Black Belt Karate (1977) Review

“Black Belt Karate” Theatrical Poster

Director: Suen A-Foo
Cast: Bruce Leung Siu Lung, Lo Lieh, Billy Chong Chun Lai, Larry Lee Gam Kwan, Kong Do, Peter Chan Lung, Tony Leung Siu Hung, Lee Tai-Wai, Yip Chin-Yat
Running Time: 90 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

Before Merantau. Before The Raid. Before The Night Comes For Us. There was – Black Belt Karate! Ok, that’s probably a more bombastic introduction than this 1977 slice of karate goodness deserves, however it does serve a purpose of highlighting its Indonesian origins. While the likes of Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, and Yayan Ruhian have led many to declare that Indonesia is now on the map as a country which can deliver the action, a more appropriate statement would be to say that it’s back on the map. In the 70’s and 80’s Indonesia very much had its own action movie industry, as it did have its own roster of kung fu stars, many of whom would also regularly star in Hong Kong productions.

Three such stars are Larry Lee, Billy Chong, and Lo Lieh, all of whom feature in Black Belt Karate, which was a co-production between Indonesia and Hong Kong, with filming taking place in both countries. History hasn’t been particularly kind to Larry Lee. A practitioner of Goju-Ryu Karate, while Lee certainly had the moves, what he didn’t have was a lot of onscreen charisma or leading man looks. This resulted in many of his movies made in his active years between 1974 – 1978, despite being the leading man, being subsequently promoted using other cast members. 1978’s Showdown at the Equator heavily leans on the presence of Bruce Leung and Nora Miao, and Black Belt Karate itself was later marketed leveraging the presence of Billy Chong. The movie business is a tough world.

Black Belt Karate was my first taste of Larry Lee, and here he plays a country bumpkin who heads to the city to find work and stay with his uncle. Except his uncle no longer lives at the address he has for him, which is now a restaurant. When the restaurant owner offers him a job washing dishes and making deliveries, Lee (or at least the English dub) states that the only skill he has his karate, but in fact this turns out to be untrue. Actually Lee is a karate fanatic, but he’s far from being skilled at it, or dish washing for that matter. After promptly being fired, Lee takes on a job as a rickshaw driver, and one of his passengers turns out to be a pretty lady, who just so happens to be the daughter of a karate school owner. Lee’s interest in karate ends up in him becoming a cleaner for the school (at this point it feels like the guy has gone through 3 jobs in just a few hours), and eventually, his enthusiasm sees him taken on as a student.

Its Lee’s presence at the school which becomes the crux of the plot, as his budding relationship with the karate master’s daughter rubs the most senior student up the wrong way, who wants her hand in marriage (and would also mean he inherits the school). Will true love prevail? I confess it was the synopsis of Black Belt Karate which led to it gathering dust over the years that I’ve owned it. The concept of the innocent newbie taking on the aggressive and highly skilled senior to win the affection of the school owners’ daughter all seemed a little too Disney for my liking. I’m a shallow guy – with 70’s kung fu normally I’m looking for a murdered master, a vengeful student seeking out a vicious villain, and fight scenes aplenty. Karate based love triangles rank low in the too-watch pile prioritisation list. However, I was wrong, Black Belt Karate is a lean little kung fu flick. Light on the comedy, and heavy on high impact fight scenes.

I say kung fu flick, as despite karate being the martial art of choice, everything about Black Belt Karate looks, feels, and smells like one. On director duties is Suen A-Foo, a director who like so many in the 70’s, can best be described as a flash in the pan. He’d only direct 3 movies, making his debut in 1969 by co-helming the Korean production Two Dragons-Sword alongside Gwon Yeong-sun, followed by Flying Tiger in 1970, both starring vehicles for Chang Yang. Black Belt Karate would be his final movie as a director, but perhaps his most infamous credit is being the scriptwriter (along with Shu Lan) for the 1976 slice of Bruceploitation, Bruce Lee and I.

