Forced To Fight

After two BLOODFIST films set and shot in the Philippines, producer Roger Corman tossed out the previous formula and cast kickboxing champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson in a prison picture affixed with the BLOODFIST name.  It's more than likely that director Oley Sassone (THE FANTASTIC FOUR) made a movie called FORCED TO FIGHT (the closing credits bear this out, by the way), and Corman added the BLOODFIST III part to the title after the fact.  I don't think the film needs whatever promotional push was gained by making it part of the presumably lucrative BLOODFIST franchise, since it stands up pretty well on its own and is, in fact, better than the two previous entries.

Inmate Jimmy Boland (Wilson) quickly finds himself in hot water when he kills a brutal rapist and murderer named Luther in self-defense.  That his assailant was black makes the situation even worse for the half-Asian Boland in a concrete-surrounded world where racism is a way of life.  Out for revenge is Blue (Gregory McKinney), a buddy of Luther's whose drug trade is greatly diminished by the death of his supplier.  Boland also makes the shit list of white supremacist Wheelhead (the late Rick Dean), who offers to accept Boland into his gang's ranks, despite Jimmy's Asian heritage, but feels disrespected when his offer is rebuffed.  Alone and awaiting a shiv in his back at any time, Boland finds a friend in Stark (SHAFT himself, Richard Roundtree), a jailhouse lawyer of intelligence and quiet dignity whose age and skill against the appeals courts have earned him a reputation among the prisoners as an elder statesman of sorts.

What's most surprising about BLOODFIST III is the multi-layered screenplay by Allison Burnett (AUTUMN IN NEW YORK) and Charles Mattera, which attempts to address the issue of race in an exploitation-film setting, while simultaneously creating characters that have slightly more depth than most Corman movies.  I don't want to give the impression that this is an art film, but there's more happening below the surface than any movie titled BLOODFIST III has the right to have.  The actors appear to have realized this, since even Wilson, never renowned for his dramatic skills or presence, appears more assured than usual.  Corman regular Dean also manages to add charm and even a shade of likability to his Aryan brute, and Roundtree is outstanding, serving as mentor, priest, father figure, and voice of reason to his fellow inmates, especially the black prisoners, whom he regards as victims of a White society.

Lest you start thinking BLOODFIST III slacks in the action department, let me assure you that Sassone has crafted a good number of fights and martial-arts battles choreographed by Paul Maslak, who worked on several other Wilson films as a writer, producer, and stuntman.  As with the other BLOODFIST films, care was taken to provide "The Dragon" with worthy opponents, many of whom, like Peter "Sugarfoot" Cunningham, were authentic martial-arts champions.  While the fight scenes are about as good as they should be, it's the extra care and intelligence in other parts of the production that give BLOODFIST III its real meat.