Author: Quentin Tarantino
Translator: Chen Sihang
Proofreading: Issac
Source: Beverly Theater
press:
In today's article, Quentin commented in detail on the low-budget kung fu film "Kung Fu Brothers" that was popular in the United States in the 1970s, and popularized what he saw as the "star list" of black exploitation films, and the time came to test your viewing volume.
In my film Kill Bill 2, when the bride (Uma Thurman) engages in a final standoff with Bill, she mentions an imaginary list of a series of things that could never have happened. "(Bill) shot her in the head" was put at the top of the list, but it seemed like a mistake.
Kill Bill 2 (2002)
However, on this list of "impossible" records, there must be another thing, that is, to let Z-movie director Al Adamson make a movie that can be watched.
However, at the urging of a friend, Elvis Mitchell, I found a film that seemed to be doing well, a mix of Hong Kong kung fu films and black exploitation films. If you look closely, it's a great, seventies Z-movie.
Believe it or not, in the context of low-budget American kung fu films of the seventies, this work contains some of the best fighting scenes (the threshold for doing so is not known to be low, after all, its competitors are garbage, such as "Velvety Silky",[1976], "Death Promise" [1977], "Killing Squad"[1982], or those of Feng Tianlun' works).
Kung Fu Brothers (1947)
The Kung Fu Brothers were shot in 1974, but it wasn't released in Los Angeles until 1976. When it was released, the title was "Stallion Brown," and at the time of its release, it was fully conceived as a Holocaust (1972)-style black exploitation film. In the week of its release, the filmmakers ran an overlay ad on 1580KDAY, the most popular soul radio station in Los Angeles.
The film is characterized by an "ebony and topaz" duo (the metaphor here refers to another 1970s action film, Ebony, Ivory, and Jade, 1976), in which the three heroines, Ebony, Ivory, and Jade, are black, white, and yellow, and their names refer to three different materials in English). They were Hong Kong star Tang Kwong Kwong (Boxing [1972]) and third-line black exploitation film star Timothy Brown.
Ebony, White Teeth and Topaz (1976)
Deng Guangrong plays the character of Larry, an illegal immigrant who has just disembarked in Los Angeles and is looking for his long-missing brother. Brown played a black stallion named Stud Brown, who had just been sentenced to three years in prison. The first time we met him, he was handcuffed and the cunning White Ghost Cop Burke was going to send him to jail (the cop was played by the great Aldo Ray, and in this work we can see one of the best alcoholism performances he presents in a low-budget film).
Larry was arrested by Burke somewhere on Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, a place that was many years old and just behind the Panorama Dome Theater and the Kentucky Fried Chicken Stand (according to Bob Murawski, that place was close to the barbecue restaurant owned by Al Adamson). Burke handcuffed blacks to Asians, and then Larry and Brown broke into the Hollywood Hills in the form of Escape from Prison (1958).
Prison Break (1958)
The film's plot jumps over and over again, and in addition to the main line, we can also see Larry's efforts to find his brother (in addition to the red-filtered flashback clips related to his late wife, which often bother him).
In addition, we can see Stud Brown helping his friend "Smiling Man" (played by Don Oliver, who is a decent actor), who is a pimp and community activist (what?). He tried to stop Asian crime leader James Hun from spreading heroin in the community (James called it "Hero-ine").
Our two heroes traveled all over Los Angeles in search of Larry's brothers while trying to evade the villains, including James's murderous confidant, the ill-intentioned cop Burke (arguably James's solid backing), and of course James's right-hand man, the outlaw "Razor Jay" (played by Adamson's usual actor Al Richardson).
In the course of the adventures of the two fugitives, they both met their crush. The hostess of the Chinatown restaurant, Claire, like Fei Donneville in Seventy-Two Hours of the Condor, is first and foremost Larry's hostage, but she eventually decides to help him.
Brown, on the other hand, hooked up with Carol Speed, an icon in black exploitation films, playing a mute prostitute in a pearl necklace, whom Brown fell deeply in love with. In the next picture, when Stude Brown realizes that she is a mute, we can see them walking down the street holding hands, both of them looking affectionate, he talking, while she listens quietly. It's a girl who can't talk back, but she loves to listen to this chattering boy (which, if you have to say, may also be a black male fantasy).
In the course of their adventures, we can enjoy many surprising and quite effective orgasms. Kung Fu fights, machine gun battles, car chases, crashes and explosions, and a large number of improvised actresses show naked in a soft erotic way.
And the most exciting is still Charles Erlan's extremely fashionable soul soundtrack, which is the greatest treasure the film can give us (Elvis Mitchell believes that this is the most underrated score of black exploitation films, and the same work is "The Final Decline".
