Black Samurai

This movie is a forgettable karate flick starring the wonderful Jim Kelly. Every karate movie cliche is here, including midgets, and an evil white guy karate master (who doesn't know karate) with a vulture named "Voltan."

STANDOUT SCENE - Watch closely when the evil white guy sends his vulture to attack Kelly. Quote, "Voltan! Kill!!" (never mind that vultures are lazy creatures by nature who wouldn't even eat a dead deer if they had to cross the street to get it). Okay, now watch when Voltan lands on Jim Kelly -- Kelly's stunt-double is a white guy. A blonde white guy - they didn't even give the double a dark haired wig or anything.

Other standouts include Kelly's staff fight with a group of thugs, and his pre-final showdown with a Damon Wayans lookalike, where Kelly spouts Muhammad Ali like banter ("C'mon chump! C'mon sissy!")

A great movie if you can a) find it and b) stay awake through it!!

Yes, this movie stinks. But before you start ragging on it too much, understand that for this director (Al Adamson), this is a very good film and a massive improvement over his usual films! So, while this movie is of course quite bad, at least it's better than many of Adamson's other grade-z films, such as "Dracula Versus Frankenstein", "Brain of Blood" and "Hell's Bloody Devils". It's not an exaggeration to say that Adamson could easily be the worst director in film history--even worse than the famed Ed Wood, Jr..

As for the film, it is pretty typical for an Adamson epic, though I am surprised that Jim Kelly needed the money so badly that he'd agree to make the movie. I am also surprised that Kelly actually made two films for this schlock-meister! He sure has sunk a long way since his breakout role in "Enter the Dragon".

The film features some terribly exciting scenes. One is a Cadillac that goes off the road and down a small embankment...then naturally explodes (you can see that the car was LATER exploded and this clip was clumsily stuck in after the car goes off the road). Another great scene is using his martial arts on midgets--ooh, gotta be careful of those ninja-midgets (Hmmm...wouldn't it be a cool remake if they made "Snow White and the Seven Ninja Dwarfs"?). And, not content to do this once, Kelly fights another midget later in the film. Not surprisingly, the little guy was amazingly easy to beat! Imagine that! Additionally, Kelly fights an assortment of baddies whose martial arts talents are nil--so you never really get a chance to see the sort of action Kelly actually is capable of doing. In fact, I think that fighting the ninja midgets was about the best fighting in the film!!

Despite the film being filled with deficiencies, there are a few positive things I should point out. Kelly drives a really, really cool sports car and I am surprised the budget could afford it (perhaps it belonged to Adamson or one of the other cast members). Also, at one point he flies around using a jet-pack! In reality, one of these machines can only remain airborne for a few seconds (20-30 tops) but various clips were strung together to make for a neat scene--though oddly, a few "throwaway" scenes were allowed to remain (such as when he crashed into the creek).

As for the plot...well, forget it. Who cares?! It's a confusing melange concerning kidnappings, drugs and a devil cult...nuff said??!!

Overall, bad action, bad acting, a terrible script and pitiful direction make this a rather stupid film from start to finish and is only of interest to bad movie fans like myself. Chalk up another to Adamson, King of Dreck!

By the way, if you do see the film, isn't it interesting that one of the bad guys looks a lot like Damon Wayans!

Fellow fans of bad movies, you're in for a real treat with this Jim Kelly classic!

OK here's the deal: The daughter of an important ambassador (who also apparently happens to live by the samurai code – we're never too sure as we never actually get to see him!) is kidnapped by some decidedly mean looking crooks (headed by a dead ringer for Lee Van Cleef!) who happen to be working for the head of a group of Satanists (got that?)

Step forward agent Roland Sand (Kelly) of D.R.A.G.O.N who is assigned the mission to rescue our beautiful damsel in distress. (What does the agency name stand for? I haven't the foggiest because it's never explained!) Anyway, to cut a long story short (even though there isn't really a story present!) it happens that by a seemingly unlikely coincidence, the seized sexy daughter also happens to be Kelly's girlfriend!!!! Wow, what a small world eh?!

Obviously our man quite rightly wastes no time at all in promptly searching for her but before he can rescue her he must first fight his way through a seeming army of devil worshippers, some Zulu warriors(!!!) a vulture(!!!), a room full of rattle snakes(which are kept securely in their holding cell via a grilled door!!!!!! Eh?!!!!!) and a fair number of demented dwarfs(!!!!!!!) Yes, you might well want to re-read that last sentence to make sure that you weren't seeing things. Believe me, if it sounds bizarre on paper then it's even more bizarre on film!

Chock full of twangy 70's music, groovy fashions, bad acting and some absolutely (unintentionally) hilarious scenes throughout this is a veritable bad movie classic!

Best scene of all for me though was near the end when our hero dukes it out with the head henchman charmingly referred to as Bone. For some odd reason the film suddenly develops an entire overdub wherein our hero taunts his opponent by throwing at him such choice insults as 'Chump', 'Sissy' and 'Faggot' (all spoken way above the normal volume level on the soundtrack) – Needless to say I almost wet myself laughing.

Also be sure to check out the cool and garish opening credits sequence – awesome stuff!

Oh, did I mention the jet pack? – Damn, you NEED to see this film!

BLACK SAMURAI is your typical low rent American martial arts movie, starring man of the moment Jim Kelly who appeared in a whole slew of cheapjack kung fu flicks in the late 1970s. This one's a typical Al Adamson movie, which is no recommendation: it's cheap, badly edited, disjointed feeling, and very, very silly.

There's barely any plot to speak of, just a long running sequence of fight scenes in which Kelly uses his martial arts abilities to kick various bad guys in the face, over and over again. It becomes repetitive and yet these sluggish fights are the best thing about an otherwise incredibly cheap production.

The acting is wooden, the cinematography poor, and the film as a whole looks incredibly cheap. Felix Silla (Twiki from BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY) has a role as a miniature hit-man which has to be seen to be believed. Overall, BLACK SAMURAI isn't one of the worst films out there - at least it's unintentionally funny throughout - but it is a real mess.

The movie "The Black Samurai" has everything you could ever want in a film: kung-fu, midgets, a mariachi band, a vulture, a jet-pack, a sassy black woman, cool sound effects, a car-chase, and random explosions. PLUS: A gay devil-worshiping badguy, a secret agent organization, a fire-spouting pen, snakes, afros, a scene where the good guy kills tons of badguys with a grenade because he's tired...and with SEX APPEAL! The only thing lacking in this movie is gratuitous gore and nudity! Wow what a feature!