JIM KELLY, FRED WILLIAMSON & JIM BROWN 'THREE THE HARD WAY'

Title: THREE THE HARD WAY Year: 1974 Rating: ****

By the time three multicolored motorcycles are cruising down downtown Chicago that are soon to be revealed carrying sadistic multiracial hotties, THREE THE HARD WAY has gone from a somewhat awkward, clunky and extremely uncomfortable prologue into an enjoyably entertaining action mainline...

Initially involving the imprisonment and torture of random black men leading to the titular collection of three popular athletic black actors, eventually fighting a myriad of racist militants who created a potion that will, in a kind of Jame Bond supervillain fashion, wipe out only their race...

Jim Kelly, Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Enter fast-talking businessman Fred Williamson, record producer Jim Brown and karate-studio mogul Jim Kelly who blend not only crime-genre gunfights, wrecked car explosions, free-flowing foot-chases and — after Jim Kelly shows up thirty-minutes in — plenty of martial arts action... that only becomes tedious the more villains ensue from urban streets to car washes to mazy sewer systems... 

And although the trio aren't alone long enough to be individually fleshed-out, they make a solid collective while the blaxploitation genre's frequently used theme of whites dominating blacks being violently reversed with resilient brawn over deranged brains, THREE THE HARD WAY epitomizes the exploitation 1970's — and then some!

Fred Williamson in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly with Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

From THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Villain Jay Robinson in THREE THE HARD WAY

Token cop Alex Rocco and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Corbin Bernsen and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Kelly in THREE THE HARD WAY

Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

Fred Williamson and Jim Brown in THREE THE HARD WAY

From the credits of THREE THE HARD WAY

From the credits of THREE THE HARD WAY

From the credits of THREE THE HARD WAY

From the credits of THREE THE HARD WAY

Poster for THREE THE HARD WAY