Three the Hard Way (1974)

Director: Gordon Parks Jr.
Starring: Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly

Synopsis:
A record producer and his two friends team up to stop a well-heeled white supremacist's plot to poison the water supply of several major cities with a toxin designed to work only on blacks.

Impressions:
While the younger Parks' earlier film Super Fly is more influential, this isn't plagued with a lot of the problems that one suffered from. The idea was that the focus would be on the action here and I think it works to the film's credit. The three leads all have good action chops. Jim Kelly's martial arts prowess is particularly fun to watch. Outside the action set pieces, the acting quality is uneven and the story is so-so. The villain is pretty lame. Actually, there's a scene where they have a flag-raising and there's no wind at all, so it just hangs there limply. It's a fine metaphor for the caliber of the bad guys. There are plenty of mooks to die en masse, so that's something. It's not amazing or anything, but you may find it entertaining.

Rating:
50/50