Also known as: Black Terminator, The Freeze Bomb
Plot: Practicing warlock and drug-runner Bill Roy has kidnapped a Hong Kong cabinet minister's daughter and is threatening to sell her into slavery. Enter The Dragon! Or rather, enter D.R.A.G.O.N., an international crime-busting organization whose top agent, Jim Kelly, has to cut short his vacation to save the day. In Kelly's arsenal: a rocket pack, a purple Corvette with machine guns in the tailpipes, and his own dual mastery of karate and tennis. In Roy's arsenal: Zulu warriors, a killer vulture, and Kelly's worst nightmare... a midget with a gun.
Key scenes: When Kelly is attacked from behind by one of Roy's goons, he quickly unzips his sweat-jacket, sending the jacket-clutching henchman plummeting off a two-story balcony. And when he's confronted by a snake, he immediately switches to his kung-fu snake stance, ready to beat the serpent at its own game.
Can easily be distinguished by: The myriad ways the movie finds to kill time. Kelly practices his moves in front of a mirror. He studies a map. He has a long flashback to an afternoon when he kissed a girl chastely in front of a palm tree. He takes time out to enjoy a mariachi band. And he plays tennis, for minutes on end, while his boss on the sidelines whimpers, "I need to talk to you," over and over.
Sign that it was made in 1977: The incongruous suburban L.A. décor, which has art deco ranch houses passing for mansions. This masquerade is particularly hilarious when a team of paid assassins runs up a driveway, past the basketball goal, and around a tiny backyard pool.
Timeless message: If you're a truly bad motherfucker, you don't have to do anything at all.
Memorable quotes: It's hard to top Kelly's indifferent closing line, "I guess that's the end, huh?" But Kelly bests himself at the beginning, when he gets pulled out of his tennis game with a sexy dame and grumbles knowingly, "Let me get back to my love set."
Available on DVD from BCI Eclipse
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