Three the Hard Way (1974) Allied Artists/Action-Thriller RT: 89 minutes Rated R (language, violence, nudity) Director: Gordon Parks Jr. Screenplay: Eric Bercovici and Jerry Ludwig Music: Richard Tufo Cinematography: Lucien Ballard Release date: June 26, 1974 (US) Cast: Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly, Sheila Frazier, Jay Robinson, Charles McGregor, Howard Platt, Richard Angarola, David Chow, Marian Collier, Junero Jennings, Alex Rocco, Pamela Serpe, Marie O’Henry, Irene Tsu. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Few things excite me as much as action movies that team up big stars. From The Magnificent Seven to The Expendables 2, it’s always fun to see multiple bad asses take down a bad guy or evil organization. In the blaxploitation universe, Three the Hard Way gives audiences three times the action with lead actors Jim Brown (Slaughter), Fred Williamson (Vigilante) and Jim Kelly (Black Belt Jones). Watching this trio of tough guys take on a racist organization looking to eliminate the entire black race is an out of sight viewing experience. It may not hold up as fine cinema, but it sure is a good flick.
It all starts when record producer Jimmy Lait (Brown) finds his friend House (Jenning, The Mack) severely injured from a gunshot wound sustained while escaping from a secret facility run by Monroe Feather (Robinson, Dr. Shrinker). He’s the head of a white supremacist organization planning something big in the name of racial purification. Working with mad scientist-type Dr. Fertrero (Angarola, Black Moon Rising), he plans to introduce a toxin lethal only to blacks into the water supply of three major cities. It’s a plot right out of a low-rent James Bond knock-off.
After the villain’s men kidnap Jimmy’s girlfriend Wendy (Frazier, Super Fly), he recruits two friends to help get her back and prevent Feather from carrying out his nefarious plan. His meet-up in Chicago with Jagger (Williamson) is interrupted by a shootout in an arcade that leaves many of Feather’s men dead. In New York, the pair arrives shortly after Keyes (Kelly) single-handedly deals with about a dozen dirty cops who make the mistake of trying to plant drugs in his car. Once united, the three heroes set out in search of answers.
Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. (Super Fly), Three the Hard Way absolutely embraces its inherent silliness without apology. The main bad guys are right out of a cheesy WWII comic book featuring Nazi villains. The heroes get to punch, shoot and karate chop their way through scores of underlings sent to stop them. With all the mayhem they cause, you’d think the police would be all over them, but the only one who shows even the slightest interest (Rocco, The Godfather) is basically useless.
Three the Hard Way contains all the usual genre tropes, but it also has something I’ve never seen before, at least not that I can recall. The heroes capture a bad guy after a shootout at a car wash. To elicit information from him, they call in a trio of specialists, three motorcycle-riding dominatrix types named Countess (Serpe), Empress (Tsu) and Princess (O’Henry). For whatever reason, they like to work topless. We don’t see exactly what they do to the poor dumb bastard, but it works.
Acting isn’t this movie’s strong suit, I won’t lie. None of the leads are known for their acting abilities; they have a different set of skills instead. They KICK ASS! Kelly is a martial artist who co-starred with Bruce Lee in the kung fu classic Enter the Dragon. He has some mighty impressive moves that he gets to show off on several occasions. Brown, a likable guy, is as adept with his fists as he is with a gun. Williamson is the king of blaxploitation cool. He’s the real stand-out in Three the Hard Way. The three of them have easy chemistry; it never feels forced. Robinson gets to camp it up to a high degree as the slimy villain. Frazier, in her few scenes, is foxy.
While Three the Hard Way has a lot of action and fighting, the choreography tends to be on the sloppy side. On the upside, our three heroes manage a decent body count. Isn’t it great when the good guys are the only ones that can shoot worth a damn? It’s a bloody miracle only one of them gets shot albeit not seriously wounded. The music by The Impressions (Curtis Mayfield’s former group) is pretty good. They even do a cameo in one scene, a recording session at Jimmy’s studio. I’m particularly fond of “That’s What Love Will Do”.
I had fun watching Three the Hard Way. I loved seeing Brown, Williamson and Kelly share the screen. They are a formidable team. It makes me wish I was of age in the 70s so I could have shared the experience with an audience in an urban theater. As entertainment, it’s FAR OUT!
