Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (1978)

Thanks for the memories!

People are voting emotionally.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This starts with the look and feel of "A Better Tomorrow" and delivers the same heroic bloodshed. If you are familiar with these types of Hong Kong movies you know the characters will all die at the end or at most only one will survive. I'm surprised to learn about the alternate cuts/endings and now I have to find those versions also. Yes, Carl Scott was the token and under-used so every minute more of screen time for him would improve the final cut. The fights are fabulous in every respect particularly in Bruce Li's execution and power. The pacing of the story is perfect and the fights each seem unique. I rate it a well above average eight out of ten.

The first thing I have to say about 'Soul Brothers of Kung Fu' is that the title is horribly misleading. I sat down with movie expecting Blaxsploitation meets the Orient. What I got was two guys from Hong Kong with a hard on for the REAL Bruce Lee, and a token Negro that tags along and talks jive and dances the jigs. Pathetic. Other than that it wasn't a bad Kung Fu flick really. There was some decent fighting going on and it didn't suffer from intensive wire work like films of that era began to use so frequently (not that wire work is bad, but c'mon you crazy Asians, how about a story or plot to go with that balanced Chi?). At the end I was left with two questions, what the Hell was the opening shot all about, and where can I get a copy of 'Black Spring Break: THE MOVIE' that was previewed at the beginning of the film. Also, which ending was the alternate special one? The one where he kills his best friend with his index finger, or the one where he kills Betty from Kung Pow with his index finger? And why hang the little black kid? Sure, beat the crap out of him or even kill him, but hanging? Bad form Chinese guys. Bad form.

There's only one 'soul brother' in this feature, released on video in the United States as part of the 'Mack Video' series. Anyone picking this up looking for black action thrills is going to be disappointed, as token African-American actor Carl Scott is really only a supporting character, and is burdened with a horrendous dubbing job by what sounds like a white Australian voice actor. Beyond the false advertising, however, this is actually an above average genre flick, featuring wall to wall, well choreographed action sequences and some unique training techniques, including a light up mannequin and what look to be bear traps! Additionally, the video is letterboxed and was decently mastered, and the film features a bit more sex and nudity than you might expect. On the other hand, this print features the usual bad dubbing as well as numerous bizarre jump cuts. Like many films of its type and era, Soul Brothers of Kung Fu also shamelessly cribs musical cues, featuring generous (and undoubtedly uncleared) segments of Bill Conti's Rocky themes, plus Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die, Silver Connection's disco classic Fly Robin Fly, and what sounds like Santo and Johnny's version of Happy Birthday!

Fans expecting a light hearted Jackie Chan-esque Martial Arts movie or people expecting a fun blaxploitation film will be disappointed by "Soul Brothers of Kung Fu." This film is definitely NOT for the sensitive.This film DOES feature some spectacular martial arts, the majority from Bruce Li, the best of the Bruce Lee clones. While the fights do provide a lot of entertainment, the storyline itself falters. Yes, it features a typical kung fu movie bad-guy and his bumbling henchmen and a lot of other formulaic martial arts movie scenarios, but most of it borders on risque.If racial violence offends you, then skip this movie. A lot of the film is focused on the verbal berating and physical beating of Carl Scott, the film's sole African American character, who's been given an extremely stereotypical dub-over.Also, this movie was obviously cut up when it was released on video. Some of the scenes made no sense, and it's easy to tell that a scene that supported it was cut. The annoying constant use of the theme from "Rocky" doesn't help this movie either. The ending itself also didn't sit well with me for numerous reasons, which I won't really get into. I saw the version with the "alternate ending" (I think that's the only one out there), so I'm not sure if the other version of the ending was any easier to swallow.You may, as I did, notice this video at your local video store and go "That should be fun." I was under the impression that this would be a campy film, but it really wasn't. As a huge fan of Kung Fu movies, I was able to look past most of the content and focus solely on the fighting, but it was difficult. I do not recommend this movie for anyone looking a for cheesy movie to watch on a rainy day, or for anyone who is trying to wean their way into the Martial Arts Genre. But if you're a fan of good martial arts, you may wanna check this one out.