Black Belt Jones (1974)
Jones is a secret agent who has gone into semi-retirement, concentrating instead on teaching the martial arts to inner city youths. The karate school is run by a kindly old coot named Pops ,played by Scatman Crothers. His gambling debts, however, bring the local thug, Pinky, down on him. To make matters worse, Pinky is then hired by some white thugs who want to get a hold of the property Pops' school occupies so they can build a shopping mall. When things get heavy, Black Belt Jones leaps into action. Only he's not alone. Pops' daughter, Sidney, shows up to lend a hand, proving herself every bit as agile and powerful a martial artist as Jones.
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What a waste of my time!!!
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
This movie was so unbelievably awesome when I first saw back in high school, we watched it over and over, eventually just never returning it to the video store it was so good. The opening sequence is one of the best ever in film history: great theme music, and Jim Kelly just kicks everyone's ass in sight, sometimes for no reason at all. Scatman is cool of course as the oldtimer karate teacher who gets everyone in trouble with the mafia for gambling. The final scene with the carwash bubbles is the ultimate in martial arts mayhem. This is also one of the funniest comedies ever made, from the ladies who hang around the trampoline at Jones' beach house, to Jone's afro puffing out his stocking cap when they're raiding the mafia mansion in broad daylight.?!!? Also classic lines like, "that motherfu**er threw his panties at us!??!" Look for cameos by Isaac from the Love Boat and the lady from the Jeffersons.
Sort of picking up where "Enter the Dragon" left off, "Black Belt Jones" casts Jim Kelly as African-American martial arts expert "Black Belt" Jones trying to stop the mafia from taking over a martial arts training center once owned by friend Pop Byrd (Scatman Crothers).Obviously, the Me Decade was partly known for blaxploitation movies, but that's one of the things that made the decade so great. Here, Jim Kelly really shows off his kicks (presumably learned by his character in "Enter the Dragon", also directed by Robert Clouse).Well, all that I can say is: fight on, brothers! Never let The Man tell you what to do!
There's no way on earth I'm gonna argue that 'Black Belt Jones' is a great movie, even a very good one, but no matter how silly and cheesy it gets it's a hell of a ride and lots of fun! Let's face it this is b-grade exploitation fare deliberately designed to cash in on both the mid-70s blaxploitation boom and the success of Bruce Lee's martial arts classic 'Enter The Dragon'. Dragon's director Robert Clouse (who also made the hugely enjoyable post-apocalyptic potboiler 'The Ultimate Warrior') took karate champion Jim Kelly, who co-starred with Lee and John Saxon in that film, and tried to start a spin-off franchise with him. The big problem was that Kelly certainly had the fighting chops but his acting was only so-so and he was one of the least charismatic of all the blaxploitation leading men. Just compare him to Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree or Ron O'Neal and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, for one movie at least it didn't really matter. Kelly stars as Black Belt Jones who returns to the inner city karate school where he got his start after the death of his mentor Pop Byrd (the wonderful Scatman Crothers, who yes, kicks some butt before he is killed, a sight you'll never forget!). Jones teams up with Pop's estranged daughter Sydney (Gloria Hendry of 'Black Caesar' and 'Savage Sisters'), also a fighter, and his peeps to avenge Pop's death. The rest of the cast includes Eric Laneuville ('The Omega Man'), Earl Brown (Whisper from 'Live And Let Die'), and even Isaac the bartender from 'The Love Boat' as a Black Panther! This is a silly movie, but still loads of fun, with some very entertaining fight sequences, and some laughs, intentional and unintentional. 'Black Belt Jones' is mandatory viewing for all 1970s trash buffs.
Okay, let me give you the recipe for a brilliant film. Take a whole bunch of bad dudes with afros, take one bad dude who knows karate and has one of the best afros ever, find a bunch of silly girls to jump on a trampoline, add one suds filled automatic car wash surrounded by garbage trucks. Stir and season with incredible soul music and terrible dialogue. Oh yeah. Black Belt freakin' Jones. A masterpiece of blaxpoitation that deserves to be shelved directly between "Shaft" and "Enter the Dragon." Attempts to blend funk, kung fu, and James Bond. Does a thing get cooler than that? I doubt it. Will it change your life? No, probably not. Will it brighten your day when you see how the suds cling tenaciously to Jim's afro. Oh yeah.