Black Belt Jonesserved as a surprise spiritual successor to Bruce Lee’s martial arts masterpiece,Enter the Dragon. Lee’s final completed film before his death in 1973,Enter the Dragonwas a culmination of the work that Bruce Lee was doing in Hong Kong with films likeThe Big BossandFist of Fury.
A combination of the growing popularity of martial arts movies and the actor in particular led toBruce Lee getting his own Hollywood martial arts film. Being afforded a bigger budget than his previous films and a strong cast helpedEnter the Dragonturn into an international success and inspire an even greater interest in martial arts movies in the 1970s.
In addition to its wider influence on the movie industry,Enter the Dragonalso led to similar projectsfrom those involved with the movie. Because even thoughEnter the Dragonwas essentially a vehicle for Bruce Lee, it was also a boon to the talents of both its director and the cast. Many members of the cast and crew went on to enjoy a lot of success afterEnter the Dragon. One example of this isBlack Belt Jones, which was an immediate follow-up to the 1973 movie and a collaboration between two of its most integral players.
Black Belt Jones Is A 1974 Cult Classic From Enter The Dragon’s Director And One Of Its Main Cast Members
Black Belt Jones Sees Jim Kelly Try To Emulate Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was obviously the main attraction ofEnter the Dragon, but the film’s story was designed to follow three different martial artists on the island, with the other two being John Saxon’s Roper and Jim Kelly’s Williams. Jim Kelly’s involvement withEnter the Dragonprompted the studio to sign him to a three-movie contract, which resulted in Kelly getting a starring role inBlack Belt Jones.
Black Belt Jones, now regarded as one of the films that fueledthe Blaxploitation side of the martial arts genre, reunited Jim Kelly withEnter the Dragondirector Robert Clouse. Like Kelly, Clouse was riding a wave of popularity set off by the 1973 film.
Jim Kelly played the titular hero ofBlack Belt Jones,a movie that saw the actor play a martial arts master who makes a living as a mercenary
In what was his first starring role, Jim Kelly played the titular hero ofBlack Belt Jones,a movie that saw the actor play a martial arts master who makes a living as a mercenary. In the movie,Black Belt Jonestakes a job that requires him to defend a dojo from gangsters trying to seize the property by scaring off its occupants.
In this way, Black Belt Jones comes across as a Blaxploitation take on the story of a completely different Bruce Lee movie,Way of the Dragon. In the movie, the goal of Bruce Lee’s character is to protect a cousin’s restaurant from thugs.
In 1975, Robert Clouse and Jim Kelly worked together onGolden Needles, though it was not a martial arts film.
Like Bruce Lee’s movies,Black Belt Jonesdepicts Jim Kelly’s character as a force to be reckoned with. After showcasing some of Kelly’s martial arts talents inEnter the Dragon, the director takes this to the next level inBlack Belt Jones, allowing the actor to get his hordes of enemies to plow through.
Its martial arts choreography, embrace of campy elements, and the way in which it made use of its star’s martial arts background helps it easily stand out as one of Jim Kelly’s best movies - arguably his second-best afterEnter the Dragon.
Both Robert Clouse & Jim Kelly Continued To Make Martial Arts Movies After Black Belt Jones & Enter The Dragon
Jim Kelly Starred In Several 1970s Martial Arts Movies
AfterBlack Belt JonesandGolden Needles, Robert Clouse and Jim Kelly went their separate ways, but continued their associations with the martial arts genre. Jim Kelly stayed relevant throughout the 1970s, appearing in multiple Blaxploitation martial arts movies, includingHot PotatoandBlack Samurai. Unfortunately, Kelly’s time as a martial arts star proved to be only a short-lived phase that didn’t extend into the 1980s.
Robert Clouse, for his part, remained active in movies for years, occasionally pumping out a martial arts film between his other works. In 1980, he notably directed one of Jackie Chan’s earliest efforts to make a splash in America,The Big Brawl,and was also behind the notoriousattempt to finish Bruce Lee’sGame of Death. 1992 saw the director helm his final movie. Similar toBlack Belt Jones,Ironheartallowed Clouse to once again direct one of the cast members fromEnter the Dragon, who in this case was Bolo Yeung.
