Dynamite Brothers

source: Dynamite Brothers

Dynamite Brothers

Director Al Adamson brings us this half hearted effort "Dynamite Brothers" which falls well short of his other blaxploitation films Black Samurai and Death Demensions. The problem with the Brothers is they are both supporting actors trying to play the lead without a lot of personality or charisma between them. Timothy Brown as (Stud) is terrible and sleepy Alan Tang (Larry) is worse as the two Defiant Ones are handcuffed together on a mission to find Larry's brother. The addition of Aldo Ray as the corrupt cop (Burke) and evil bad guy (Wei Chin) played by James Hung almost save the movie as do the two ladies the foxy as all get out Suzy Ewing as Burkes girlfriend (Laura) and pretty Carol Speed as (Mary). The film almost dies in the middle with nothing really happening and picks up a bit at the end, but not enough for a recommendation.

You know how Reese's Peanut Butter Cups old commercials used to go? Well, the makers of this movie got a real smart idea. They took the two big trends of the early 70s - blacksploitation and martial arts - and made one movie with both of them. Stud Brown (Timothy Brown, a former NFL player who was also on M*A*S*H*) and Larry Chin (Alan Tang) unite to battle drug dealers and find Chin's brother Wei (James Hong). They're up against a corrupt cop named Detective Burke (Aldo Ray!) and the disappearance of our hero's brother may not be as tragic as it seems. What makes this movie worth watching is the dream team of director Al Adamson and producer Cirio H. Santiago. Lovers of truly bottom basement movies see these two names and feel a certain twinge, the kind you get when you remember young love or holidays gone by. Another important thing for lovers of 70s exploitation cinema to notice is that the deaf mute love interest Sarah is played by Carol Speed, who is known and loved as Abby.

My second Al Adamson film and compared to "Brain of Blood" this is a masterpiece. Some terrible acting, atrocious camera work and some truly amazingly bad dialogue combine to make this a bad film. By far not the worst film I've seen however. One scene to look out for is when Stud serenades the mute girl with a song. A scene so awful I very much doubt you can avoid cringing or laughing. Still there's something here for HK action fans as basically its a bad 70's Kung Fu film. 4/10 about sums it up. Watchable but equally miss-able.

I agree with the other reviewer who wrote that there's a good movie buried here, but with Al Adamson at the helm, it was never going to appear on screen. His incompetency as a filmmaker is astounding. How can you make so many mistakes? For example, you have a good set of kung-fu actors who know how to stage a fight, but you'd never know it watching East Meets Watts or Dynamite Brothers or whatever you want to call it. The fight scenes are horribly shot. Add to that a plot that makes absolutely no sense, ridiculous dialogue, stilted delivery, and a lack of any technical acumen, and you've got one very poor movie. I think one of my favorite bits in the movie might have been the character named Stud Brown - how awesome is that! One of the things that amazed me as I watched East Meets Watts was how in God's name did Adamson convince Aldo Ray and James Hong to be in this pile of dung? Both are very accomplished actors who deserved way better than this.