Force 5

The only thing "Force: Five" proves is that the chances of finding a good American martial-arts film are about as many as those of finding a good Hong Kong Western. Yes, the film stars real martial artists who obviously know their stuff, but keep in mind that:

a) most of them can't act (Richard Norton is excepted)

b) most of the time they're fighting useless morons who stand around like sitting ducks, waiting to be kicked.

And how about the fact that the doors of the rooms where the "bad guys" keep their drugs-and-guns-for-sale and the dead bodies of their victims are unlocked and unguarded?

Cheap and stupid. But the actors sure know how to kick high. (*1/2)

This seemingly low-budget film is among my favorite martial-arts films of all time even though the plot is a shameless copy of "Enter the Dragon"----minus Dragon's production values. You have the leader of a cult on his own island leading hundreds of followers. At the island, the daughter of a senator is among the followers and Joe Lewis is recruited to get her out. To do that, he enlists the help of five colleagues.

I think what makes this movie stand above most martial arts films is that you have a charismatic group of martial artists working as a team when they infiltrate the bad guy's island. Director Robert Clouse, who also directed Enter the Dragon, really played up the "team" factor and I think that's the element that makes the film work.

The actors aren't anything extraordinary, but anyone looking for Brandos or Oliviers here deserve what they get. I was surprised this was only one of two movies Joe Lewis ever made. I certainly thought he had the look and personality to carry a few more martial-arts films, but hey.

Richard Norton, who played Ezekial, went on to great success in the straight-to-video world. A charismatic performer, he made a few pretty entertaining martial arts films over the years, some with fellow martial-artist Cynthia Rothrock.

My favorite of the team was Sonny Barnes, who plays the cheesily named "Lockjaw". Barnes never really did much else after this, except for a Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney music video, which is a shame because I really enjoyed him in this.

You can tell the budget went to the famous martial-artists in its cast because the locales and everything else in the film looks cheap.

Aside from Lewis and Norton, you also have Benny "The Jet" Urquidez in the cast, and Master Bong Soo Han, who played the villain. Some martial-arts fans will recognize Han as Billy Jack's partner in "Trial of Billy Jack" during the climatic fight scene.

As for the fight scenes, many of them are really good. Clouse takes full advantage of the fact he has an A-Team of martial-artists as stars and shows off their skills many times throughout the film, (even though most of the time they are fighting what are obviously a bunch of wannabe extras). Some of the stunts work, others bomb, but in the end, I really liked the movie. I also really liked the catchy title theme by William Goldstein. Some of my buddies think it's cheesy as hell, but I get a kick out of it.

I wonder if Quentin Tarantino had this film in mind when wrote dialogue for "Pulp Fiction". In that film, Uma Thurman's character, Mia, said she starred in a pilot called, "Fox Force Five".

Anyway, this is enjoyable for fans of the genre. The team factor makes all the difference, and there seemed to be potential here for sequels since I really enjoyed watching the cast work together.

This is sometimes silly but easy to take martial arts escapism that benefits from its spin on director Robert Clouses' genre formula. In this instance, the "hero" is a collection of five specialists (hence the title) who never have a hard time wading through many bad guys. Other than some interesting touches (the bull, the intense torture sequences) this isn't of any real distinction, it's just decent undemanding fun. The cast in this thing aren't great as actors - some of them, anyway - but when it comes to kicking ass, they accomplish their mission. The movie, a remake of the earlier feature "Hot Potato", has an acceptable pace to it and a moderately entertaining finale (although it really doesn't have much action in it).

A bunch of performers familiar to fans of B movies are featured in this straightforward story of Jim Martin (Joe Lewis) hired to retrieve a brainwashed rich girl from the clutches of religious cult leader Reverend Rhee (Bong Soo Han). For the mission, he assembles a team of four associates: Lockjaw (Sonny Barnes), Ezekiel (Richard Norton), Billy Ortega (Benny Urquidez), and Laurie (Pam Huntington), and also breaks Willard (Ron Hayden) out of prison so he can serve as their helicopter pilot.

One may have to suspend their disbelief with this, but it *is* amusing in any event. As was said, there's not a lot of action, and our heroes have such little trouble with the enemy that some viewers may feel underwhelmed. It's fairly violent at some points but isn't as gory as viewers might want it. Production design, photography, and music are all adequate, and you might derive some entertainment from seeing people such as Peter MacLean (the sheriff in "Squirm") as a drunken senator, Amanda Wyss ("A Nightmare on Elm Street") as Cindy, Tom Villard ("Popcorn") as one of Rhees' many disciples, and Mel Novak ("Game of Death") as an inept assassin.

Watchable enough for devotees of this genre.

Seven out of 10.

This movie rocks! Not only is the action top notch, but it isn't being performed by a bunch of Hollywood "actors" who took karate lessons for a couple of weeks. I am talking about living legends of the martial arts. Master Han, the indelible Mr. Joe Lewis, not to mention "the jet". Team of five must rescue a girl from a island fortress ruled by a ruthless religious leader. Constant action and great "action" music. If you liked any martial arts movies made before 1985, then this will NOT dissapoint. Find it, rent it, buy it, watch it and thank me later.

"Force: Five" is a routine martial arts action film which should playoff well enough for the diehard fans of the genre. Less ambitious or interesting than ACR's previous Chuck Norris vehicles, it has little chance of expanding uon the narrow but steady commercial audience base for kung fu pics.

Spare plot concerns a soldier of fortune Jerry Martin (Joe Lewis) who with five crack assistants sets out to rescue a brainwashed girl from the island fortress of religious cult leader Reverend RHee (Master Bond Soo Han), styled as a silly combo of Rev. Moon and Jim Jones.

Action is straightforward with enough violent grunt and kick interludes to please the target crowd. Writer-director Robert Clouse has eight kung fu-oriented pics under his belt, but errs this time in the casting of non-actors in almost all key roles. Talent looks good in the fight scenes, but their inexperience makes dialog and dramatic footage dull and laughable. Fights are strictly one-sided (with heavies falling like ten pins) until the final reel contests with Rev. Rhee and his huge assistant Carl (Bob Schott). Tech credits are just adequate.

My review was written in July 1981 after a Manhattan UES screening.