One Down, Two to Go

One Down, Two To Go is a later blaxsploitation/action movie that was directed/produced and acted by Fred Williamson. The Hammer brought along Richard Roundtree, Jim Brown and Jim Kelly to join the party. The film is in no way a bad movie, but the pacing and script don't do the high powered cast of 70's black tough guys justice. There is plenty of action and trash talking, but a lot of the film is boring and takes a while to get there. It picks up once Fred Williamson and Jim Brown show up. Richard Roundtree didn't get enough screentime to utilize his full potential and Jim Kelly gets hardly any screentime. This film was the last of three films that Fred Williamson, Jim Brown and Jim Kelly acted together in. I much prefer Three The Hard Way over this, but there were parts of this movie that I did find entertaining.

During a martial arts tournament, fighter Chuck and his friend Ralph think there's something crooked going on behind the scenes. Chuck checks it out and discovers match fixing, but for his troubles he's shot. Ralph becomes worried when Chuck disappears, but they meet up and learn that they won't be getting the money they're owned by the tournament organisers, but become actual targets. Chuck is shot again, Ralph is knocked out cold and Chuck's girl gets raped and kidnapped. Before this had happened, Chuck got his gal to ring his buddies Cal and J to come down and help get their money. Their friends are missing, so Cal and J decide to start up their own investigation and get down to business.

Oh yeah, what a bang-up leading cast we got here! Fred "The Hammer" Williamson's laid-back, rough 'n' tumble late blaxpoitation piece goes on to team up influential 70s exploitation figures Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree, Jim Kelly and Fred Williamson. Hell, that's great! Well, you would like to think so, but the script never lets the four interact with each other too often. The straight-forward material isn't anything special and it might rely on its stars' presences, but there's no question about the sheer spirit and exciting raw beatings, shootouts and explosions interwoven into Williamson's rough-around-edges direction. Smothering proceedings is ultra-smooth dialogues packed stinging wisecracks and ripe humour. Roundtree and Kelly seem to be in supporting roles compared the likes of Brown and Williamson. Honestly when the latter two appeared, that's when the wham-bam attitude and hard-ass excitement seemed to break out. The opening ten minutes actually sets-up an authentic martial arts tournament for the film, where these guys are literally busting their guts for prize money. After some slow moments, it does take its time to find its groove. However the funked-up soundtrack is a real highlight and an atmospherically scorching score is filtered in nicely. Pulsating camera-work is lucidly leering and naturally fitting to the stark and gritty look of the film's locations. The four main men are great. A domineering Brown is excellent as the polite, but persuasively forceful J. The sensational Williamson chews it up with pure vigour and charm as Cal. Roundtree paints a macho awe to Ralph and what little time a solid Kelly gets is done with enough aplomb. Peter Dane and Tom Signorelli make for decent scummy villains and their dopey henchmen cop nothing but beatings. Joe Spinell makes for an amusing minor performance as a twitchy promoter who gets a visit by Roundtree. Warrington Winters injects some light humour as the random appearing sheriff, who just doesn't want trouble in the way of gunfire and explosions that seems to follow these men. The feisty Paula Sills and the endearing buxom Laura Loftus play the sweethearts.

Like the tag-line suggests, this blaxpoitation does pack four times the punch with its ass-whopping. Despite some splintered chemistry, there's still plenty there to offer the fans.

This movie looked like it would be pretty good. I read somewhere that Fred Williamson was part of the 'blaxploitation' genre, but the cast looked good. The movie didn't, though it wasn't terrible. I suppose given the subject matter--karate fighting in a boxing-type ring, with the fights fixed and partners stealing from each other, and killing to prevent their scheme from being found out--it was not a particularly violent movie, but it was more violent than I cared for. I did get the impression that Richard Roundtree, Jim Brown and Fred Williamson gave better performances than the white actors. And given the fact that Williamson directed and was a producer, surely black people would be presented with some dignity. I guess they were, but I couldn't avoid thinking I was seeing my first 'blaxploitation' film. Still, I had to enjoy watching Roundtree's character (or was it Williamson's? I couldn't remember which was which) act tough toward those who weren't being honest with him. I guess it wasn't really so bad, but I wouldn't make a habit of watching other movies like it.

One Down, Two to Go (1982)

** (out of 4)

Chuck (Jim Kelly) and his crew enter a martial arts tournament, which they win but the mob decides not to pay them. Soon a friend is severely beaten so Cal (Fred Williamson) and J (Jim Brown) show up to show them who's the real boss.

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO was directed by Williamson and it features four of the major stars from the 70's blaxploitation films. You've got SHAFT (Richard Roundtree), SLAUGHTER (Brown), HAMMER (Williamson) and BLACK BELT JONES (Kelly) all in one movie so what's not to like? Well, there's quite a bit not to like in this film, which is really too bad since you've got so many greats in one film.

Sadly, the screenplay itself is pretty much a mess for a number of reasons. The film starts off with a bunch of martial arts footage, which is fun to watch on its own but it probably shouldn't have been in this film. From here there are way too many boring dialogue sequences, which just don't go anywhere and especially when you'e got four masters of the genre on the screen. What you want to see them do is fight, blow stuff up and kill bad guys. We eventually get to that stuff and that's when the entertainment level goes way up.

The film suffers from a very low-budget, which prevents the action from looking the greatest but for this type of films it's okay. Of course, the best thing about the picture is getting to see the four stars in one picture. The majority of the film is based around the Williamson and Brown characters, which is fine as they add a lot to the picture. Both Kelly and Roundtree are basically extended cameos but it's still nice to see them. Fans of MANIAC will enjoy seeing Joe Spinell in a brief scene and we also get Tom Signorelli.

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO isn't a masterpiece or even a good movie but it's mild entertainment, which should have been much better.

I did not realize that Fred Williams made another flick which consist of the biggest stars of Blaxploitation. but unlike Original Gangsters this movie came out at the height of their careers, which is good because the only reason you would want to see it is because of the black star power.

With a title that sounds like the Sequel to 3 the Hard Way, adding Shaft to the list making 4, the movie starts with marshal arts master, Jim Kelly and Richard Roundtree getting into some trouble with dudes who don't want to pay the money they are owed, and when trouble escalates, they call in their boys Fred the Hammer and Jim Brown to help.

The movie is not much different from 3 the hard way with Jim carrying a big gun and Fred hooking up with some chick. In fact, I mentioned basically every movie these two did in the 1970's.

What's lacking is Jim Kelly's marshal arts. Sure nothing can beat the scene in 3 the hard way where somehow his nice boots are replaced with sneakers out of nowhere and he gets into some hard hitting action, but it would be nice if they tried.

This wouldn't be much of a problem if Shaft was used to his fullest in the film, but he's not. I guess when you got the Hammer in the directors chair, he's got no choice but to make super star Jim Brown more than just his back up, but once Fred is on screen it's his show, make no mistake.

Most of these movies are just like the other, but somehow this movie's quantity is a little under, despite the large talent pool. Try to Avoid.