Two Satanic sadists, in this film filled with abusive scenes (Adamson's iconic label), have gone beyond that cheap gore (his other label). We can see the very cool, Angry Doomsday (1967)-style opening credits (Bob Le Barr's opening credits, always the best gift for most international independent distributions), and several very impressive stunt passages (the transition from a high-speed motorcycle to a car that will surely make you stand up straight).
In addition, the script provided by John D'Amato this time is still good. When you watch most of Al Adamson's work, you may realize that you fucking don't care what it all goes on, but this Kung Fu Brothers is a little different. In the second half of the film, there is a picture that surprises me very much. And even Larry's reasons for finding his brother may be different from what you think.
And, towards the end, there's a nicely textured passage with cool twists. Razor Jay, played by Al Richardson, holds his straight razor and interrogates carol Spieder's mute character without realizing she's mute ("Bitch, do you want me to cut your face?"). This passage makes us laugh at first, but it quickly makes us nervous. Eventually, we stopped in an uneasy mood.
Adamson is a native of Los Angeles, so his work has a fascinating character: his perseverance can be seen even in his worst films, and he has always been committed to shooting cheap chases and gunfights in Los Angeles and Hollywood, as well as unauthorized locations.
In his work, we can take a good look at the long-closed burger stalls, cafes, soul restaurants and nightclubs. The garbage shot by Al Adamson and his contemporaries (Rudy Ray Moore, Feng Tianlun, Jack Hill, Grayden Clark, etc.) can also be seen as some kind of photographic record from which we can see hollywood's transformation into a monster.
Aldo Ray can be seen as the patron saint of all the stars of yesteryear. In this work, he gave an impeccable, "Aldo Ray" performance for the last time. It's also the kind of low-budget film he specializes in in the seventies, but you can tell from his performances that he realizes that the characters in this work are better and more important than the bad ones he usually plays.
He adapted very appropriately to the role. Soon after, his alcoholism became so bad that he could only appear in one or two scenes per film, as he had to indulge in alcohol at other times. In the swing dance passages in the film, the black actors perform very well, giving the work a vivid, lively texture and, of course, quite classic lines. Deng Guangrong's collaboration with Timothy Brown is so great that you would even expect them to be able to make a sequel.
Tang Guangrong is an old-school kung fu film star who has played as a male lead in works such as Boxing And Tang Dynasty (1972) and has starred in a series of 1990s Hong Kong hero plasma films, such as "Fight again" (1990) and "All Over the World" (1992).
The Tang Dynasty (1972)
Timothy Brown is a black man with classic facial features, and he looks like the spokesperson for the box printed on the "Aphrodite Sheehan" box. His roles are scattered in truly low-level exploitative films such as Honey (1974), The Land Of Today (1972), and Bonnie's Child (1973). However, more of his roles appear in orthodox works, such as Robert Altman's Nashville (1975).
Overall, Timothy Brown is only in the third echelon of the black exploitation film star list. Jim Brown, Fred Williamson and Jimmy Kelly are in the first tier. Max Julien, Richard Landtree and Ron O'Neill are in the second tier because they all have their own masterpieces.
Timothy Brown is in the third echelon with a much lower budget, and there are three actors who look a lot like him, and they are James Eagle Hart (Cyrio Brown). H. Santiago was the star of the Philippine film series, such as John Daniels in Bamboo vs. Iron Man[1974], Death Energy[1978], Candy Orange Man (1975) and Black Shampoo (1976), and Rovanne in Black Fire (1978).
The Energy of Death (1978)
Just a year after Kung Fu Brothers, Adamson would use Timothy Brown again in his next black exploitation film, Black Heat (1976), in which he would work with Russ Tamblin (a film not as good as Kung Fu Bros., but it's also interesting). ）
Black Fever (1976)
Al Adamson will continue to work in the context of this black exploitation/kung fu film, shooting his next few films. These include the already mentioned Black Fever and The Poison Mother (1971) with singer Dobby Gray. Then came the two very bad films he and Jimmy Kelly made—the very rough Black Knight (1982), and the even rougher (but oddly, more watchable) Dimension of Death (which can be seen in a scene with our old friend Aldo Ray).
Black Samurai (1982)
I've never been a fan of Jimmy Kelly, but even so, I feel sorry for Him for seeing him end his film career in the trash of Al Adamson. In Kung Fu Brothers, though, Al Adamson's garbage job is done pretty well (and his Voodoo Nurse is pretty good too).
Moreover, the final picture of this film succeeds in creating a unique texture that is different from his previous works. When Deng Guangrong and Timothy Brown embark on their next adventure, the film freezes on the way of their flight. It's at that moment that you realize that not only do you like the film, but you're also expecting them to make a sequel. Al Adamson actually makes you want more – which has to be at the top of the "Impossible" list.