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Black Belt Jones[edit]
Black Belt Jones is a 1974 American Blaxploitation martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse, starring Jim Kelly and Gloria Hendry.Together Clouse, Fred Weintraub, and Paul Heller creators of Enter The Dragon, gave Jim Kelly his first big starring role. Kelly’s character Black Belt Jones, is a local hero who fights the Mafia and a local drug dealer threatening his friend’s karate school.
Plot[edit]
The film opens with the Mafia counting their money, a police informant is with them, and the Mob gets rid of him. The next scene, depicts Black Belt Jones protecting ambassadors from a couple of unknown henchmen. The cops later contact Jones to help them take down the Mafia. The Mafia learns that a new civic center will be built, and they buy all of the land for the site of the building—all except for one place: a karate school owned by Pop Byrd, Black Belt Jones' old friend. The Don reaches out to a local drug dealer Pinky, who owes him money and a few favors. Pop Byrd had borrowed money from Pinky, in order to open his school. Pinky had been stealing money from the mafia and was forced to pay them $250,000 or get Pop's building for them. Pinky inflated the debt, with the intent of offering Pop the deal of trading his building in exchange for the debt being cleared. However, things do not go as planned, as Pop is accidentally killed by Pinky's men during an intimidation attempt. Before he dies, he states that he couldn't give them the building to settle his debt, because it did not belong to him, but to someone named Sydney. Pinky then decides to send his men to the karate school, to inform them of Pop's debt (inflated yet again) and attempt the same scheme. However, the thugs are beaten up by Black Belt Jones and the students.
Pop Byrd’s daughter Sydney (Gloria Hendry) returns home as owner of the karate school, she seeks to find out more about her father, and what caused his sudden death. After demanding to know what happened to her father, she is informed of the mafia's activities as well as her father's debt, but says she won't sell the building. Angered, she is determined to punish the people who caused her father's death. Sydney approaches Pinky’s men and ends up in a brawl, being well trained in karate, she defeats them. As retaliation, Pinky kidnaps one of the students (Quincy) and demands for them to turn over the school or give him the money. Together Black Belt Jones and Sydney, alongside some other unexpected characters and the police, steal the Mafia’s money. They then give the money to Pinky, framing him for the heist, while simultaneously rescuing Quincy. Pinky does not hold up his end of the deal, and Jones has to defeat all of his henchmen. The film ends with the Mafia and Pinky in a car chase pursuing Jones and Sydney. They all participate in a long comedy-filled fight scene in a truck yard. Jones, Sydney, and Pop Byrd’s students are victorious. The Mafia and Pinky end up in garbage trucks, escorted by the police.
Background[edit]
The Shaw Brothers, a major Hong Knog movie studio, initiated the U.S. Kung Fu film invasion with 1972's Five Fingers of Death and other films depicting realistic and brutal action[1].
In 1973, Cleopatra Jones connected martial arts in Blaxploitation, with a strong Black female lead, skillfully trained in karate.
As a teenager born in Millersburg, Kentucky and raised in Paris, Kentucky Jim Kelly grew up as an all-around athlete, and had a chance to become a professional football player. He gained his fame in the martial arts community through the 1971 Ed Parkers Internationals [2]. After completing Enter the Dragon, he immediately signed a three film deal with Warner Bros. Black Belt Jones was filmed soon after[2]. Kelly is still arguably most known for his role in Enter the Dragon.
