Firecracker

The plot is of secondary importance: something about a female karate champion who goes to the Phillipines to investigate her sister's disappearance and stumbles on a drug ring and a tournament of no-holds-barred fights to the death. The film is mainly a showcase for the beautiful, athletic, voluptuous woman and convincing, tough fighter Jillian Kesner - and I have no complaints there: she has about 10 fight scenes in this movie, the first one of which occurs after only 2 minutes! The production is very cheap, but the fight choreography is actually quite good - not exactly on the level of early Jackie Chan but certainly vastly preferable to the heavily wired, computer-enhanced crap that so often passes for martial arts today. The long scene in which Kesner ends up topless as she tries to fight off two attackers is not just exploitation, but almost a statement: here is this undressed, unarmed, completely feminine woman and these two men can't touch her, can't even go near her without getting hurt. I'm surprised this B-movie mini-classic is so little known today. (**1/2)

This is goofy '80s exploitation/martial arts fun at its best. Horrible fight scenes, yet hilarious. Cornball fight choreography-which includes one of the funniest fight/chase scenes involving our heroine(a very attractive Jillian Kessner) . And, a sex scene that will leave you cracking up! Check out this movie but only if you want to laugh at how ridiculous it is from beginning to the abrupt ending. SO BAD THAT IT'S GOOD👍🏾.

This movie was probably singularly responsible for my interest in B-grade martial arts movies. I saw it when I was very young (before cable - eeeeek!) on late-night "Kung-fu Theater". The local station had obviously made a mistake and aired the movie uncut - violence, nudity, and all! The epic final fight scene finds the heroine steadily losing pieces of her clothing one item at a time until she finishes the battle wearing nothing but her panties. The sight of her fighting in such a condition forever made me a fan of the genre! See it if you have a chance.

I remember seeing this film when I was young. It was being aired on cable, when it first came out. This was great because it was the un-cut version. I somehow was able to get a copy of this when it was aired on late night TV some years ago. I still have the copy with commercials (edited for television). I would like to get the full version. This film had some unforgettable scenes. I have to say that it turned me on to women in the martial arts.

Yup, star Jillian Kesner does manage to combine a karate fight scene with a slow strip, and it actually is a bit sexy. She's not the most lovely woman who ever took her clothes off in a movie, but I thought she was attractive and there's something appealing to a certain sort of adolescent sexual mind (like mind) in the sequence. She gets her clothes ripped off, a bit at a time, while she's fighting for her life. It adds vulnerability to her physical allure, and that worked for me. Of course, that's because it's a movie, and not reality. Seeing women attacked for real is nothing I hope for. Hell, most of what happens in movies is nothing I hope for.

There are other scenes in this movie, but I don't remember any of them from the one time I saw it, over 20 years ago. They're probably awful. But, who cares? There are many films that are worth seeing for one scene and, if you share my fondness for the sort of thing that makes teenaged boys snicker and rewind their VCRs, over and over, you'll think this is one of them.