When Action Movies Had Real Heroes

He didn’t have Schwarzenegger’s physique or Stallone’s gravitas, but Dudikoff gave the era its cult charm. The American Ninja films were lower-budget fantasies that played big on VHS shelves. His martial arts style mixed real training with movie improvisation, all wrapped in earnestness. You can see why kids loved him: he looked like someone who learned heroism by heart rather than by script. A true underground superhero.