Despite the romantic inclinations that the plot alludes to on paper, onscreen very little time is spent on romance, and a considerable amount of time is spent on fight scenes. Black Belt Karate is predominantly filmed in Indonesia, with only a brief interlude involving Lee being sent to Hong Kong to further his training, before returning back home. The Indonesian setting is a welcome one, providing a change of scenery to the countless Hong Kong filmed kung fu flicks that were being cranked out at the time, however the down side is that it’s difficult to ascertain exactly who a lot of the Indonesian actors are. I have a theory (a line which, if I say in person, usually involves everyone leaving the room) that the reason information is so scant on the Indonesian cast, is that many of them were actually real karate practitioners, brought in to show their skills off on film.

There are lengthy periods dedicated to karatekas facing off against each other in competition, something which I usually bawk at in any kind of movie, but here the scenes are a pleasure to watch. Lee is credited as the fight choreographer alongside Bruce Leung, a partnership which would see them share the screen again in The Four Shaolin Challengers from the same year, and in the following year Showdown at the Equator and Ten Tigers of Shaolin. While there’s definitely choreography in there, I daresay that some of the fights look partly improvised in terms of the speed of movement on display. While 1978 was a watershed year for the kung fu genre, in 1977 it was still fairly unusual to see choreography as fast and flowing as some of the moves busted out here.

This is no truer than when Lee heads to Hong Kong to attend a karate school there, and must face off against the school’s best student in the form of Bruce Leung, clocking in an extended cameo. Their fight is a highlight, with some punches and kicks being executed with remarkable speed. I know Leung is well regarded for his kicks, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie where the choreography has done them full justice, Black Belt Karate has rectified that. I’m now a fan. It’s during the school scenes set in Hong Kong that one of the genres most familiar faces, Kong Do, turns up to cause mischief along with a friend. Naturally, his mischief doesn’t last long, but what I particularly enjoyed is that at one point his friend decides to join in the fray, who up until this point has only been watching. After getting a similar beating, he then immediately returns to his position of passively observing, and nobody bothers him. Hilarious.

Once Lee returns to Indonesia he discovers things have taken a turn for the worse. The student he was in competition with was denied the daughters hand in marriage and has joined a rival school in spite, with matters confounded further by the father becoming terminally ill. All of this is only really there to provide an excuse for Lee to partner up with the teacher’s son, played by Billy Chong in an early screen appearance. I’m a big fan of Billy Chong, and will champion the likes of Kung Fu Zombie and A Fist Full of Talons until the cows come home, so it was interesting to see him here going full Bruceploitaiton mode. Wearing a pair of yellow tracksuit pants that are so snug they reveal a little too much (visible even on the low-quality picture of the version I watched), Chong shows the power and charisma that’d soon see him in starring roles, just with added thumbs of the nose and similar Bruce-isms thrown in.

Bizarrely, despite the quality of everything on display, it’s the finale where Black Belt Karate flounders. Lee’s 5^th grade black belt is left with no choice but to face off against a 9^th grade black belt to save the reputation of his master’s school, which leads to Lo Lieh making an appearance purely for the finale. Don’t get me wrong, Lo Lieh is a guy that has charisma to spare, but he’s not the guy you want to introduce specifically for an empty-handed final fight. Only guys like Hwang Jang Lee can pull that kind of stunt off. Arriving in a black cape, the fight is decent enough, but Lieh is clearly not a karate practitioner, and the whole fight feels more flailing arms than it does the crisp choreography we’ve been treated to in everything that’s come before. It’s passable, but somehow leaves you with the feeling that we should have got more.

Despite the final fight not matching the quality of the rest of the action, it’s not enough to prevent Black Belt Karate from receiving a solid thumbs up. Featuring machine gun punches 30 years before Ip Man made them popular, Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver score being featured prominently, and Larry Lee sporting the same red tracksuit which he wore in 1974’s Bloody Ring (ouch!), there’s plenty of entertainment value to be had. As for if true love prevails, I’m not sure if the filmmakers cared anymore by the time the credits role, but lets just assume the answers yes.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10