Massacre à San Francisco

My review was written in September 1981 after a Times Square screening:

Filmed in 1973 but just released domestically to cash in on the presence of currently hot chop-socky star Chuck Norris in the cast, "Slaughter in San Francisco" is a curiosity item representing an early by Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest ("Cannonball Run", "The Big Brawl") to shoot a film in the U. S. Entirely lensed on the West Coast", "Slaughter" nevertheless retains all the defects of a Hong Kong entry (atrocious dubbing and sound effects, tinny score, zoom-crazed camera and wooden acting). Martial arts fans may feel ripped off by the presence of supposedly "starring" Norris in a supporting role.

Clearly designed for the Far East audience, pic is set in a mythical "Daly CIty" (supposedly near S. F.) where the police are so ruthless they will kill suspects who refuse to confess. This exaggerated parallel world has all the Caucasian cast members portrayed as evil, including Norris, who looks and dresses much the same as in his familiar heroic roles, but is cast here as a mean gang leader so nasty that he tries to rape his brother's fiancee.

Don Wong is the nominal Chinese hero, an ex-cop out to avenge the murder of his Black partner. Norris' gang is responsible and after numerous 20 against one kung fu battles for Wong, the agile thesp finally goes up against Norris in a well-shot finale. If his fans can last out the tedium until this point, they may get a kick out of seeing invincible Chuck get soundly thrashed.

A suspended San Francisco cop (Wong) is sloving the case of the murder of his african american partner who was beat up by chinese. Then at the end of the movie,he had a fight with Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris voice is not heard on the movie, it was dubbed by British people. I wish it had his real voice in the flim.

I like it.

I give it a *****.

Yes it's a low budget martial art film, but the fight scenes, particularly the big boss finale with Chuck and the hero aren't bad with acrobatic moves a plenty. Also of note are the many driving scenes in Daly City specifically Westlake including DC City Hall (the main characters are DCPD not SF), Westlake Shopping Center, Marjorie Tobias Elementary, Southgate Ave, and other locations just outside SF including local residences. Additionally, movie was obviously making a point about racist cops which was ahead of its time. Nice work featuring the Great Highway, and Twin Peaks. (Notice the poor air quality over SF at the time in that scene)

That's what it was called when I saw it sometime around 1982. It was playing in a rundown theater in Denton, TX with my then boyfriend. We were in college in Denton and were huge Chuck Norris fans. We'd seen every 1 of his movies up to that point and the theater was advertising this 1. It was so bad that it played like a comedy. The dubbing was so awful that the dog physically barked and then you heard it 5 seconds later. Aside from this 1, I still like his movies.

I understand it's a couple different versions of this film released. I saw an English dubbed "Slaughter in San Francisco". The other is called Yellow Faced Tiger, I believe.

To me this is the type of movie that's perfect when looking for an action packed, humorous movie that wasn't intending to be humorous. It's a typical plot that follows two police around who are trying to stop Chuck Norris's ruthless gang of thugs. It has to be one of Chucks earliest roles. The fighting scenes are entertaining, with wild, over the top sound effects.

If you are looking for a "so bad it's good" karate movie, Slaughter in San Francisco fits the bill perfectly. The action never really slows down so you can be entertained through the whole movie. You just need the right level of expectation when watching this 1974 made movie.