Black Samurai

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.

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!

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!

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!

Jim Kelly was a great fighter, but no Richard Roundtree or Fred Williamson as an actor. He was good as the third banana (after Bruce Lee and John Saxon) in the martial arts classic 'Enter The Dragon', and even better in the surprisingly entertaining starring vehicle 'Black Belt Jones'. But that movies "sequel" 'Hot Potato' was pretty awful and the prospect of Kelly being teamed up with legendary schlockmeister Al Adamson ('Horror Of The Blood Monsters', 'Dracula vs. Frankenstein', 'Naughty Stewardesses',etc.etc.), made me think I was in for one of THE worst movies ever made. But you know what? This movie was ineptly dubbed, badly acted, had some crappy dialogue and was full of dull stock footage, but I still actually enjoyed it. Not much, but at least SOME, which is something I certainly didn't expect! Kelly plays an agent of D.R.A.G.O.N. which sounds really cool, but we're never told what that means exactly. The movie opens with him on holiday, but some guys in suits spoil it by making him a proposal to eliminate Janikan (Bill Roy), the leader of a drug/voodoo/slave trade cult. He refuses initially but is then told that his own girlfriend Tokai (Essie Lin Chia), who I think is an ambassador's daughter or something, has been kidnapped by these evil mofos. So of course, Kelly goes instantly into action, opening several cans of whup-ass on assorted thugs, voodoo baddies, midgets and even a vulture (named Vultron!). Adamson being Adamson, he still manages to make all this nowhere near as entertaining and exciting as you'd imagine, but there are still a few decent fight sequences, and a memorable jet-pack ride by Kelly. The supporting cast is very odd, and cult fans will get a big kick out of it because it includes D'Urville Martin (Reverend Rufus in Larry Cohen's 'Black Caesar' and 'Hell Up In Harlem' and director of the blaxploitation cult fave 'Dolemite'), Biff Yeager (from 'Repo Man' and other Alex Cox movies), little person Felix Silla (Cousin Itt from 'The Addams Family', 'Demon Seed', 'The Brood'), and even tough guy Aldo Ray ('We're No Angels', 'Angel Unchained'). 'Black Samurai' is trash, but there's lots of dumb fun to be had, especially if you keep the pizza and cold beers flowing throughout. And as bad as it is, it's STILL better than 'Hot Potato'!