Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975) Warner Bros./Action RT: 96 minutes Rated R (violence, language, drug material) Director: Chuck Bail Screenplay: William Tennant (characters by Max Julien) Music: Dominic Frontiere Cinematography: Alan Hume Release date: July 11, 1975 (US) Cast: Tamara Dobson, Stella Stevens, Tanny (Ni Tien), Norman Fell, Albert Popwell, Caro Kenyatta, Chan Shen, Christopher Hunt, Lin Chen Chi, Liu Locke Hua, Eddy Donno, Bobby Canavarro, Mui Kwok Sing, John Cheng, Tony Lee. Box Office: N/A
Rating: **
I expected much better from Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, the sequel to the 1973 blaxploitation actioner starring the gorgeous Tamara Dobson as the titular government agent out to put an end to a drug ring led by crime boss Mommy (played by a super-hammy Shelley Winters). If only the follow-up had been even a fraction as fun, the makers would have had something. But it’s not so they don’t.
There are several factors contributing to the failure of Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, a movie that should be extra cool given the involvement of Chinese-based production company Shaw Brothers, home to many a martial arts classic- e.g. One-Armed Swordsman, The Five Deadly Venoms and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. The bringing together of the blaxploitation and kung fu genres should have resulted in a better movie than this so-so actioner which pits our heroine against another female Mr. Big-like villain, The Dragon Lady played by Stella Stevens who co-starred in The Poseidon Adventure with Winters.
After Cleo’s cohorts from the first movie, brothers Matthew (Popwell, Sudden Impact) and Melvin (Kenyatta), are kidnapped by Dragon Lady while on assignment in Hong Kong, she shows up to find and rescue them. With the help of equally LBD (Lovely But Deadly) Mi (Tanny), Cleo manages to track them to a casino owned by Dragon Lady who’s in the middle of a war with rival drug lord Soo Da Chen (Shen, Five Fingers of Death) who’s trying to take over her territory. Contrary to the title, the casino is red NOT gold. Oh well.
Before I get into why Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold ultimately doesn’t work, let me tell you which aspects do work. Mi leads a gang of motorcycle-riding dudes equally skilled at kicking ass. It leads to a couple of decent chase scenes. Norman Fell, better known as Mr. Roper from the sitcom Three’s Company, plays Cleo’s boss who implores her to take on a partner in tracking down her friends and fellow agents (funny, they weren’t agents in the first movie). His character, while cliched, does provide a few chuckles. One of Dragon Lady’s henchwomen is her lesbian adopted daughter Madalyna (Chi, The Spiritual Boxer). The phrase “lesbian adopted daughter” has a campy comic book feel to it, doesn’t it? The climactic big fight is pretty cool. The rest is standard stuff at best.
Now let’s talk about the movie’s shortcomings which, unfortunately, outweigh the good. By 1975, audiences were tired of blaxploitation. The genre wasn’t drawing the same crowds it did at the height of its popularity just two years earlier. The cast, even Dobson, appears as indifferent as the public. In short, their hearts just aren’t in it. Dobson still looks foxy and has attitude to spare. She still struts around looking all fashionable in her furs, capes, headdresses and jewelry. At the same time, she seems detached from her character in this second outing. It’s like she’s only doing it to fulfill a contractual obligation.
An action movie is only as good as its villain. That’s rule one of the genre. Unfortunately, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold breaks it with Stevens’ boring villain. With a name like The Dragon Lady and a “golden casino” as her fortress, you expect great things. Well, the casino isn’t gold and neither is Stevens. Gone is the campy quality Winters brought to Mommy in the first movie. She devoured the scenery in every scene she was in. Stevens, even with the occasional glower or murderous outburst, may as well come with a generic label stamped on her forehead. I can’t recall a single defining trait.
Come to think of it, I can’t think of anything that makes Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold stand out. It’s a very mediocre action movie. The only points of interest are some well-orchestrated fights and chases. Even the dialogue falls flat. I didn’t hate Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold; I just wanted more from it. It has all the makings of a great B-movie classic, but director Chuck Bail (The Gumball Rally) doesn’t do anything all that interesting with them. It would have benefited greatly if original screenwriter Max Julien stayed on, but he wanted no part of the sequel. He is, however, credited with creating the characters. His loss is our loss too.
