One Down, Two to Go

As a tribute to Jim Kelly, whose untimely death was announced yesterday, I give you another in our series of obscure movie trailers - One Down, Two to Go (1982).  Not only does this picture feature Jim Kelly, but also Fred Williamson, Jim Brown and Richard Roundtree.  Four of the greatest ever blaxpoitation stars in one move!  Does it get better than that?  Probably.  By 1982 all four had their best movies behind them. Even Richard 'Shaft' Roundtree, even though he continues to be a screen presence to this day, it is rarely in starring roles. (Actually, some of his appearances have been downright bizarre - I remember him turning up as the new next door neighbour in the original Beverly Hills 90210. Sadly, he didn't don a long leather coat and shoot all the objectionable young characters).

Jim Kelly had most certainly seen his film career peak early, with Enter The Dragon.  Which isn't to say that he didn't have other hits, certainly the likes of Black Belt Jones and Three The Hard Way were popular in their day, but none have been the mainstream hit that Enter The Dragon was.  To be sure, none are remembered by mainstream audiences and still shown on TV the way the Bruce Lee movie was.  Nevertheless, his films are amongst the highlights of that curious period in the mid-1970s when crossover Blaxploitation/kung fu films were popular, (twice the minority audiences to exploit).  You know, I like Jim Kelly so much, I'm going to present a second trailer, this time for 1978's Tattoo Connection.  Apparently, Jim Kelly is 'violent as hell' in it...