DVD set is devoted to '70s martial arts star Jim Kelly

Bill Mattocks

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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-secondlook10-2010jan10,0,4063360.story

A SECOND LOOK
DVD set is devoted to '70s martial arts star Jim Kelly
The African American martial arts star of the 1970s gets a DVD set devoted to his impressive skills.

By Steve Ryfle

January 10, 2010

Before Jackie Chan and Jet Li, before Chuck Norris, Jean Claude van Damme and Steven Seagal, Jim Kelly earned his place in the pantheon of martial arts heroes fighting alongside Bruce Lee in 1973's "Enter the Dragon." With his lightning-quick fists and feet, cocksure attitude and repertoire of quotable one-liners, the Afro-sporting, chisel-chested Kelly was as cool and flashy as Lee was fast and lethal.

Nearly four decades on, Kelly has become a certified cult film legend -- the 2009 blaxploitation spoof "Black Dynamite" contained more than one homage to his movies -- though his Hollywood career was all too brief.

This week, Warner Home Video will release its Urban Action Collection, featuring three of Kelly's classic films on DVD for the first time: 1974's "Black Belt Jones" and "Three the Hard Way" and 1976's "Hot Potato." A fourth entry in the set, 1974's "Black Samson," stars Rockne Tarkington, the actor who was originally set to play Kelly's groundbreaking role in "Enter the Dragon."
 

Teufel Hunden

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Awesome! I'll probably pick this up. I loved him in Enter the Dragon.

Han: We are all ready to win, just as we are born knowing only life. It is defeat that you must learn to prepare for.
Williams: Don't waste my time with it. When it comes, I won't even notice.
Han:Oh? How so?
Williams: I'll be too busy looking gooood.

:lol:
 
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Gordon Nore

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Awesome! I'll probably pick this up. I loved him in Enter the Dragon.
Han: We are all ready to win, just as we are born knowing only life. It is defeat that you must learn to prepare for.
Williams: Don't waste my time with it. When it comes, I won't even notice.
Han:Oh? How so?
Williams: I'll be too busy looking gooood.

:lol:

Bull**** Mr Han Man!
 

ATC

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All great movies, when I was 10. Not sure how I will view them now. 3 the hard way was one move I saw maybe 4 times. It was a true classic with Jim Brown, Jim Kelly and Fred Williamson. They had a sequal to that movie also.

I will pick it up also. I was always upset that they killed him off in Enter the Dragon. He should have been by Bruces side, not John Saxon.
 

celtic_crippler

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Groovy.

Strange that his "school" in "Enter the Dragon" was a BKF school led by Steve "Sanders" Muhammed as Jim was actually a Shorin-Ryu guy and the BKF was a Kenpo based organization.

(theres some inside info fer ya...lol)

At any rate, I always liked him.

Did you know he now makes his liveing as a tennis coach?
 

khand50

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its funny that the description of the dvd says jim kelly was in enter the dragon before all these other people.....but chuck norris was in return of the dragon before enter came out and jacking chan and sammo hung were in enter the dragon as well. its too bad that jim kelly didnt get better roles, but, back in the day most of the movies that came out were pushed so quickly that they didnt care if the acting was bad. i have a couple of his movies. melinda was one that came out in the seventies as well. cant remember if it was retitled into something else or from something else. i know i remember reading that kelly was impressed with lee and they used to spend quite a bit of time talking. also, lee was impressed with steve sanders hand speed. donnie williams made his way into enter the dragon as well.
 

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