That Man Bolt (1973)

Fred Williamson was, undoubtedly, one of Blaxploitation's biggest stars during the seventies, headlining some of the best remembered titles such as Black Caesar (1973) and its sequel and Mean Johnny Barrow (1975), amongst many, many others.  By the eighties he had moved on to Italian exploitation films, starring in post-apocalyptic action movies like 1990: Bronx Warriors (1982) and The New Barbarians (1982) and the Black Cobra rogue cop series. (1987-91).  That Man Bolt (1973) comes from a particularly busy period in his Blaxploitation career and represents an attempt to expand the genre beyond its usual urban settings and gritty crime-driven plots.  As can be seen from the trailer, the film is effectively an attempt to blend a number of popular action genres from the period: Blaxploitation, martial arts and Bond-style super spy adventures.  Indeed, the trailer and poster heavily push the image of Williamson as a black Bond ('He's Bonded!' say the posters), engaged in all manner of action against the backdrop of multiple glamourous international locations.  That it was intended to be the first in a series of 'Bolt' movies is evidenced by the fact that Williamson's contract included an option for two more films.

In the event, That Man Bolt was never followed up, despite being a studio-backed production with a bigger than average budget and better production values than most Blaxploitation films of the era, it just didn't seem to meet audience expectations.  Perhaps the problem lay in the fact that it crossed over too many genres and ended up not entirely pleasing the fans of any of them.  That the producers had problems establishing the film's identity is highlighted by the fact that it was started by TV movie specialist David Lowell Rich, but completed by veteran adventure movie director Henry Levin, who replaced him mid-production.   Or maybe Universal Pictures simply weren't confident that a black Bond-type character would appeal to a wide audience, (despite the popularity of Blaxploitation films with non-black audiences).  Whatever the reason, this was to be international bonded courier Bolt's only outing.  Not that Fred Williamson was overly worried: not only was he an in-demand leading man for Blaxploitation movies, but he was apparently paid for two 'Bolt' films, even though only one was made.  Not bad work if you can get it.