Mood:
party time!Now Playing: THREE THE HARD WAY
If you saw this poster hanging in a theater lobby, wouldn't you make an effort to see this movie?Damn right you would.
THREE THE HARD WAY brings together for the first time three of the biggest badasses in blaxploitation history: Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, Jim Brown and Jim Kelly. Brown and Williamson had been successfully starring in black action films such as SLAUGHTER, HAMMER and BLACK CAESAR for a couple of years, although Brown had enjoyed a slight mainstream career in major studio films like THE DIRTY DOZEN and 100 RIFLES. Kelly had made a splash the year before in 1973 as Bruce Lee and John Saxon's co-star in ENTER THE DRAGON.
THREE THE HARD WAY is one of my favorite blaxploitation flicks. Despite its frequent padding, sloppy production values and confusing script, it offers up tons of action and a ridiculously campy premise that add up to a wild combination of sub-budget Bond film and Marvel superhero comic. A wealthy white supremacist named Mr. Feather (the always fey Jay Robinson) concocts a plan to exterminate America's black population by poisoning the water supply of several major cities with a deadly chemical that only affects African-Americans. Record producer Brown, PR man Williamson and karate teacher Kelly stumble onto Robinson's operation when Brown's girlfriend (Sheila Frazier) is kidnapped and attempt to destroy it. All three leads are given properly heroic introductions, then, after damaging Robinson's plot in a series of solo adventures, team up to destroy the villains compound in a colorful Bondian climax. Lots of stuntmen with machine guns and red berets are wiped out and many cars explode. The shootouts, martial-arts battles, and stunts (performed by Hal Needham's Stunts Unlimited) are top-notch (the body count must run into triple digits) and Robinson's performance is hilariously over-the-top. You'll also see some funky '70s threads, songs by The Impressions, a senseless part for Alex Rocco as a cop who doesn't do jack, and some very hateful villains.
There's also a bizarre scene where Williamson extracts information from one of Feather's henchmen by siccing a trio of foxy topless dominatrixes on him. Sweaty, sassy and adorned only in tight leather pants, these three malicious mamas (one is played by Irene Tsu, who's still working in television) are simultaneously sensual and scary.
Scripters Eric Bercovici and Jerry Ludwig wrote dozens of HAWAII FIVE-0 episodes and later reteamed with Brown, Williamson and Kelly for the 1975 western TAKE A HARD RIDE with Lee Van Cleef. Several years later, the Beatles of Blaxploitation got together for the only time, as Richard Roundtree (SHAFT) joined Brown, Kelly and The Hammer for ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO, which Williamson directed. It's not really very good, but how can you pass up a chance to see these guys working together?
Posted by Marty
at 11:21 PM CST
