.S. Look for a pre-Striptease Demi Moore in the first episode.

Author: Rleyistr

I remember this series quite well. Back in the 80s when the US underwent a "ninja" phase, this came out. Lee Van Cleef is an American trained as a ninja who decides to leave "the family". Sho Kosugi (a real life kick butt martial artist) goes after him. Cleef comes to America and meets up with Tim Van Patten who joins up as his apprentice, hence, the title. It's kind of cheesy, but not as bad as it could have been. A lot of the "wandering do-gooders" a la "The Incredible Hulk" and "Scooby Doo". I remember watching this on Friday nights and enjoying the heck out of it.

Author: Eigonn

This was good. Lee Van Cleef was very and Van Patten was good.The one with a very young Demi Moore was exciting. This was an excellent ninja show!If you like ninjas and are able to watch it and haven't yet do so because its good!

Author: Nuadora

Lee van Cleef and Timothy van Patten make lovably lame main characters in this silly "movie" spliced together from two episodes of a 1980's TV series. David MacCallum shows up as an extremely unthreatening international terrorist/kidnapper, and George Lazenby is a cut-price secret agent whose tuxedo seems to be surgically attached to his skin. We're expected to believe that elderly Lee is capable of executing acrobatic somersaults and climbing sheer walls. Tim registers mild annoyance when his mentor and best friend Lee appears to have been buried in a shallow grave.

Author: Dellevar

This entry into the series has to be the best out of 1-5. It is absolutely stunning and action-packed. In the first part of this "movie" comprised of episodes 9 and 10 from the 1980's action series, "The Master," that dynamic ninja duo of Max Keller (Timothy Van Patten) and John Peter McAllister (Lee Van Cleef), find themselves in a pickle as McAllister, aka The Master, is framed for attempted murder of an old war buddy of his, now an intelligence officer. In the second half, they must confront a dangerous man in search of the legendary Java Tiger, an artifact worth $8 million, which is said to be hidden in a cave on a remote Hawaiian island. All in all, this is a truly amazing installment into the already incredible Master Ninja series. But it is best to watch the other installments first, so you can appreciate the evolution the characters go through, especially Max Keller's as The Master's pupil. It's a shame the series didn't make it past one season, I guess it was just too good.

Author: Thorgahuginn

Max Keller, the unintelligable, custom-van-drivin', gerbil-totin', dirt-bike-racin', light-aircraft-pilotin', young-gal-smoochin' hero of "Master Ninja I" is back, in another film that bares a striking simularity to the television show "The Master". "For a Few Dollars More" star Lee Van Cleef is back too as Max's Ninja instructor, who drops about thirty pounds everytime he dons his ninja robes. This time they battle corrupt fish canners who have killed several union organizers without reprisal, then lend a hand to some tense hostage negotiations.

This installment of the venerable series is star studded (compared with the last one, who's star power consisted of Clu Gulager and Claude Akin's butt). Joining Max and The Master are Crystal Bernhard (TV's "Wings"), George Lazenby ("Who Saw Her Die"), David McCallum (TV's "The Man From Uncle"), and Monte Markham (TV's "Campus Cops"). OOOO!

Timothy Van Patten applied his experience of starring in "The Master" to his later career, directing episodes of "Touched by an Angel" and "The Sopranos". Lee Van Cleef died.

If you enjoyed this, perhaps you'd like "Master Ninja III", "Master Ninja IV", "Master Ninja V", "Master Ninja VI", "Master Ninja VII", or "Three Ninjas Kick Back".

Author: Nafyn

This movie was simply a combination of the first 2 episodes of a short-lived TV series called "The Master".

I must admit my bias in this review because I vividly remember this TV show when it first aired in the mid-80's, and, like any other 11 year-old child, I LOVED it. (I think it even came on right after the A-Team, but I could be wrong). Anyway, when I was that age, I had a 6-month long fetish with Ninja movies, or any thing with Sho Kosugi or Michael Dudikoff. To this day, I still enjoy whenever I can catch one of the "Enter the Ninja" or "American Ninja" movies; just because I can look back at what influenced me as a child.

This movie / TV show was a pretty lame attempt at capitalizing on the relative success of those movies. Unless you really enjoy the "Ninja" type movies, you will not enjoy this flick, except to make fun of it. In fact, even Ninja enthusiasts will have to admit this is pretty lame.

However, as a guilty pleasure, this movie does its job. Trust me... you will feel very guilty after watching it.

Author: Perdana

This "film" is a brilliant piece of art that has been over looked by film critics and historians for years. The directors ingeniously combined two episodes of a mid-80s action series ("The Master") to create a wonderful portrait of the rebellious "Max", a street-smart young rebel who teams up with pro-ninja Lee Van Cleef. In the film's first hour the team helps defend super-stars Demi Moore and Claude Akins' air field, and then in the second hour they help out some striking canners.

This method of combining almost two different stories into one was obviously the inspiration for Roberto Begnini's brilliant "Life is Beautiful". Watch these two works back to back and you'll see what I mean: Their stories are structured the same way, and the lead characters (crafty, dashing heroes who bend the rules to what's right) are strikingly similar.

Of course, I could be talking crap. I don't know.

