It's tempting, but ultimately inaccurate, to call "The Black Dragon's Revenge" a hybrid of the blaxploitation and kung fu genres of film.
Yes, Brooklynite Ron Van Clief -- who stars in this 1975 low-budget action movie -- could have held his own among the Shafts and the Super Flys, with his mutton-chop sideburns, fresh-from-the-gym forearms and snug white bell-bottoms.
But without the cool cars, gritty urban locales, pop-soul soundtrack and foxy ladies that are non-negotiable components of the genre, "The Black Dragon's Revenge" just doesn't cut it as blaxploitation. I call it an "also ran."
The film is, despite its American star, a bona fide kung fu movie, not least because it was filmed in China with mostly non-English-speaking actors. A classic in its way, "Black Dragon's Revenge" was directed by the prolific Chin-Ku Lu, who helmed the memorable '80s Shaw Brothers movies "Lady Assassin" and "Bastard Swordsman."
So, here's the twist: "Black Dragon's Revenge"-- which is out in a remastered Blu-ray edition (The Film Detective, $19.99) -- was also seen under the titles "The Death of Bruce Lee" and "The Black Dragon Revenges the Death of Bruce Lee."
In 1973, martial-arts superstar Lee died at 32 of a possible reaction to medication. "Black Dragon's Revenge" is an early entry in a curious kung fu subgenre that sprang up in the aftermath of Lee's mysterious death.
I speak, of course, of the "Bruceploitation" subgenre, which yielded films about Lee's death, and/or starred Lee look-alikes with sound-alike names (Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Ly) as characters styled to remind moviegoers of you-know-who. (Hong Kong tailors were kept busy duplicating Lee's trademark yellow tracksuit, while thrift shops were scoured for 1970s aviator sunglasses.)
In the case of "Black Dragon's Revenge," we have a real-life friend of Lee's, Van Clief, playing himself investigating Lee's death. (Lee gave Van Clief the nickname Black Dragon, a gift that kept on giving.)
The movie opens with a disingenuous disclaimer, followed by stolen shots of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong, where Lee, already dead, was transported in an ambulance after being found unconscious.
We cut to enigmatic millionaire Mr. Yen, who is enjoying a casual afternoon -- lights dimmed, curtains drawn, smoking a cigarette, flanked by two shirtless henchmen who are sporting freakishly large pectorals, while viewing projected slides of the Black Dragon. You know -- just kickin' back.
Yen is met by the Black Dragon, to whom he pays $100,000 to investigate Lee's death. Yen's stated reason? He's a "family friend."
The Black Dragon flies to China and meets up with his old buddy in kicking and grunting, Charlie (played by Charles Bonet, the film's other American), who now runs an antique shop as a front for his martial-arts training center. Charlie employs a dimwitted gofer who, though he knows nothing, will pay for his association with his boss.
There is a group of good-guy martial artists who are constantly attacked by thugs in the employ of a gangster who wants the mystery surrounding Lee's death to remain a mystery. But the gangster's fashion-plate girlfriend is the one to really watch out for -- her weapon of choice is poisonous snakes.
Did Van Clief write the dialogue in which he is described by a local kung fu master? "The Black Dragon is here," the master says. "He is a mythical man. His martial art is great. The top man from the West. And, of course, four times world champion. He's the head instructor of 20 Black Dragon schools."
Van Clief and Bonet are formidable fighters -- cut like diamonds, lightning fast and utterly convincing as they vanquish armies of stuntmen. They're also funny together. The locations are sometimes gorgeous.
As an actor, Van Clief gave Laurence Olivier nothing to fear. Although, Sir Laurence never could quite throw a roundhouse kick like the Black Dragon.
Is the mystery behind Lee's death solved? Spoiler alert: No. The local master seems to preach an almost blind acceptance of Lee's fate during a philosophical rant.
"As you know," he says, "there's only one way to be born, a hundred to die."