5. Miami Connection (1987)
People love movies about drugs and criminals. Goodfellas, Boogie Nights, Traffic, Blow...Even the Godfather had heroin in it. Also consider Boardwalk Empire or any other narrative centered around the Mafia during prohibition. This cliche is so wide-spread that Mendoza, the super-villain in The Simpsons' fictional McBain films, is a drug smuggler. What makes Miami Connection a most perfect embodiment of this cliche, it's that the drug lords also happen to be motorcyclist ninjas who are confronted throughout the film by good ninjas who just so happen to be members of a ninja themed rock band named Dragon Sound. Why they stopped short of adding skateboards, we'll never know. The central drama (I think) centers around a girl caught between her evil brother with ties to the ninja motorcyclist and her boyfriend, the ninja-bassist. But that's not all, each ninja-musician shares a troubled past that provides them the motivation to do good in the world. One of the more interesting features of the movie is that the alleged star, Y.K. Kim, seems to play second fiddle to the actual drama of the film, coming in only to show off his martial arts skill. The explanation for this is probably quite simple: He just can't act. He was, however, a contributor to the story (if you can call it that) and financed a lot of the film himself. His role of producer almost even bankrupted him as the film was almost never released. Over a decade later, the film finally saw wide-release and, thanks to high-speed internet, can now be streamed instantly on Netflix.