Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight (1992) Concorde/Action RT: 88 minutes Rated R (violence, rape, language including racial epithets, nudity) Director: Oley Sassone Screenplay: Allison Burnett Music: Nigel Holton Cinematography: Rick Bota Release date: January 3, 1992 (US) Cast: Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Richard Roundtree, Gregory McKinney, Rick Dean, Richard Paul, Charles Boswell, John Cardone, Brad Blaisdell, Stan Longinidis, Tony Di Benedetto, Andre Rosey Brown, J.W. Smith, Laura Stockman, Kevin N. Davis, Peter “Sugarfoot” Cunningham, Bob Schott, Joe Garcia, Angelo Callahan, Jon Freedman, Max Hunter. Box Office: $35,154 (US)
Rating: ** ½
Producer Roger Corman strikes again! Always one to make a buck wherever he could, he capitalized on the success of the first two Bloodfist movies by adding the recognizable brand name to an unrelated Concorde action cheapie called Forced to Fight starring Don “The Dragon” Wilson. It was released as Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight. Apparently, it opened in a few theaters in January 1992. It was the last of the Bloodfist movies to achieve a theatrical release. Like its predecessors, it didn’t play in Philadelphia. Believe me, I would have known. I was always on the lookout for cheesy B-movies at nearby cinemas (and some not so nearby).
Just to confirm, Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight is an in-name only sequel. It has nothing to do with the other two movies other than its leading man. Wilson plays a completely different character here. His name is Jimmy Boland and he’s NOT a professional martial artist even though he has mad skills. He’s a prison inmate doing a ten-year stretch for manslaughter. He didn’t do it; it was a case of him being railroaded by the cops for having the nerve to be half-Asian. He does, however, kill another inmate, gang leader Luther (Cunningham, No Retreat, No Surrender), after he rapes and murders a friend of his. It’s an act that sends him straight to hell in a manner of speaking.
Nobody cares that Jimmy killed the guy in self-defense. As the politically ambitious warden (Paul, Carter Country) so eloquently puts it, “A fitting end to a piece of filth like Luther. But not in an election year.” He wants to be Attorney General and it wouldn’t be good for the press-hungry politico if it got out that a murder occurred in his secure, state of the art correctional facility. His solution is to hush it up and send Jimmy to C Block to face certain doom. He promises the sleazy assistant warden Taylor (Boswell, Hard to Kill) his job if he sees to the matter personally.
C Block is where they house the black inmates. One of them is a guy named Blue (McKinney, Mortal Kombat). He wants Jimmy dead because when he killed Luther, it put an end to Blue’s lucrative drug operation. Also, Luther was a brother. Jimmy also ends up in the crosshairs of Wheelhead (Dean, Carnosaur 2), the leader of the white supremacists, after he rejects his offer of friendship. Why would a white supremacist want to befriend a non-white? Because he killed a black guy (NOT the word Wheelhead uses) so he must be alright. Wheelhead and his cronies quickly learn that Jimmy isn’t alright with any of it. He becomes a marked man after beating the crap out of the lot of them in the prison laundry.
Jimmy isn’t completely friendless in his new living situation. He becomes friends with Diddler (Cardone, Alley Cat), a child molester who gets bullied by everybody. Why he’s not in the segregated wing is anybody’s guess. Aren’t prison officials the least bit concerned about his safety? If he’s killed and it gets out, it could mess up the warden’s chances of being elected Attorney General. In any event, this guy is all kinds of skeevy. On visiting day, he all but pulls it out and starts wanking while gazing at a little girl playfully dancing for her burly dad in the visiting area.
Jimmy also becomes chummy with his new cellmate Stark who’s played by blaxploitation MVP Richard Roundtree, star of the Shaft movies. There’s one of his character type in every prison movie. He’s older, wiser and extremely well-read. He does free legal work for his fellow inmates. He constantly tries to de-escalate the situation between Jimmy and Blue who joins forces with Wheelhead (who didn’t see that coming?). Stark has only a few days remaining on his sentence meaning it’s a safe bet he might not make it to the end credits. The guy is a cliché, but Roundtree makes it work. He always adds an extra level of cool.
There’s really not a lot of story in Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight. It’s mainly about Jimmy trying to survive in a hostile environment. Multiple attempts are made on his life. Jimmy manages to thwart them all. The subplot about the warden’s political ambition is introduced only to be dropped for most of the movie. We don’t even see Paul’s character again until the final 20 minutes when he shows up to put on a dog and pony show for the press. In honor of President’s Day, the inmates get the day off from work and a meal consisting of edible food. It’s the perfect time for a riot with all the reporters and cameras on the scene.
Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight is directed by Oley Sassone who would go on to helm Corman’s ill-fated superhero saga The Fantastic Four (1994). It’s his debut feature film. He cut his teeth directing music videos for Gloria Estefan (“Here We Are”), Eric Clapton (“It’s in the Way That You Use It”), Juice Newton (“Hurt”) and Mr. Mister (“Broken Wings”). The screenplay was penned by another first-timer Allison Burnett whose subsequent writing credits include the Richard Gere-Winona Ryder romance Autumn in New York (2000), the serial killer thriller Untraceable (2008), the PG remake of Fame (2009) and the sequel Underworld Awakening (2012). I wouldn’t say they did a terrible job with Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight. It isn’t exceptional work either. It’s half-decent, but only barely.
I’m not even sure I’d classify Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight as an action movie. It’s a prison drama with fight sequences. It’s like a low-rent version of Penitentiary (1979). Wilson delivers his usual stone-faced performance as the protagonist. Paul is perfectly cast as the lying, conniving warden. It’s a malevolent variation of his character on the sitcom Carter Country. It’s always great to see Roundtree. He’s a cool cat. The rest of the acting is exactly what you’d expect. It wouldn’t be a Bloodfist movie (not that it ever was) without a couple of champion martial artists in the supporting cast. This time, we get Peter “Sugarfoot” Cunningham Aussie champ Stan Longinidis. They do what they do and nothing more.
The fight scenes feel half-hearted in Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight. They’re not as thrilling as they should be even with the movie’s low, low budget. The best fight isn’t even part of this movie. In one scene, the inmates are shown watching TNT Jackson (1975). They enthusiastically cheer on the scene where star Jeanne Bell fights topless. I shouldn’t be surprised Corman chose this Filipino exploitation classic seeing that it’s directed by his buddy Cirio H. Santiago.
Despite its many shortcomings, Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight is still entertaining despite not reaching the relative heights of its two predecessors. It’s cheap-looking, clumsily choreographed and fitfully paced. It has a few awkward tonal shifts too. In other words, it’s typical Concorde nonsense. I’ll never pass up one of those.