Martial Arts in Blaxploitation[edit]
In the 1970’s, Kung Fu films were a staple in Black communities, “it was a downtown genre playing in neighborhoods abandoned by white flight”[3]. Blaxploitation and Kung Fu films were both traditionally low budget and targeted urban people of color demographics[3] . Blaxploitation and Kung Fu films were the few films that had majority POC cast. Some scholars argue this was motivated by racists assumptions of overly violent and simple audiences[3] . Both Blaxploitation and Kung Fu films feature narratives on the triumph of the underdog and/or the ability to recognize humanity in all people[3] . The widely regarded and distributed film The Thirty-Six Chamber of Shaolin, best displayed this narrative through a peasant who achieves his dreams by mastering martial arts, avenging his family, and bringing Kung Fu to his community [3]. In the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s movements of African Americans began to seek alternatives to contemporary western morals and ritual; because there was little access to African cultures, Kung Fu films and martial arts helped fill the void [3]. Themes of cultural pride, mental and physical discipline, and community based resistance found in martial arts films, mirrored African American movements and Blaxploitation films in the 1970s[1] .
Race/Black Power[edit]
Blaxploitation films of the 1970s embedded values and realities of the Black Power Movement and Black Freedom Movement, and Black Belt Jones is no different. The 1960s and 70s, were full of Black Freedom Movements like SNCC and the Black Panther Party who advocated resistance of oppression for not only black people but third world countries in Asia (Vietnam) and Africa [1]. Activist and sociologists W.E.B. Dubois said “Your bond (between Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Black Americans) is not mere color of skin but the deeper experience of wage slavery and contempt” [1]. The message of SNCC and the Black Panthers “Ten Point Plan” was to create black unity, provide community service, and support black business and organizations[1].
The first indication of race and Black Power, is Jim Kelly as a Black martial arts heroine. In Black Belt Jones, Jones is fighting for a community based karate school, that opposites local crime and drug syndicates[4]. In the scene where Pinky is introduced, Black Student Union members confront him, “We demand that you stop selling dope out of this s**t house and stop ripping off the Black community”. Pop Byrd’s karate school is a community organization of resistance; Jones, Sydney, and the students use karate as defense against the oppressive Mafia. Jones is respected by the karate school students, and the police detective. Jones, Sydney, and the students are all African American characters, who use physical strength and smarts to beat Pinky and the Don. All of the African American characters wear their hair in Afros, a natural hairstyle viewed as both a political and fashion statement. Although Jones is the main character and the hero, it is the unity of the community that beat Pinky, The Don, and the Mafia[4].
Reception[edit]
The movie received a mixed to negative reception.[5][6] Some reviewers critiqued Kelly for trying to be too much like Bruce Lee, and thought the acting was only fair[7].
Soundtrack[edit]
Funk guitarists Dennis Coffey is credited for the film’s soundtrack[8].
Sequel and more[edit]
The film was followed by a sequel, Hot Potato. Jim Kelly was beloved in the martial arts, and Blaxploitation community. He died in 2013.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Cha-Jua, Sundiata K (2008). ""Black Audiences, Blaxploitation and Kung Fu Films, and Challenges to White Celluloid Masculinity". University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 199–223.
- ^ a b Clary, David (May 1992). Black Belt Magazine. Active Interest Media, Inc. pp. 18–21.
- ^ a b c d e f Ongiri, Amy Abugo (2002-02-01). ""He wanted to be just like Bruce Lee": African Americans, Kung Fu Theater and Cultural Exchange at the Margins". Journal of Asian American Studies. 5 (1): 31–40. doi:10.1353/jaas.2002.0009. ISSN 1096-8598.
- ^ a b White, Michael C (2011). Cinema Detours. Lulu.com. p. 22.
- ^ Weiler, A. H. (1974-01-29). "Movie Review - Black Belt Jones - Screen: Kick-and-Slash:' Black Belt Jones' Is Played by Jim Kelly The Cast ' Black Belt Jones' Is Played by Jim Kelly". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
- ^ "Black Belt Jones". Variety. 1973-12-31. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ Jamilkowski, Bruce (June 1974). Black Belt Magazine. Active Interest Media, Inc. pp. 81–82.
- ^ Clouse, Robert (1974-03-29), Black Belt Jones, Jim Kelly, Gloria Hendry, Scatman Crothers, retrieved 2017-12-07