Bullet Points: Black Samurai (1976)
On a recent thrifting excursion to my local Goodwill store, I happened upon a sealed DVD copy of a Jim Kelly movie that I never knew existed, 1976’s Black Terminator… which is actually 1976’s Black Samurai.
I should point out that I definitely knew that Black Samurai existed, but regardless of the title it was a Jim Kelly movie that I had never seen it before… until now!
- Taken: The movie begins with some Hong Kong hustle and bustle. Three nefarious individuals are tailing a woman by the name of Toki Konuma (Chia Essie Lin, Return of the One-Armed Swordsman). They watch Toki as she goes from shop to shop, and then follow her when she returns home. Toki decides to do some sunbathing out by her pool and that’s when the terrible trio strike… taking out Toki’s security in permanent fashion with two of the guards ending up dead in the drink! We learn that Toki’s father is a high ranking official with the Hong Kong government, who is waging a war on the drug trade… this has some members of the underworld upset and has made Toki a target for kidnapping!
- Once Upon a Time in Mexico: After some high energy opening credits (which on my copy were altered to show the Black Terminator title clearly slapped on top of the original Black Samurai title), we cut to Robert Sand (Jim Kelly, Black Belt Jones), who is enjoying a game of tennis as part of his three week Mexican vacation. The game is interrupted by D.R.A.G.O.N. Chief Farnsworth and Agent Pines (Biff Yeager), who can’t help but notice that Sand had taken his phone off the hook. Sand does his best to ignore their presence and continue on with his game, but eventually he relents and goes over to see what they have to say. Farnsworth tells Sand about High Priest Augustus Janicott and his white slave trade operation… Sand is more interested in his vacation and reminds Farnsworth he still has two weeks left! Then Farnsworth mentions that Janicott has Toki Konuma and Sand’s tune changes quickly! Through the power of the flashback, we find out that Sand and Toki were involved in a romantic relationship at some point. So the vacation is done and D.R.A.G.O.N. Agent Richard Sand aka Black Samurai is reporting for duty!
- Road Warrior: Sand gets to his convertible, a 1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS to be exact, and it isn’t long before trouble finds him on the road. The trouble comes in the form of a car filled with racists, looking to do harm to Sand. The racists quickly learn that Sand’s Ferrari has had some spy worthy modifications as they go careening off road and explode! Sand makes it to his apartment where he gets some Kung Fu training in… including some sword and nunchaku practice! But Sand’s training is interrupted by two goons, presumably sent by Janicott, who attempt to take out Sand before he even gets started. Shortly after the apartment skirmish, Agent Pines shows up at Sand’s door with an invitation to a party being held by Janicott… some suspicious timing to say the least.
- Life of the Party: Janicott’s party features a mariachi band as the entertainment, but after Janicott (Bill Roy) and the head of his army, Victor Chavez (Roberto Contreras, Blood In, Blood Out) make their grand entrance, the entertainment switches to a scantily clad woman, shaking her various money makers. This is about the time an orange clad Richard Sand makes his way to the party. Sand is instantly harassed by the doorman, but Sand has an invite… or should I say. “Joe Marshall” has an invite. “Joe” is approached by the High Priestess Flossie Havens (Marilyn Joi, Hit Man) and the two begin making small talk, but when Flossie introduces “Joe” to Janicott… he knows who “Joe” really is!! And chaos ensues, as Joe has to make a hasty exit from the party and is no closer to finding Toki! …Sand’s next move is to check out Victor Chavez’s island villa, Sand uses a boat and jetpack to make his way to the island. He never makes it to the villa, instead he encounters a diminutive yet dangerous foe named Rheinhardt (Felix Silla) and is still no closer to finding Toki!
- Black Magic: When Sand gets back to the city, he receives a call from Agent Pine with news that Janicott has Toki, and that’s when the camera pulls back and we see that Pine has been captured and forced to make the call and set the trap for the Black Samurai himself, Richard Sand, in the third act of the film. But before we can get to the final showdowns, we get to see a black magic ceremony conducted by High Priest Augustus Janicott in honor of Sand… this leads to Sand vs. Chavez, Sand rescuing Toki from the tower that Janicott had her locked up in, Sand vs. a vulture, Sand in an elevator fight and then a game of cat and mouse (and snake?!?!) between Sand and Janicott!
I was surprised to learn that Black Samurai (aka Black Terminator) was based on a series of pulp novels, not unlike one of my all-time favorite films, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. And much like Remo, we never got another Richard Sand adventure.
Part of me wonders if they took pieces of multiple Marc Olden penned novels to create the script for the movie, since the story lacked some fluidity, with the entire middle feeling like filler. But when you have one of the coolest ass kickers to ever kick ass in Jim Kelly as your leading man, you have a movie that is worth watching.
I have some Bonus Bullet Points, that I believe are worth reading…
- What Does It Mean?: You may be wondering what D.R.A.G.O.N. stands for. Wonder no more… it’s Defense Reserve Agency Guardian Of Nations. Now you can consider yourself, in the know!
- Bastard Count: There were a total of two “bastards” in Black Samurai.
- Familiar Faces: There were numerous little people that played Janicott goons in Black Samurai, including two familiar faces to old school midget wrestling fans, Cowboy Lang and Little Tokyo.
- Soundtraxx: One of the songs featured in Black Samurai was Madeline Bell’s “It Happened One Night”
