Death Promise (1977) Review

“Death Promise” Theatrical Poster

Director: Robert Warmflash
Cast: Charles Bonet, Speedy Leacock, Bill Louie, Thompson Kao Kang, Vincent Van Lynn, Thom Kendell, Abe Hendy, Tony Liu, Bob O’Connell, Tony De Caprio
Running Time: 95 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

While the grindhouse cinemas that lined New York’s 42^nd street during the 70’s were filled with a steady stream of kung-fu flicks from Hong Kong and Taiwan, occasionally a more local product also populated the screens. Such is the case for 1977’s Death Promise, which transfers the prerequisite kung-fu action from the mean streets of Hong Kong to the even meaner streets of Brooklyn.

It’s easy to see how Death Promise would have effortlessly fitted in with its kung-fu brethren from further ashore, with a look and feel that has ‘grindhouse’ written all over it. Long before Mark Zaror became known as the Latin Dragon, in the 70’s there was the Latin Panther in the form of the Puerto Rican born Charles Bonet. After getting his break opposite Ron Van Clief in 1975’s The Black Dragon’s Revenge, Bonet had an all too brief film career in which he featured in the likes of The Death of Bruce Lee and Way of the Black Dragon (which re-teamed him with Van Clief), before spending the 80’s as a full-time martial arts instructor. Thankfully though before he did, the world of kung-fu cinema did get one starring role out of him, and that honour went to Death Promise.

Playing a karate practicing tenant in an old tenement building, he and the rest of the residents suffer constant harassment from a villainous property developer (and his financer buddies) to evict them so they can build new apartments in their place. Bonet’s characters father, played by Bob O’Connell (hilariously credited as Rocky Crevice for reasons we’ll likely never know), acts as a representative for the tenants and is unwavering in his message that they’re not selling, a stubbornness that eventually sees him killed in mysterious circumstances. Thanks to a letter O’Connell leaves with Bonet’s karate instructor in case the worst happens, outlining the names of the property developer and his rich lackeys, Bonet and his sworn brother (played by Speedy Leacock in his one and only movie appearance – apparently playing himself based on his characters name) embark on a mission of revenge, or to put it another way – a Death Promise!

Let’s be clear – Death Promise isn’t high art and definitely isn’t high budget. Clearly made to cash in on the kung-fu craze of the era, thankfully it doesn’t need to be either to at least deliver on the entertainment front. This would be director Robert Warmflash’s first and last time to helm a movie, before going on to have a successful career as a post-production supervisor from the mid-80’s (that he’d continue in through to the late 2010’s), and if nothing else here he’s certainly put together an eclectic cast. Bonet’s karate instructor is played by Thompson Kao Kang, who kung-fu fans will be more used to seeing in Hong Kong flicks like Stranger from Canton and Kung Fu Master Named Drunk Cat. Despite playing a Japanese karate sensei named Shimada, in one scene he’s training a pair of students, and we clearly hear him speaking to them in Cantonese! A minor detail.

Kao Kang isn’t the only Hong Kong connection though in Death Promise. Aware that Bonet isn’t ready to seek revenge against those responsible for his father’s death (it’s never really explained why someone who’s proficient in karate wouldn’t be able to take on a group of middle-aged corporate types, but we’ll go with it), Kao Kang puts him on a plane (it’s also never explained to where) to meet another master and further his training. The master is played by Lau Wing from the likes of Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, and what’s most interesting about his appearance here is that it comes hot off one of his most critically acclaimed roles as the titular Emperor Chien Lung in the 1976 Shaw Brothers movie of the same name. How on earth he ended up in a low budget Brooklyn shot exploitation flick the following year is another one of Death Promises’ tantalising mysteries.

Bonet joins another of Wing’s students played by Bill Louie (Bruce Vs. Bill, The Old Master), who bizarrely makes his first appearance in white face, to sharpen his skills in ways which are never exactly clear. We do get to see Louie busting out the moves with double nunchucks in a display that, much like Bonet, makes one wish he’d had a longer career in front of the camera. In any case, by the time Bonet returns to New York, he’s all set to team up with Speedy Leacock to take out those rich bigwigs one by one! 

Their prep work for this is admittedly hilarious, as they sit across from each other on a small dining table every evening, and look at the list of names to decide who they’re going to take out next. Once they’re in agreement, they give each other a high five, and it’s off to get some revenge. Repeat the dining table scene again to move onto the next target. I actually laughed out loud when they decide for one of their targets that they’ll “take the night off, we’ll do it tomorrow.” Revenge/life balance must have been a big thing in the 70’s. The revenge missions are entertaining stuff, from a genuinely gruesome application of a sack full of live rats, to a round of archery turning unexpectedly deadly, the ham-fisted nature of the performances paired with the accompanying death scenes proves to be a winning combination.

The real spectacle though is rightly saved for the finale, when Bonet, Leacock, and Louie (who decides to join them, well, just because) team up to infiltrate the tower where the real estate developer is based, and take him out. Knowing that they’re coming, he’s made sure the place is heavily guarded, so it won’t be an easy task. What I can safely say though, is that it will be a noisy one. The bad guy lackeys appear to have been told to be as loud as possible when engaging in combat, which they take to such extremes that the whole sequence becomes a surreal joy. Rising above them all is Bob Long, a New Jersey based karate grandmaster who made his only film appearance here. With a mop of impressively combed forward blonde hair (it really has to be seen to be appreciated), his almost constant battle cries sound akin to something like a 90-year-old woman being strangled, and are only offset by his crisply executed speed and power.

A twist allows for all 3 of the good guy leads to get their time to shine in one-on-one confrontations on the rooftop, ensuring enough kung-fu action is crammed in to make it worth the time of any aficionado of 70’s American martial arts flicks. The action itself was unsurprisingly choreographed by the trio of Bonet, Louie, and Kao Kang, the one and only time any of them would action direct, however despite their inexperience what’s onscreen arguably delivers the goods. In a way the same thing could be said for every aspect of Death Promise, with the lack of experience behind the camera being made up for by an energy and earnestness in front of it.

There’s an amazing amount of close-up shots on the actors faces when they’re talking, almost as if the cinematographer was told that when the cast are delivering their lines, the most important thing is for their face to completely fill the frame. You can practically see the concentration on Kao Kang’s face to deliver his lines in English, but even this is completely surpassed by the constant cutaways to Bill Louie’s random reaction shots during the final fight. It almost looks like someone was just offscreen yelling expressions at him – “Shocked!”, “Surprised!”, “Grimace!” – then they’ve been inserted at choice moments to add impact. They do, but arguably not for the reasons intended.

Indeed while not all of the entertainment value in Death Promise is of the intentional variety, that doesn’t make it any lesser of a recommendation. With a killer theme song by Opus that rivals Jigsaw’s Sky High in catchiness, and a 70’s New York captured on film that today feels as much a character in the movie as anyone in the cast (and based on some of the acting, in some instances even more so), Death Promise is pure B-movie goodness.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10