Hip and smooth ace martial artist Black Belt Jones (a supremely affable and charismatic performance by Jim Kelly) takes on a bunch of no-count mobsters who want to take over an inner city karate school in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Director Robert Clouse, working from a witty tongue-in-cheek script by Oscar Williams, relates the eventful story at a constant snappy pace, stages the wall to wall rough'n'tumble fights with considerable aplomb, and adds a winning mix of goofy humor and lowdown boss attitude to further enhance the infectiously wacky merriment. Kelly makes for a likable protagonist; he receives excellent support from the foxy Gloria Henry as the sassy Sydney, Eric Laneuville as eager student Quincy, and the always terrific Scatman Crothers as rascally karate grand master Pop Byrd (the sight of Crothers busting loose with some fancy chopsocky moves is positively sidesplitting!). The villains are a colorful bunch of over-the-top nasty dudes, with stand-out turns by Andre Philippe as evil gangster Don Steffano, Malik Carter as vicious drug pusher Pinky, and Vincent Barbi as fearsome capo Big Tuna. The crazy monkey noises Kelly makes as he beats numerous folks up, the typically garish 70's fashions, an outrageous climax set in a soap-filled car wash, and plenty of priceless campy dialogue ("Boy, we're gonna turn you into fudge") add substantially to the film's delightfully kitschy charm. Luchi DeJesus' funky syncopated score hits the right-on groovy spot while Kent Wakeford's cinematography makes nifty occasional use of gnarly freeze frames and strenuous slow motion. A great deal of vintage 70's drive-in fun.
Black Belt Jones
1974
Action
Black Belt Jones
1974
Action
Plot summary
The Mafia's Don learns that the City is planning a new civic center, and is buying the land where it will be, to make easy money when the city council will buy it. The one piece the Don doesn't have yet, is the old African-American karate school owned by Papa Byrd. Big Tuna, the Mafia Don's right hand man, goes to Pinky, their representative in that area and they tell him that he owes them $250,000 but instead of paying, they want him to get Papa Byrd's school. Pinky tries to muscle the karate master into handing out the property title, but he throws him out. A teacher calls Black Belt Jones, a friend of Papa Byrd, to talk to him about this, but before he does Pinky and his thugs accidentally kills Papa Byrd in a second visit. Before dying in friends' arms, Byrd says that the school belongs to Sydney - whom nobody knows. Black Belt Jones knows that Sydney is Byrd's daughter, whom he hasn't seen since she was a child. Black Belt asks a friend of his who works for the Government, to find her. Informed of her father's death, Sydney arrives for the funeral, and learns about Pinky and what he wants. Sidney goes to Pinky's place and roughs up some of his people. Then, Pinky goes over to the karate school with some back-up, manages to subdue the students, take one of them hostage, and demands either Sydney turns the school over to him or pay him $250,000. Black Belt asks his friend in Government to look into it and he tells him of this Mafia connection, and than asks Black Belt Jones to break into the Mafia stronghold and get some photos that they have and some hot cash. Jones succeeds, holds $250,000 and pays Pinky with that, then he calls the Mafia Don and tells him that it was Pinky who raided his place. Now the thugs turn onto each other. When Pinky convinces Big Tuna that he is innocent they go after Black Belt. With Sidney wanting to take revenge on her father's killers all by herself, and Jones wanting her out of the deadly battle about to start, things get ugly, fast, and furious.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
A hugely entertaining 70's blaxploitation blast
I'd rather be dead than have no bread!
"Black Belt Jones" is one of the most fun movies to come out of the 1970s. It's a rousing and funny mixture of martial arts action and blaxploitation as the cool-as-can-be title character (Jim Kelly) takes on all comers. BBJ works at a karate school run by cheerful Papa Byrd (Scatman Crothers, as wonderful as he's ever been). The Mafia wants the property, and one night they go too far and murder Papa. His long estranged daughter Sydney (Gloria Hendry) comes home to join BBJ and help him fight the good fight.
Film director Robert Clouse, who'd worked with Kelly on the martial arts classic "Enter the Dragon", doesn't try to reinvent the wheel here. He just serves up a lot of nifty combat (choreographed by Robert Wall) and other assorted set pieces, while combining all of it with a great deal of comedy. There's no graphic violence to offend some viewers, just a lot of good thrills and laughs. The movie is rated R mostly for profanity. The unqualified highlight is undeniably the amazing final battle because it's set at a car wash and many of the combatants end up covered in suds.
The characters are all very damn entertaining, too. Kelly is not a great actor but he is a great action hero. Sexy Miss Hendry is a feisty leading lady, and holds her own all the way through. You have to love her reaction when it's suggested that she "do the dishes". Eric Laneuville, Alan Weeks, Andre Philippe, Vincent Barbi, Mel Novak, and Nate Esformes are fine in support, but the show is largely stolen by Malik Carter as aggressive bad guy Pinky. At one point, he launches into a priceless rhyming routine about his love of money. Crothers is such a hoot as the rascally Papa. You haven't lived until you've seen him with that rug on his head, and watched him attempt to bust out karate moves. Marla Gibbs, Henry Kingi, and Ted Lange have uncredited bits.
A lively, invigorating diversion, underscored by superior music by Luchi De Jesus.
Now let's all go to McDonald's!
Eight out of 10.
I'll slap the black off you!
This has got to be one of the most funky and hilarious movies of all time. The sheer amount of celery used is phenomenal. I especially enjoy Pinky's rhyme about bread, his groin, and coins. Some of the acting is poor and lack luster, notably BB's girlfriend. However, this adds a kind of camp or kitsch making the movie that much more enjoyable. Jim Kelley is by far one of the coolest brothers ever. This is definitely Blaxploitation at its finest.