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Black Fist
Funding for this film was provided by the Institute of Oral Love
1975
Review: September 8, 2006
Director: Timothy Galfas, Richard Kaye
Starring: Richard Lawson, Dabney Coleman, Philip Michael Thomas, Sherry Boucher
Save it for something more fun / less boring.
THE SETUP:
Guy is recruited as street fighter, then feels used and tries to get out.
DISCUSSION:
I had some reviews to catch up on writing, so I put this movie on and wrote them while watching. I felt a little bad that the whole thing made so little an impression on me, like I just wasn’t paying close enough attention, but I was glad to see that the few comments on the IMDb say that it’s boring and has no plot. Whew! It’s not just me!
This film is included as part of my Black Vengeance boxed set, which also includes The Black Six and The Black Gestapo. We see from the credits that it features Philip Michael Thomas of Miami Vice fame, but I didn’t recognize him in the movie. I also didn’t catch until reading about this on the IMDb that the corrupt cop is played by Dabney Coleman. I DID catch, however, that this film features the talents of ‘Martin the Wonderdog.’ We discover all this while a not-bad song called “L.A. Gray” plays.
Our hero is Leroy, who gets drawn into the world of street fighting by the nefarious Mr. Logan. His first fight is with this HOT bald, tattooed guy with a mustache who beats the shit out of Leroy, which I thought was a good development, because that means the bald guy will probably be back later in the film, once Leroy is all trained, and there’s a good chance he’ll take off his shirt.
So Leroy reflects on his relationship with some woman, and realizes that he’s got to keep his lady decked out in the finer things. So he agrees to be a street fighter for the gangsters. He did it… for love. So he trains and has a few fights, but it’s not long before he’s been shaken down by Dabney Coleman’s cop, who demands some of Leroy’s proceeds in exchange for not arresting him. I think Leroy is also pecked at by various other hangers-on. The point is: the street fighting scene is not the cash-lined world of glamour that it seems.
Then it seems like Mr. Logan is setting Leroy up with the police, but one of Logan’s men gives Leroy… something… and soon that guy is dead. Then the bald guy shows up again and Leroy beats him, but the bald guy never takes off his shirt [nor does he rub his body in hot oil], and in fact he was hotter in the beginning scene. Violence spreads to the crowd during this crawl, including a shot in which a woman gets hit so hard her tits pop out. I’m sure all you ladies can relate to how common that occurrence is.
So Leroy buys a nightclub [the “Total Experience”] with his earnings [why do blaxploitation heroes always open nightclubs? Are they not allowed to invest? Don’t they know what always happens to minority business owners? Haven’t they seen any blaxploitation movies?]. His brother-in-law and his wife [Leroy’s sister?] are killed when their car explodes outside. This leads Leroy to really go after the man, which is good, because now the man is really after him.
I really wasn’t following it very closely at this point, but suffice to say Leroy goes around killing a bunch of people and they in turn try to kill him. At the very end he has gotten his revenge, and finds himself in a room of mirrors. Disgusted with what he has become, Leroy punches his own reflection in the mirrors. You see, he’s gone from fighting for the man to fighting… himself.
I don’t know. I should have watched it more closely. If I had, I might have liked it better, because then I’d pick up all the subtle nuances and catch all the funny lines and such. Then again, if I had, I might like it less, because the lack of quality and shoddy writing and direction would be that much apparent. But I guess we’ll never know, because it didn’t make enough of an impression in either case for me to want to watch it again. It wasn’t the worst blaxploitation movie I’ve ever seen, but then again, McDonald’s isn’t the worst food you could eat. Think of it that way.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
I wouldn’t.
