Year: 1983
Director: Fred Williamson
Starring:
Jim Brown
Fred Williamson
Jim Kelly
Richard Roundtree
…
Ah! Blaxploitation! Some badass mofos, cool clothes, funky music and white jerks getting beat up. In this film, there are four black cats. Chuck and Ralph are from a Californian martial arts school. They come to New York with their best student to make him participate in a tournament. Their guy wins, so they expect to receive the 4000 000$ prize. But instead, they’re attacked by a bunch of rednecks that work for the organizers of the championship. Chuck is badly hurt, so he call two of his tough buddies for help. J and Cal, the buddies, investigate around town, getting into fights and kicking some butts. As you may have notices, there’s not much story. The direction from Fred Williamson ain’t very good either. What’s cool about the film is the Attitude. Those guys arrive somewhere, they talk though and then they start fights. They also look real sharp, whatever they do. They have cool cars, cool clothes, big cigars and big guns.
Chuck is played by Jim Kelly (“Enter The Dragon”). He looks really cool with his afro, and he’s a very good fighter. Then you’ve got the best-known blaxploitation star, Richard Roundtree. His character, Ralph, is very similar to John Shaft, his most memorable role. He’s arrogant, tough and funny. Roundtree doesn’t have a very big role, but his two fighting scenes are awesome. J is played by Jim Brown. He’s one big, scary motherfucker. I especially like his voice. My personal favorite is Cal, played by Fred Williamson. I love his face, his mustache, his way of talking, his cigars and his badass attitude. He’s extremely cool.
Unfortunately, this movie, like most blaxploitation flicks, has too much pointless, overlong shots. The editing is not tight enough. The kung-fu tournament: too long, boring. Night shots: overlong, and you don’t even see anything often. They should work more on the pacing. Cool set-ups, funny dialogue and good fights, that’s all you need to make a great, action-packed film. So, this film has some brilliant moments and an awesome cast, but it’s far from perfection.