After Bruce Lee died,
shameless producers exploited his likeness and name in every way imaginable,
whether that involved repurposing footage from unfinished projects, giving
similar-sounding stage names to random performers, or, as in the case of this
wretched flick, constructing entire plots around the circumstances of Lee’s
death. A mindless Hong Kong/US coproduction, The Black Dragon’s Revenge stars formidable African-American
martial artist Ron Van Clief as a kung-fu fighter hired to investigate Lee’s
demise. Never mind trying to figure out the identity of the fellow who hires
him, or why that fellow is willing to spend $100,000 on the investigation,
because the storytelling here is so wretched that very little of what happens
onscreen makes sense. In any event, once Van Clief’s character gets to Hong
Kong, he hooks up with an old buddy, a martial artist played by Charles
Bonet, and they playfully spar before joining forces. Apparently Bonet’s
character is a military veteran who lingered in the Far East after his service
in Vietnam concluded. Eventually, the dudes begin prowling through Hong Kong
and tussling with various nefarious types, including a villain who yanks eyes from
sockets, and a villainess who lobs snakes. Van Clief cuts an impressive figure,
and he seems quite skilled with all the chopping and kicking and whatnot, but
there’s nothing to enjoy here beyond martial-arts exhibitions, because the
movie is confusing, disjointed, and schlocky. FYI, Van Clief made several other
pictures in Hong Kong—perhaps they were better showcases for his talents.
The Black Dragon’s Revenge: LAME
7 comments:
That poster art sure looks like it was done by Neal Adams. Looks like the cover to an issue of Deadly hands of Kung Fu Magazine!
That IS by Neal. He tried to get into the lucrative film poster market with a half dozen or so posters in the mid-70s but he somehow just never really made it in that field.
Unmistakably Neal. One strange aspect of exploring the lower depths of 70s cinema has been discovering how many posters he did, with only a few for real movies (e.g., Westworld). Strange he never caught fire in that business, as his combination of photo-realistic illustration and bold graphics would seem a natural fit. Given the busy layout for this one-sheet and some of the others he did, I would guess he tried to serve too many notes instead of following his own instincts. A little Saul Bass minimalism would've gone a long way.
Another odd Neal effort is the art for 'The Three Fantastic Supermen' - an extremely odd Italian film from 1967(!), but issued (Stateside) in the mid-'70's.
The Three Fantastic Supermen poster is a fun one but it's actually by comic book artist Keith Pollard rather than Neal. It's signed.
My bad.
Thanks!
Just a correction----the "white guy" who starred with Ron Van Clief in this film, Charles Bonet, was actually Puerto Rican. There's some extensive interviews with both him and Clief in a new book that came out very recently called These Fists Break Bricks:How Kung Fu Swept America And Changed The World, by Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali. It also has a hell of a lot of pics of old-school kung-fu movie posters in it--so maybe some of this Adams work is in there, too. And yeah, Van Clief should have had a Hollywood career, since he was handsome, a legit professional martial artist, and could actually act. He was also the very first American martial artist signed by Shaw Brothers to do kung fu flicks, interestingly enough. He also wrote a book about his life in martial arts and HK films called Black Artists of the Martial World some years back.
Post a Comment