Given the popularity among inner city moviegoers of martial arts films - particularly, but not limited to, those starring Bruce Lee - the merging of kung fu cinema and Blaxploitation was inevitable. Lee's untimely death in July 1973 opened the door for a fleet of contenders to fill the gap, among them Hollywood-based middleweight karate champion Jim Kelly. Kelly had been a last minute addition to the cast of Warner Bros.' Enter the Dragon (1973), Lee's last completed film, and the studio was quick to exploit the association of the late master with their new star. Signed to an exclusive three-picture deal, Kelly debuted as a leading man in Black Belt Jones (1974), which reunited him with Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse in the tale of a martial arts phenom who partners with the daughter (Gloria Hendry) of a murdered dojo owner (Scatman Crothers) to thwart a Mafia real estate grab. Ads for Black Belt Jones identified its star as Jim "Dragon" Kelly but many martial arts purists complained that Kelly seemed to be mimicking Bruce Lee's fighting style rather than establishing his own. During production of Black Belt Jones, fight coordinator Bob Wall noted that Kelly was allowing his kicks and blows to connect with the other actors, risking and at times causing genuine injury. To curb this unprofessional tendency, Wall paired Kelly in a scene with black belt heavyweight Jim Bottoms, who informed the movie newcomer that he would tear off his head if he forgot to pull his punches; the remainder of the shoot continued without incident.

By Richard Harland Smith