Karate Cop (a.k.a. Slaughter In San Francisco)

Year releasted: 1973

by Keith Phipps
September 11th, 2002

When the streets of San Francisco run amok with karate-proficient bad guys, who better to confront them than a cop who's also a karate expert? No one fits that bill better than Officer Don Wong (played by Don Wong), even if his stuffy superiors don't always see it that way. First seen smiling and stroking his badge alongside partner and buddy Robert Jones, Wong clearly loves his job, in spite of its difficulties. After using their karate action to interrupt what looks like a rape, Wong and Jones are baffled when the apparent victim denies their account, claiming that she and her two friends were merely staging a rape as part of some summertime fun. Still, something doesn't sit right with the high-kicking duo, and their suspicions are more or less confirmed when Jones is kidnapped by a group of karate thugs hiding in the back of a U-Haul trailer. After chasing down the malevolent U-Haul with his motorcycle, Wong gets into a beachside brawl with the villains inside, accidentally killing one. "I guess you know you'll be inside for at least a year," a fellow cop tells Wong, who turns in his badge and dutifully heads for the slammer. Cut to one year later. A karate cop no more, Wong now has a humiliating waitstaff job, which forces him to serve both the rape-faking nogoodniks and the criminal kingpin responsible for Jones' kidnapping, as well as a string of other crimes. From behind a bottle of A1 sauce at Wong's new place of employment, a young, hirsute Chuck Norris commands a criminal empire. After burning Wong with a cigar and then paying him \$500, Norris tries to enlist Wong in his evil army. "I like having Chinese friends around me. They're obedient," he explains, continuing, "I know only two kinds of people... those who obey, and those who die." Unconvinced by Norris' logic, Wong refuses to obey. But when a gang of attackers eliminates Jones, Wong realizes he's in a showdown to the death. Abandoning the uniforms of both policeman and waiter, Wong dons a bright red sweater and a wide-collared shirt, and begins investigating a murder related both to Jones' death and to Norris' other criminal activities. Meanwhile, Norris performs an impressive board-breaking routine, to his employees' delight. Eventually, a battle royal ensues, and the smooth-chested Wong defeats the off-puttingly hairy Norris. "Yer the pride of the force," a beaming Irish captain informs the newly reinstated cop, who also knows karate.