Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight

My review was written in January 1992 after watching the movie on New Horizons video cassette.

This prison story is the best screen vehicle to date for kickboxing champ Don (The Dragon) Wilson. Currently in regional theatrical release, "Bloodfist III" should prove a winner for fledgling home video label New Horizons.

Action genre stars Sylvester Stallone, Tom Selleck and Jean-Claude Van Damme were in stir a couple years back, and the Big House also works well for Wilson.. He's a wrongly convicted guy in a state pen who continually has to prove himself against bigger and feistier convicts.

Scripter Allison Burnett and Charles Mattera wisely resist the temptation to write in a round-robin competition or some other corny excuse to put Wilson and fellow cmaps Stan Longinidus and Peter Cunningham in the ring. Instead, all the pic's well-executed fights are part of the dramatic action.

Under director Oley Sassone (a/k/a Francis Sassone), who previously co-scripted the radically dissimilar Disney family film "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken", the film is tightly constructed. Wilson befriends John Cardone, a nerdy prisoner shunned by the other inmates and is in turn taken under the wing of prison sage Richard Roundtree.

Racism is the key theme, as white and black cons are continually fighting, with "half-breed" (half-Japanese) Wislon caught in the middle.. Per genre tradition, when the baddies attack Wilson's best friends, the star whips into action and cleans up the place. In a character roel, Roundtree is extremely sympathetic while laconic Wilson fits the bill as a no-nonsense hero. Cast is nearly all-male, except for a small role assigned to Laura Stockman as a TV news reporter covering the prison beat.

The third installment of "Bloodfist" was about like the first one but slightly better than the second. This time instead of the fighting ring of a arena, it's the ultimate fighting ring: Prison! Just watching a juvenile get raped and killed in prison would make any man's blood boil. Then Wilson's character avenges the kid when he let that rapist meet the end of his own knife he used to kill the kid. And it was interesting to see Richard Roundtree play in the movie. Having Wilson's character get switched around form group to group can get confusing, especially when all the prisoners are black and white. Roundtree's character helps him out despite what he sees. And the fight scenes are never-ending. It's a shame that Roundtree's character got hurt, he was tough as nails all the way. He fought for his freedom, now he's going to fight for his friend who was wrongly put there. That maybe fictional, but it gets a glimpse of prison life that will scare the delinquent straight out of his skin. The marital arts is a way of protection, and it can be a lifesaver. I enjoyed it pretty much. 2 out of 5 stars.

The third in the BLOODFIST series takes a spin in a different direction. Don "The Dragon" Wilson still headlines the cast, but he plays a different character. He plays Jimmy Boland who is in the clink for manslaughter. It is a darker, meaner character than Jake Raye, but to be honest I thought it was the same character and prison time had done that to him. Anyways, everybody in the slammer wants Jimmy dead since he killed an inmate who had just murdered another inmate. So, its about Jimmy and his survival against the odds I suppose. At first he does not want to be anybody's friend, but he gets a new cell mate in Samuel Stark (really well played by Richard Roundtree) who he grows to become friends with. Roundtree in fact almost all alone made this film good and worth watching, but I really do believe they went way too far in showing that yes even the higher ups including the warden and all the guards wanted Jimmy dead too. So, they just don't really exist in the movie. They are NEVER present, so its like they just let the inmates wonder around and do whatever they please. Better than the previous two in the series, but just not good enough sadly. Like the previous two produced by Roger Corman.

I felt that Don Wilson, the director and his supporting cast did a lot with little money. The script was strong as well as the performances of much of the cast. This ensemble helped bring Wilson's acting to another level. The action was OK, It could've been much better but it wasn't bad.

Don "The Dragon" Wilson stars as Jimmy Boland a prisoner who is forced to fight, after he kills a man named Luther, in self defense, Luther's partner Blue (Gregory McKinney)vows revenge, however when Boland turns down the help of a skinhead Wheelhead (Rick Dean) he finds himself being hunted by both the leaders. Enter Stark (Richard Roundtree) a peaceful man who shows Boland the ropes. Bloodfist III is by far the best movie Don "The Dragon" Wilson has made, thanks to some excellent actionscenes as well as a decent story, Bloodfist III is overall a solid effort, Making the next Bloodfist entry worth looking forward to.