Theater Organist Mark herman

The Street Fighter (1974)
Sat. Aug. 6
Doors – 7:00 PM
Organ Overture -7:30 PM
Film – 8:00 PM
Tickets - $6
1hr 31min | R | Action/Martial Arts | Japan

Director and pop culture obsessive, Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of The Street Fighter and its kung-fu leading man, Sonny Chiba. In fact, he named it as one of his top 20 grindhouse classics, and cast Chiba in his own homage to 70s karate flicks, Kill Bill.

The film follows an assassin for hire (Sonny Chiba) turned bodyguard for the daughter of a dead oil tycoon who must fight off the gangsters who recently stiffed him after he rescued their brother from being executed by the state. But, you know what? It doesn’t really matter. This flick is really all about that brutal karate action.

Don’t bring the kids.

But, wait, what exactly is a grindhouse anyways?

Well, by the mid 1960s neighborhood theaters like The Senate Theater were largely closing their doors due to urban decay and an inability to compete with television. Some, in order to survive, reimagined themselves as so-called “grindhouse” theaters. This business model, of playing cheap, often violent and sexually explicit fringe films wasn’t new. In fact, the term existed since the 1920s and the Senate itself unsuccessfully attempted the change in the 1950s before its rebirth as the home of the Detroit Theater Organ Society, (then the Detroit Theater Organ Club).

And so, in a way, watching The Street Fighter at the Senate is like catching a glimpse of what the theater could have been if it had continued on as a cinema. As the first film to garner an X rating solely due to violence, it was a big hit on the grindhouse circuit, (and made this film a decidedly kid-unfriendly event).

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and The National Endowment for the Arts.