Black Belt Jones

BLACK BELT JONES-Black Belt Jones (Jim Kelly) is a Kung-Fu cop who beats up bad guys, makes loud noises and has terrible fights. Mob boss “The Don” (Andre Philippe) wants the land a karate school is on. It's run by Poppa Bear (Scatman Crothers) and his two sons. A black gangster named Pinky (Malik Carter) tries to horn in but Poppa's students beat him and his inept gang up. After the gang accidentally kills Poppa his daughter Sidney (Gloria Hendry) takes over the school. Later Pinky kidnaps a young student, so Jones puts together a team consisting of himself, Sidney, Poppa's son Toppy (Alan Weeks) and some female gymnasts! They dress as ninjas and infiltrate The Don's place and steal photographs and money to pay Clarence's ransom. After a ludicrous fight on a train car (the thugs just stand in line and get beat up), Jones turns the two gangs against each other. He also takes time to frolic on the beach with Sidney. The unintentionally funny climax takes place in a car wash where Jones beats up the bad guys amid a sea of soap suds (no one bothers using a gun)!

Despite being directed by Robert Clouse who made ENTER THE DRAGON the year before (also with Kelly) this isn't very well done. Maybe they were in a rush to play off the success of DRAGON and Kelly who pumps his fist a lot while doing a bad Bruce Lee imitation. A made in Hong Kong sequel showed up a few years year.

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