Black Belt Jones

source: Black Belt Jones

Well, I can easily say that this is my favorite movie ever. Ever! Jim Kelly provides non-stop kung-fu-rific action with a style of the 70's no-one can match. Filled with tons of creative fight scenes including a crutial battle, fought in a rising bed of BUBBLES! Black-belt's female counterpart Sydney also provides a mean ass-woopin throughout this masterpiece. One warning though, its as full of off-color, non-pc dialog as it is great fight choreography (just keep in mind, its a 70's "B" movie, so just take them as funny, "i can't believe they said that" humour and you're set). So ya, basically its a must see in my eyes. It's so great i own a sealed copy of it! Enjoy.

"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.

When the Mafia, as best represented by Don Steffano and Big Tuna (Philippe and Barbi) try to overrun Pop Byrd (Crothers) and his BlackByrd karate studio because they want the land it's on, a conflict ensues. So the best man for the job is called in to clean up the mess with the mob: Black Belt Jones (Kelly)! Enlisting the help of Sydney (Hendry), who's one bad mama, the two do what they do best: kick and punch the unwitting baddies until their heads spin. But will the mafia give up, or will they continue to fight? Find out today! Black Belt Jones is classic 70's Blaxploitation all the way. It's an extremely enjoyable and lighthearted romp, filled with everything that makes the era great: fly threads, cool cars, big hair, evil whiteys and of course the music, the theme by Dennis Coffey and the rest by Luchi DeJesus. The music is integral to the film and goes a long way towards propelling the action. It's also completely great in its own right, and while it, surprisingly, has never been reissued on CD (as far as we know), there is a reissue LP that's floating around out there. It's easy to forget this, but Jim Kelly's actual name in the movie is Black Belt Jones. No other name is given - ever. So dialogue like this is heard: "Belt, you better get over here quick". This among many other examples. But Jim Kelly is one cool customer, and everything he does is cool - he even presses a button for an elevator in an amazingly cool way. Most of the movie is just entertaining and funny, in that way that movies were in the blissful age before political correctness corroded the world. It also was ahead of its time, as it features prominently women on trampolines, predating The Man Show by 25 years, and, having a character named Big Tuna, it predates The Office by a whopping 31 years. There's also what might be dubbed a "Black Belt Funeral" (not for Jones, of course - but don't you want some strong Black Brothers practicing their moves next to your coffin - next to what looks to be a painting of Toshiro Mifune? We thought so.) And the movie all comes to a head at a car wash with an insane amount of suds everywhere. Apparently car washes were huge in the 70's. We had seen this movie on the Warner Brothers big-box VHS, but then re-watched the Widescreen DVD, which is a nice improvement and a worthwhile purchase. So travel back in time to when Martial Arts was FUN and definitely see Black Belt Jones! For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Jim Kelly may not be in the class of Bruce Lee, but he does show some impressive martial-arts moves; his co-star, Gloria Hendry, more than holds her own. This flick is half blaxploitation actioner and half Bond movie; in both fields, you could do much worse. The plot is minimal, to say the least, and the silly sound effects used to "enhance" the various kicks and punches do date the film, but it's still very fast-paced, playful and thoroughly enjoyable. (**1/2)

Blaxportation has made it big in the 1970's. After Richard Roundtree did "Shaft", and some others later, Jim Kelly puts his martial arts chops to the test in "Black Belt Jones". This Afro sporting avenger protects a karate school run by Pops(Scatman Crothers), is being threatened by Pinky and his crew. When Pinky and the crew went to the school for the first time, they got ridiculed by the class. The go find Pops at one of the hangouts and accidentally kill him, they get the wrath of his daughter, Sydney(Gloria Hendry). She goes over to Pinky's place to find him, she wastes them all after they get smart-mouthy with her. I liked when she removed her shoes and said, "I'm gonna make you look like a sick faggot". Then of course Black Belt has his gymnast crew at the beach house who he trust very well, help him and Sydney deal with the Mafia who was helping Pinky get the school. Enjoyed the music score, the choreography, and skills Jim Kelly put to make this movie awesome. "Enter The Dragon" was just the beginning, he could easily make the sequel called "Enter The Black Dragon"! 3 out of 5 stars!

I found out about this movie by title alone through a strange series of overheard conversation and jokes. I had no idea it would be this great! Black Belt Jones stars Jim Kelly who's best known for his role in Enter the Dragon aside Bruce Lee, but don't expect the same kind of film. The entire movie is just about perfect if you like cheesy 70's action movies, kung fu movies, or just a good laugh. I really can't tell if the director intended for this movie to be funny or not, but it had me on the floor laughing. It's really not funny in a bad, MST3K way, but actually in a respectable manner. I don't think anyone could watch even the opening credits to this movie without laughing. Jim Kelly can actually pull off some nice fighting moves, but while doing so, emits some of the funniest vocalizations I've ever heard. Imagine a deeper voiced Bruce Lee crossed with Larry from The Three Stooges. The plot of the movie is simple and never gets in the way of the enjoyment of the film and such great lines as "You won't be back for more! If you want some more, then come on back!" And if you like this movie, especially Jim Kelly's fighting, I'd suggest watching Three the Hard Way which, while not as amusing of a film, has some great Jim Kelly fight scenes in the same style as Black Belt Jones. Rent both films for a great Jim Kelly double-feature!

I love this movie. It has everything from a bad romantic story to great fighting scenes and even a scene where for no apparent reason "Black Belt" smashes a man's guitar. My favorite thing about this movie is that Black Belt Jones' job is to watch women jump on a trampoline, for which he seems to receive a hefty sum of money,judging by the size of his house. This movie has the worst phone acting I have ever had the opportunity to see. If you want to see great fighting scenes and pretty bad acting then see this film.

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.

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.