An instant audience favorite after bursting on the scene in 1974's Sister Street Fighter, action star Etsuko Shihomi was not only among the most prominent members of Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club but also a fixture on TV and a successful recording artist. She cranked out so many films between '74 and 1975 that ascertaining the exact order can be tricky, given that the multiple Sister Street Fighter sequels were alternating with standalones like the incredible 13 Steps of Maki. Stuck in the middle of that batch is The Great Chase, also known as The Magnificent Chase, which is very light on actual chasing but makes up for it with a tidal wave of outrageous characters and action moments including a furry kinkster villain and homicidal drug-running nuns who use corpses as their mules. You need to see this one.

After winning her latest trophy, beloved professional car racer Shinobu Yashiro (Shihomi) gets down to her real job: working as a government spy and utilizing her formidable disguise abilities. Her latest assignment has her going after Henry Nakatani, a notorious drug dealer and murderer who's back in Japan after circling the globe. Nakatani was also involved in the death of Shinobu's sea captain father, who was framed for drug smuggling and died in prison supposedly via suicide by poisoning -- despite being covered in bloody wounds. Going undercover as an old cleaning woman and other characters, she infiltrates the crime ring via the guard who actually killed her father and has a stash of incriminating slides tucked away. That lead puts her in the crosshairs of the corrupt former warden and an array of hit men including one who hurls lethal playing cards and another dressed as a Native American who fires killer blow darts. Meanwhile Shinobu gets help from her pals via her fan club running out of a floral shop, which is also tied to a cabaret where the main attraction is real-life popular wrestler Mach Fumiake (who steals every second of her screen time). As she works her way up the villainous ladder, the savagery escalates as she makes her way to the man responsible for it all.

Delightfully nuts and unpredictable, The Great Chase is bound to win you over with a frenetic opening 40 minutes that really has to be seen to be believed. After that it starts to play rough for a while with some torture and murder sequences that may split opinions, but be sure to stick around for the insane quarry finale featuring some real-life explosive stunts that somehow didn't kill anyone. Shihomi is utterly charismatic and charming here, especially when she takes time out to hang with her friends, but she also brings her usual fighting expertise here full strength in several exciting showdowns that pop up at regular intervals. Then there's the film's real ace, that aforementioned furry factor with a couple of sequences involving our prime bad guy who likes to dress up in a big bear suit for his sexual encounters whether they're consensual or not. You've really never seen anything like it.

Neon Eagle continues its run of wild Japanese releases with its Blu-ray special edition of this film, its first U.S. availability in any format. The transfer looks fine and is presumably true to the source with a pretty earthy, subdued aesthetic for the most part except for a few splashes of blue clothing or spattering red blood. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono Japanese audio sounds okay for what it is and again is probably accurate to the material, with a few dialogue scenes sporting some harsh sibilance; the optional English subtitles are good, often amusing, and clearly written by someone British. A new audio commentary by the power team of Chris Poggiali and John Charles is as great as you'd expect with their combined knowledge of martial arts movies and Japanese cinema making for a thorough and engrossing listen, including lots about Shihomi, the more goofy aspects of the story (who took those slide photos anyway, and how?), and the background of underrated director Norifumi Suzuki whose touch can be found in other outrageous films like School of the Holy Beast, Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom, Sex & Fury, Shogun's Ninja, the Truck Rascals series (where's that boxed set?), and the psychotic Star of David: Beautiful Girl Hunter. Also included is a video interview with critic-historian Tatsuya Masuto (19m17s) who hones in on Shihomi's career and the height of her appeal with the Japanese public, contextualizing this film within the larger body of work in which she appeared around this time. The disc rounds out with a 2m46s gallery and a fantastic trailer that gives amazing names to some of the assassin characters like Blowgun Geronimo, The Head-Butting Sea Devil, and Card Sharp Sam. If that didn't pack in the crowds, nothing could. The limited edition packaging comes with a slipcover (with new art by Justin Coffee) and an illustrated insert booklet with an essay by Nathan Stuart making a convincing case for appreciating Suzuki as a far more diverse and gifted filmmaker than most fans may realize.

Reviewed on August 29, 2025