Black Fist

I actually bested an earlier writer's bargain by buying this brand new in a shrink wrap for $1 at a dollar store. I regret that the cover art is a close up face pic that is generic and close up to where he looks like anybody else with an Afro and full mustache. I much more prefer the super hero pic that is sported on this page. The movie was middling, not as stellar as Shaft, Truck Turner and Superfly, but certainly above Fred Williamson's Joashua AKA Black Rider, which had it's potential retarded by one of the most inept music scores of all time. Black Fist has a competent soundtrack moving from a Liza Minelli/ Barbara Streisand sound alike crooning an opening homage to the lead character then moving to lush instrumentals with violins that would have made Barry White proud. The lead star looks familiar. In my case, I recently saw him in Burt Reynold's Stick, but I was surprised to find that he has only treaded on notoriety playing in many TV shows. He is somewhat similar to the guy who played on WXRP in Cinncinatti as well as The Brother from the Love Boat, which also makes him seem familiar. I thought his hero was decent with the exception of an opening scene that seemed out of character in which he stuttered when first confronted but then nonsensibly and unexplainably he was confident and confrontational seconds later ( a blooper perhaps). Speaking of bloopers, there is a scene early on when the Gerald Levert looking henchman pulls a gun on Leroy and behind him and clearly in site you see a second yes man who has a gun pointed at the Levert lookalike. It is subtle, but makes no sense 1 henchman pointing a gun at his partner. Perhaps improvised by an overzealous actor who wanted to extend his limited screen time. The actress who plays the love interest is more than adequate for an overall good film.

I got this movie in a bargain bin, hoping for an amusingly bad flick. Boy was I disappointed. (except for avon.) You see, the movie is indeed horrible, but so horrible, it isn't even laughable. The plot, oh wait, there is no plot. I suppose you could say it's about the main character rising up in the ranks of street fighting. At the end of the movie, the directors decided to either not make any more sense, or, more likely, died and had a monkey finish directing the movie. DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ENDING SPOILED! although the ending doesn't really spoil anything. The main character somehow ends up in a room filled with mirrors, a la Enter The Dragon, and then gets real angry, has stupid flashback, and hits a mirror. The end. Wheeee.

The only redeeming factor of this movie was Avon's scene. He's talking to the rival street fighting boss and says something along these lines, completely deadpan: "Do not worry about him anymore sir. I have killed him in a sophisticated manner. I wined him, I dined hm, we went to a disco. We was havin a lot of fun. And then I killed him." at which point the boss says "good work avon. You're number 1." And avon says "Number 1! Alllriiiiight! Alriiight!" The scene continues with avon continuing to say "alllrriiiight!" over and over. The next scene is of a dead Avon floating in a pool. Intelligent? I think not.

Lastly, I own the "Homeboy" version of this movie, meaning the title on the box I own is "Homeboy." It shows a huge guy holding a giant gun and screaming. This never happens in the movie. This man is never in the movie. High quality.

Note--I am new to this reviewing, but hell yes I am going to keep it up.

I bought this as a clearance video for $3. This movie certainly has a certain charm about it. Richard Lawson's portrayal of Fisk reminds me a lot of Samuel L. Jackson's character Jules in Pulp Fiction. Dabney Coleman is also excellent as the scummy, corrupt cop. Some of the violent scenes are rather realistic and unsettling without resorting to gore. Production values are a little weak in spots but if you're a fan of 'blaxploitation' films or the '70's you'll enjoy this flick.

According to a letter to the 11 Jan 1985 Reader by screenwriter Tim Kelly, the film, originally titled "Bogard" after its production in 1974, received an X-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for violence and an interracial sexual interlude. When the producers removed the sex scene during a recut for the new title, "The Black Streetfighter", the rating was changed to R, the 26 Jul 1976 Box reported.

In the Reader letter, Kelly explained that after "Bogard" was filmed in Los Angeles, CA, in 1974, it re-emerged in 1976 as "The Black Streetfighter" following Centaur Films' bankruptcy, containing "most, certainly not all, of the original 'Bogard' footage." Additional scenes were taken from a proposed sequel to "Bogard" called "Black Fist", which became the new title of "The Black Streetfighter" in late 1977.

Though Peter Traynor and William D. Sklar of Centaur Films were the original producers of "Bogard", according to an 8 Feb 1975 LAT article, their names were removed when the title was changed. So was the name of screenwriter Mel Frohman.

A black guy from L.A. becomes a prize fighter for the mob. After an initial good working relationship, he becomes unhappy when he learns they are exploiting him. He leaves their organisation but the gangsters kill his wife in retaliation, resulting in him seeking violent revenge.

This Blaxploitation movie seems to have two different versions. The original version, entitled Bogard, was seemingly so ram packed with sex and violence that it attained an X rating, however, the version most readily available nowadays goes under the Black Fist moniker and this one was re-edited down to an R rating and does not seem to contain overly much salacious material. This is the one I myself saw. It seems only fair to say that the original must be the more entertaining of the two versions, as Black Fist is fairly underwhelming stuff on the whole. The story-line is strictly by-the-by and certainly could have done with an injection of more sex and violence! It does have a certain period charm though and will no doubt still be of interest to Blaxploitation aficionados but it's certainly limited stuff. It does have a somewhat unusual and rushed ending too, which posed more questions than it answered but was at the very least distinctive. Of additional note this film featured a bent cop played by Dabney Coleman, who would later become quite well known for playing the nefarious boss in the comedy film 9 to 5 (1980).