Author: Skyway

The Master was to tap into the 80's Chuck Norris martial art trend. Lame lame lame! Lame even for a 14 year old. Back in the day at Junior high some of my friends, enemies, cohorts etc loved this show. I watched a couple of shows. What worked Well: The master Lee Van Cleef is creditable as the wise old master. The Ninja's who are out to get the master for breaking the code is a cool story-line. The intro/narrations etc is good. What does not work: The apprentice ninja wanna be is un like able, but a good drifter. Many 80's shows had a formulated car chases, town bad guys, attractive female in trouble, and a action show down, which is too predictable. Over the top martial arts, Ninja stunts and thin story line is just too much. The looking for lost daughter is too much like looking for lost mother Kung Foo story-line with flash backs etc. Kung Foo was better, but maybe I should re watch The Master. 4 stars. Yes there was a Ninja craze like all things macho back in the 80's

Author: Forcestalker

Hey Everybody, I'm desperately searching for the series "The Master" aka "Master Ninja" I bought the DVD of the first 2 episodes from a guy, by mistake - thinking it was the whole series of 13 episodes. It is definitely the worst good TV memory I have over 20 years later, but I just gotta have the little Asian ninja kid episodes - he really looked cool kicking all those adult butts. I've heard rumors that some lame production company put out the series on a 2 DVD set, and even though it was apparently a horrible transfer/dubbing, it was still worth it, but I can't find it, and trying to find 1 person willing to part with the entire VHS set of 2 episodes per tape is not going to happen.

Anyone out there with any info, or who would be willing to dub me some copies of there old VHS recordings would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Author: Whatever

Not a bad little series, but held back by the fact that while America was going through it's Ninja Craze, it was also knee-deep in the Reagan attitude of "USA A-OK" which involved any protogonists using any methods to get 'the bad guys.' A bit narrow-sighted (and hypocritical), but this show is often more fun than most of it's brethern of this time period.

The only fault I can find is the all-too-obvious stunt double for the then-aged Lee Van Cleef. I think some padding on the double's part could have made it a bit less obvious, along with some more creative editing.

But anyway, it's a way to waste an hour and it's not shoving Ramboque messages down your throat. Check it out and give it a try.

Ebay always have some of the Trans-World Entertainment releases on tap. Just enter "Master Ninja" into your search and you should come across all seven volumes within a month.

Enjoy.

Author: Iarim

I've recently picked up the habit of downloading MST3K episodes, (since they never showed them here) and I have to say Master Ninja is the worst of the 6 mst3k episodes I have. Not that the commentary was bad, but the movie itself. The acting was just atrocious, even deathstalker 3 had better acting than this! The music, was simply painful to hear. Watching two ninjas fight while cheesy 80s synthsizer tunes played in the BG was unbearable. There was this one scene (SPOILER) where 3 ninjas try to kill the master. Instead of prowling on his roof or doing anything remotely stealthy, the ninjas got into these stupid poses and walked right into the master's front door where he was just standing there looking. To give you an idea, imagine 3 ninjas walking behind a paper wall so you can only see their shadows. Then imagine while they're walking, they're in these crane stances like the one in karate kid. It is dumb I know. Thankfully Joel and the Bots made this movie very funny to watch, they always do a good job of that.

Author: Fenius

I liked this show when I was about twelve, it was a pleasant memory. Then I re-watched it as the MST3K episode Master Ninja 1, in which they slammed together three or four of the episodes to make a horrible movie. I admit, I was tearing up more than laughing watching it, because i really did like this goofy show when i was a kid.

Lee Van Cleef as a ninja was just sad. They had better stunt doubles in Power Rangers, when the girls were clearly played by much shorter men. I mean, you could clearly see that Lee hadn't studied any kind of martial arts, which is kind of like those 70's sword swinger b-movies where the actor would just randomly swing his or her sword and 'kill' people. The fight choreography was obviously done by Stevie Wonder while he was heavily medicated.

The Master's 'student', played by the gratingly annoying Timothy Van Patten, is a total idiot who drives around in a van randomly. No real ninja would take this guy on as a student. He'd just slit his throat and be done with it, a few moments after meeting this twerp. He certainly wouldn't enlist his 'help' in finding his daughter or anything else, for that matter.

The movie dragged off, since it was made from t.v. episodes so they couldn't have any kind of real denouement. I am not looking forward to Master Ninja II, and in fact may avoid it altogether. Another pleasurable childhood memory down the drain.

Author: Thetalen

Lee Van Cleef and George Lazenby try their best at saving this turkey, but fail. This is more episodes from the short-lived series "The Master" which aired on NBC. Here Crystal Bernard plays a motorcycle racing woman who organizes a union at a place where they want to keep unions out. (After Happy Days and before striking gold with Wings, Crystal appeared in several stinkers, most notably this and It's a Living.) The whole thing is very contrived and pretty bad. Avoid this one if possible.

Author: Ricep

This movie is ungodly unbearible. Between lame dialog and bad story continuity, it has other amazingly impossible things (Including 'The Master' cutting off a steering wheel with a length or rope....) In 1991, The Mystery Science Theatre 3000 people tried to do an episode on it, and even they failed miseribly at making it funny. The only good thing about the MST3K episode is the Master Ninja Theme Song at the end, pure genious. I would highly discourage anyone from watching this stinker.

Author: Shistus

I understand that "The Master" was a short-lived TV show in 1984, featuring Lee Van Cleef as a martial arts master. Well, everything about it is corny. In fact, the only reason why people nowadays would know about it is because Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank subjected Joel, Servo and Crow to it on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". The trio commented on the scenes where a stunt double got used for Lee Van Cleef, and Timothy Van Patten's muffled speech. Among the referenced people were Martha Graham, Anwar Sadat, Bil Keane and Gloria Vanderbilt. They even referenced "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

So, the series is too weird to enjoy, but you're sure to enjoy MST3K's riff.

PS: Robert Clouse is best known as the director of "Enter the Dragon", while Timothy Van Patten went on to direct episodes of notable serials in the 21st century (among them "Sex and the City", "Boardwalk Empire" and "Game of Thrones").

Complete series cast summary:
	Lee Van Cleef	-	John Peter McAllister / - 13 episodes, 1984

	Timothy Van Patten	-	Max Keller 13 episodes, 1984

	Shô Kosugi	-	Okasa 13 episodes, 1984

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