The Little Dragons

I know Ann Sothern wasn't wild about this film - but for me, it was worth watching for the performances of Charles Lane and Ann Sothern - it wasn't a high budget film, and some performances surely could have been better - but it still made me laugh in places. Some parts such as the old r.v. were humorous - many of us remember some budget models such as this that we had used.

Not one of Ann Sothern's best works - her last movie "the Whales of August" was fantastic, as well as her TV series "the Ann Sothern show" and "susie" or "executive secretary" as it was originally called.

And of course Charles Lane is such a great actor - how many years has his career spanned?

Brothers, Zack and Woody (portrayed by real-life brothers Chris and Pat Petersen) are young karate students who embark on a weekend camping trip with their grandfather J.J. (Charles Lane). Along the way they meet a new friend, Carol Forbinger (Sally Boyden) and her parents (Rick Lenz and Sharon Clark). When the Forbinger family encounters a tough-talking backwoods mother (Ann Sothern) and her two bumbling sons (Joe Spinell and John Davis Chandler) who decide to hold Carol captive believing they can collect a sizable ransom, the "karate kids" must find a way to use their martial arts skills to rescue the Forbinger girl with a little help from their grandfather and some new friends they meet along the way.

Very low budget movie that was rated PG mainly due to some of the language the kids use.

The movie was made in 1980 however many people believe it was actually made around 1976 and just didn't get released until 1980.

The movie has not been properly preserved so the prints are turning red as the color fades.

It's directed like a TV movie and even has the worst porn music streaming in the background. Speaking of porn, the movie features Joe Spinell who was married to a porn star and has a lot of strange deaths attached to him -- including his own.

Joe was in a few mob backed horror movies but never really went anywhere despite being best friends with Sly Stallone. He wound up dying on his couch in a dump in Queens, NY at age 52.

Back to the movie. I guess this film is in the public domain in that there are tons of versions of it.

It's watchable but not especially good.

And BTW, as an aside....who puts a billiard table out doors????? You'll see that and more in this move.

The Little Dragons, otherwise known as 'Karate Kids USA', was an incredible mixture of 3 Ninjas, Karate Kid, Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes, jammed packed into an adventure fit for the whole family.

Some of the cinematography has hints of Victor Salva's (Jeepers Creepers, Powder) directorial debut, Clown House... I would even go so far as to suggest this title has horror elements all its own.

More martial arts would have been a welcomed addition to The Little Dragons, but the rough and tumble biker gang and the finale battle against the scheming family filled the required quota for a film in the action genre.

Hi, Everyone, Even The Three Stooges would not be able to save this. Any DVD of this movie should be in the Fertilizer Section of Home Depot.

A comedy movie needs a premise that is somewhat humorous. The basic plot here is the bad guys kidnap and try to kill two little kids. The bad guys never are funny like Herbert Lom as Dreyfus in The Pink Panther series. These are two hillbilly boys and their mom who are quite willing to do away with the children.

Every comedy moment in this film falls flat. The director seems to think a child swearing is very funny. That is done repeatedly in this senseless misadventure. How about putting a dog in a burlap bag? That should really make people laugh. Nope. The dumb sheriff always works, right? No, not here. The dumb sheriff's son who tries to be Barney Fife? He comes across more like a dumb sheriff's dumb irritating son.

Toilet humor. There is an abundance of toilet humor. It never gets a laugh. Not one performance stands out as being something that will help a career. Chris Peterson apparently never made another movie after this one. He was one of the boy Karate stars. He was the older one who was supposed to be the love interest of the girl kidnap victim in this movie.

The girl who is kidnapped is the daughter of two really messed up parents in this story. The movie tries to portray the family as a loving unit when that is convenient but they are shown to be a brainless trio in each of their appearances on screen. The parents are totally irresponsible and never charming or funny.

Who do we blame? There is real talent here. Charles Lane (J.J.), was in Music Man and It's a Wonderful Life and Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. John Davis Chandler (the smart hillbilly brother), was in Mad Dog Coll. Ann Sothern (hillbilly mom) was in many movies and she had two good TV series. Tony Bill who produced this and played a small part was the Producer of Sting with Paul Newman. Tony Bill Directed My Bodyguard with Chris Makepeace. Tony Bill Produced Going in Style with George Burns and Art Carney. Tony Bill as a young man appeared in the movie Come Blow Your Horn with Frank Sinatra and more than held his own. He also was in Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

I say we blame Tony Bill. Tony, you have to look at the dailies and say, "Wow. This really sucks! You're all fired! Let's start over." That was the only move that would have saved the stomach contents of anyone who watched this after eating.

I cannot recommend this even for a Bad Movie Night. It is not up to the level of a good bad movie. If they ever have an award for Most Flushable Movie, this will be an oddsmaker's favorite.

Instead of this, watch The Pink Panther Strikes Again or Dr. Strangelove with Peter Sellers and see how a comedy about grown ups being killed can be funny. Threatening kids does not work as a comedy or drama.

If you like the song Hokey Pokey or My Darlin' Clementine, they are sung here. They actually are done well. The little girl singer should have been cast in a musical instead of this.

Tom Willett

Is this supposed to be a comedy? The two bad guys are an unwitting comedy act, as is the deputy charged initially with the investigation of the kidnapping, but this is by no means the first American film in which country dwellers, hillbillies etc are portrayed as venal morons, and one has to wonder if by 1979 the joke was not already wearing thin. "Deliverance", a far more sinister and better known film released in 1972 set the bar for this kind of mischaracterisation, but "The Little Dragons" has managed to crawl under it.