The Little Dragons

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.

So...bought this for a "bad movie night". Picked it up for $1 at Wal-Mart. I loved it. Not because it's good...oh no...this is the second worst movie I have ever seen. (Want a REALLY bad movie? Check out "Manos and the Hands of Fate". If nothing else, it's included in an episode of MST3K) There is a plot to this one at least...psycho hillbillies kidnap a girl, and a couple of kids have to save her since the local police (and the FBI) are completely incompetent.

Not sure this was supposed to be a comedy...I sure laughed a lot though. The acting is downright flat...except the hillbillies, which are WAY over the top. The fight scenes are the furthest thing from realistic...I sure hope it was meant to be that way! All in all, if you see it on sale for $1 or less, and have 90ish minutes to kill, go ahead and grab it. I wouldn't recommend paying much more then that though. I promise you'll only want to watch this one once.

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.

I saw Little Dragons in a late night viewing once and thought it was goofy fun in the same vein as Bad News Bears and Six Pack. I really think this film could work for kids today. If it was released on DVD I think it would sell moderately well what with the new Mutant Ninja Turtles animated flick coming to theaters soon. Okay, so it's obvious I have a selfish aim of getting this on DVD and couldn't find any other way to express that in words. I could dramatically get on my knees and beg.....

*gets on knees and begs*

There. Embarrassed myself for this mediocre film. Just at least send a copy to my house.

EDIT: had to. Just learned this is out on DVD under the title Karate Kids USA in the 50 movie pack Martial Arts from Mill Creek. So if you looked this up here on IMDb.com then go get that pack! 50 flicks for about $16! It's insane. And you'll go insane by the time you've viewed them all.

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.