Hot Potato (1976)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Brilliant and touching

Better Late Then Never

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

After the success of "Black Belt Jones", Jim Kelly does the sequel of it called "Hot Potato". However, the result isn't what I call a follow-up success. This movie is downright corny and Jackie Chanish. The sound-effects are annoying and silly. It's like looking at a live cartoon almost. This time Jones(Kelly) is in Thailand, looking for a daughter of an US Senator. He doesn't work alone he's got a new sidekick, and a over-sized fighter named Rhino(George Memmoli). The trio work with an uncooperative inspector(Irene Tsu), but they all get the job done. They meet with the impostor who later ends up helping them ge5t the real deal back from the warlord. Everyone fights off the army with their martial arts skills, it's funny when Rhino took on the big opponent. To me, this is one bad movie that should have been improved completely. I mean ever martial art movie shouldn't be all violent, it should be fun which it is. More action and less cheese. But without the cheese factor, it would be a completely boring film. If you enjoy the Jackie Chan films, enjoy this movie on your own terms. I did! 2 out of 5 stars!

Supposedly a follow-up to Jim Kelly's starring vehicle Black Belt Jones, but I only think that was an afterthought by the marketing department. Well, Kelly does play a guy named Jones. He's never once called "Black Belt". Maybe they were just unsure of whether Black Belt Jones was going to be a hit or not. Really, Hot Potato isn't even the same genre. It is a martial arts action flick, but there's not the smallest element of blaxploitation in it. Kelly's the only black person in the film. In it he hooks up with three other action heroes, Irene Tsu, Geoffrey Binney and George Memmoli to save a senator's daughter from her captors in Southeast Asia (the film was shot entirely in Thailand, and, while I don't think the name of the country is specifically mentioned in the film, the culture is most definitely Thai). Much like Black Belt Jones, the action is horribly directed, and the comedy bits are lame as all Hell (the film tries to force the doughy Memmoli on the unsuspecting audience as a comic action star, and his bits are particularly groan-inducing), but it's still amusing in the way the best bad movies are. Can't say I enjoy this nearly as much as Black Belt Jones, but it was worth seeing. I got this and BBJ in an awesome four pack of movies entitled "Urban Action Movies". One of the great buys! The other two movies, another of which stars Jim Kelly (along with Jim Brown and Fred Williamson!), look awesome, too.

A team of American special agents lead by super smooth ace martial artist Jones (the ever cool Jim Kelly) travel across Thailand to rescue June (Judith Brown sporting in atrociously overdone Southern accent), the daughter of a U.S. senator who's been abducted by the evil Rangoon (Sam Hiona doing a third-rate Fu Manchu impression). Writer/director Oscar Williams, who previously penned the lowdown funky blaxploitation winners "Black Belt Jones" and "Truck Turner," really fumbles the ball with this disappointingly mild and plodding PG-rated clunker: the sluggish pace, meandering narrative, and especially lots of extremely dumb and forced attempts at painfully unfunny and witless humor doom this baby to outright mediocrity. The cast struggle gamely with the subpar material: Kelly just about manages to retain his dignity throughout, the lovely and personable Irene Tsu adds some spark and spunk as feisty lady cop Pam, Geoffrey Binney is okay as the hip Joe Chicago, and Brown ain't half bad in a second role as the fetching and duplicitous femme fatale Leslie. However, George Memmoli is simply insufferable as the White Rhino, an obnoxious bumbling fat slob comic relief character who's supposed to be lovable and amusing, but instead proves to be extremely irritating and unappealing. Several action set pieces like a dangerous trek down a river on a raft and a raid on a village on a bunch of rampaging elephants fail to deliver the expected thrilling pay-offs due to the fact that they are clumsily executed. A hideously sappy romantic interlude at the halfway point doesn't help matters any. Only in the surprisingly dynamic and exciting last third does this flick finally spring to life, but by then it's much too little way too late to compensate for the general tedium which preceded it. A very blah and forgettable wash-out.

This movie has little to redeem it. The fight choreography stinks the comedy stinks, the dialogue stinks. The main reason me and mine rented this was to see all of our favorite Hong Kong stunt men, who appear in this film. Not only is Billy Chan, Yuen Biao and Lam Ching Ying in it you will also see a lot of Eric Tsang, Chan Lung and Mung Hoi among others. All I can say is, they must have really needed that paycheck! Never have I seen so many great men used so shamefully! The 5 different costumes they were forced to wear have to be seen to be believed! ( The jester-like costumes were my personal favorite!) We laughed ourselves silly! So if you want to see Lam Ching Ying in a leopard print jungle outfit and short shorts, this is film for you!