Year:  1974
Rating: 6.0

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Right after Robert Clouse directed Jim Kelly in the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon in 1973 he then makes this martial arts film with Kelly. In some ways it feels like a Bruce Lee film especially in Kelly's fighting style. Back then of course everyone was imitating Bruce Lee who had become a worldwide phenomenon and who had tragically died after completing Enter the Dragon. The plot's of Lee's films were not particularly sophisticated - see bad guys; beat bad guys. This is pretty much in that mold.


The Mafia are trying to get hold of a karate school being run by old Pops (Scatman Crothers) to complete a land deal. They recruit a local black gang to get it any way they can. This may be your only chance to ever see Crothers doing martial arts. It isn't pretty. But one of his former students is pretty - Black Belt Jones (Kelly) - and Pop's long lost daughter (Blaxploitation legend Gloria Hendry) shows up and turns out to be pretty as well - especially when kicking ass. So there is a lot of physical fighting - guns must have been banned - and perhaps a little too much romancing. A five minute goofy romantic scene on the beach was painful to witness. The main issue with the film is that unlike a HK film doing something similar there is no worthy opponent for Kelly to fight against. Most of the guys he beats up look like the director picked them up in front of the unemployment office. Everyone goes down like stalks of wheat rarely to bounce back up. It is fun but monotonous. Whack, whack, whack on the soundtrack. Even Hendry wipes everyone out without messing up her lipstick. In a film like this you need to end it with a truly great fight and instead it ends with all the bad guys in soap bubbles falling down.


Robert Clouse later went on to direct Jackie Chan in Battle Creek Brawl - so along with Lo Wei the only two men to direct both HK super stars. Clouse was apparently deaf so I can't blame him for the blasting sound of every hit that takes place. One might blame him for Game of Death which he is credited on but I am not really clear on what took place behind the scenes on this attempt to cash in on Bruce Lee's name.