In 1976, producer Fred Weintraub and Paul Heller oversaw the
production and release of writer-director Oscar Williams’ blaxploitation
action-adventure Hot Potato, a film which is regarded with being a
bridge between itself and the kung fu film coined by Bruce Lee. Telling the story of a group of mercenaries led
by Jim Kelly tasked with rescuing a U.S. senator’s daughter from a carefully
guarded jungle fortress, it was a fusion between two disparate action-adventure
subgenres that was critically lambasted but nevertheless turned a profit.
In a curious turn of events circa 1981, Hot
Potato producer Fred Weintraub sought to make the film again this time with
none other than Enter the Dragon and soon to be Gymkata writer-director
Robert Clouse effectively bringing the blaxploitation/kung-fu fusion full
circle. The resulting film very heavily
recalls the hall-of-mirrors supervillain showdown concluding Enter the
Dragon replete with the ragtag mashup of mercenaries infiltrating a hidden island
fortress. Not quite Gymkata but
fun enough of an attention holder to merit an MVD Rewind Collection
special-edition disc release with a faux worn slipcover, reversible sleeve art
and mini-poster.
Thing is it won’t be so easy as it is a
heavily guarded palace housing intricate mazes and booby traps. Meanwhile an undercover news reporter is
installed on the premises gathering information until suspicions grow around
him and the new group of ‘visitors’ stopping on the island. Eventually Jim Martin finds out what’s really
in the sacred palace, uncovering a crime web that threatens to claim the life
of Cindy Lester who herself is beginning to think twice about the all too
perfect Eden she’s found herself trapped in.
Sonny Barnes and Richard
Norton, regulars of Clouse’s universe, both show up in this for hand-to-hand
combat battles. Pam Huntington as femme
fatale Laurie from the Brucesploitation clone They Call Me Bruce holds
her own well strutting between sex appeal and kicking ass. Supposedly this was the final film of Bong
Soo Han, a renowned South Korean martial artist who eventually worked
behind-the-camera on movies like The Presidio. Joe Lewis who also starred in Mr. X and
Bloodmoon makes for a decent lead but he pretty clearly doesn’t have the
screen presence of Bruce Lee in the film pretty clearly that ushered Robert
Clouse into the director’s chair in the first place.
Released theatrically in the summer of 1981 by American
Cinema Releasing in the US, the $3 million action-adventure clone of both Hot
Potato and Enter the Dragon did reasonably well at the box office,
taking in around $4.6 million.
Critically however it couldn’t have done worse with some critics
pointing out similarities to another regional B-movie released the same year
called Kill and Kill Again though that film makes Force: Five look
like high art by comparison.
Not
terrible but not great either, just kind of an enjoyable mediocrity, the
Blu-ray disc from MVD’s Rewind Collection looks and sounds pretty good all
things considered with decent PCM 2.0 stereo audio and archival interviews with
Joe Lewis and Benny Urquidez. MVD Rewind
collectors will get a lot of low-aiming enjoyment out of it while Robert Clouse
fans curious about what happened in the years between Game of Death and Gymkata
will definitely want to indulge in this beer-and-pizza flick. Not very good but certainly not a bad way to
kill two hours or twenty dollars burning a hole in your pocket.
--Andrew Kotwicki