One Down, Two to Go (1982)

Really Surprised!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This movie is so bad that it makes Dolemite look like the GodfatherNothing in this movie makes any kind of senseThe first 15 minutes takes place at a martial arts tournament and instead of introducing the characters of the movie the "director" (I use that term very lightly) decided to focus on the random martial artists fighting with very little actual dialogue and the actors merely observing the guys fightingAnyways after that the movie actually starts (I guess) but there's not much of a movie to speak of as it is random scenes with people jumping to conclusions based on nothing in one scene one of the guys asks for a orangejuice at the bar and the waitress says: "Orange Juice? You must be friends with them Karate guys from the other night" which makes a lot of sense since only Karate guys and friends of Karate guys drink Orange Juice.And the leads in the movie are allowed to kill and harass as many people as they want because they have a just cause and the sheriff just tell them they need to come in to the station so they can write a report, but most times the leads just can't be arsedIt's just a terrible piece of crap movie that doesn't make any sense and that only focuses on trying to make the leads look like cool guys and nothing elseI didn't even mention the fact that 40 minutes in they decide to change leads completely when they introduce Jim Brown and Fred Williamson they take over the show instead of Richard Roundtree and Jim Kelly who sorts of fade away from leads into co-stars instead

**SPOILERS*** After Chuck's, Jim Kelly, team of karate fighters win the L.A Tournament of Champions in karate in a winner take all match the mobster Rossi, Peter Dane, who had the matches fixed for Chuck's opponents to win takes off with the cash,$400,000.00, leaving Chuck's team high and dry! As for Chuck himself he get worked over and shot by Rossi's thugs when he tried to get the winners share, all of it, of the 400 G's that his team so rightfully won.With Chuck's good friend and promoter of the karate matches Ralph, Richard Roundtree, getting nowhere with Rossi who's planning to skip town with the cash he's reluctantly forced to call for reinforcement in the persons of his bad a** butt kicker friends from New York J & Cal, Jim "Slaughter" Brown & Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, to help him get the job done. And they do it with both fists and guns as well as style.***SPOILERS*** Far better the the movies prequel "Three the Hard Way" in that it doesn't overdo the action scenes and gives the film a much better storyline to follow with the big three, Brown Williamson & Roundtree, intimidating their enemies far more with their presence not their fists or guns. Speaking of guns both Brown & Williamson, J & Cal, have in the movie hand guns with barrels as long as M-16 assault rifles! In the end the boys rescue both Chuck and his girlfriend Trei,Paula Sills, who were on the run from Rossi's thugs whom the two Blaxploition heroes made mince meat and swiss cheese out of.The one thing that was a bit strange in the movie is just how J & Cal as well as the entire cast of the movie seemed to all have all ended in what seemed like New York City, we get to see a number of scenes of the NYC World Trade Center, from all the way in L.A for the films second half without the scrip explaining how? Was it tela-transportation or just bad film editing!

Low budget and highly entertaining aren't always terms that meet up in the world of filmmaking, but ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO is an exception. Directed by and starring Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson, who kept on making blaxploitation type flicks throughout the 1980s, long after the boom had ended, this little movie is a lot of fun and doesn't let a lack of budget get in the way of telling an engaging story.The film starts off with some real-life fight footage (unfortunately recalling that terrible 'documentary', FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH) before moving onto stronger territory. Jim Kelly and Richard Roundtree star as a couple of fight organisers who are ripped off and betrayed by the Mob, in the form of small-town redneck goons and their suited, gun-wielding counterparts. Finding themselves no match for their enemies, they call in the help of a couple of old timer buddies, Jim Brown and Williamson himself.This is where the fun starts. Brown and Williamson have a natural camaraderie and good sense of humour, and watching this pair strolling through town and cracking heads (with the cigar never leaving Williamson's mouth) makes a great evening's entertainment for this viewer. Okay, so the story is nothing to write home about and the supporting cast (aside from a cameoing Joe Spinell) are pretty poor, but who cares when four – count 'em! - of blaxploitation cinema's greatest stars are teaming up and crushing skulls! Fast pacing works in the film's favour, the running time flies past and aside from an anticlimax ending, this one rarely puts a foot wrong.

Contrary to another comment on this film. "If you like the stars in this film then you will like this film." I, like many others, always keep a look out for any Jim Kelly fliks knowing that you're in for some irrepressible charisma and perhaps even a irrepressible 'Fro. But any bias I have to the stars in this film just couldn't persuade me to actually say that I enjoyed the film.Scenes dragging themselves to their graves, suspense voided build-ups to anti climatic events and of course some cardboard acting are all expected and forgivable in this genre of film. But with the cast at hand you hope you're gonna have some on screen personalities reaching out of the screen and giving you a good smack in the face. If there is a cast to do it then surely this is it. Unfortunately the lot of em die on their asses in their attempts with this movie. Shame.