Writer-producer-director-actor Don Edmonds had quite a career before passing away in May 2009. He started off acting as a child on stage and parlayed that into film and television work in the 1950s and 60s. Exploitation fans, however, know him best for his efforts behind the camera beginning in the early 70s.
The film focuses on Zachary Kane (Robert Viharo), a bounty hunter who is tracking down a serial killer running around
BARE KNUCKLES seems to have come from a mind hell bent on exploiting every available genre. But I’m not talking about the cold, calculating focus groups of
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Adrenaline Shot: BARE KNUCKLES (1977)
Scribbled by William S. Wilson
And, in that regard, the film definitely lives up to its title. There are some freakin’ brutal, almost sadistic fights on display. For example, Kane and Black (isn’t that a drink?) locate Barbara hiding out in a rundown tenement building where she is shacking up with some Black Panthers types. After they torture Kane for a bit, they decide to kill him but Black comes to the rescue and heads get thumped. Obviously the real locations and authentic looking actors help out a lot here. Of course, not everything is hard ass, even if it tries to be. For example, the bits of Devlin performing karate are a sight to behold. He throws down moves that would make Chris Mitchum shake his head and say, "This guy is a total amateur." And the comedy value is doubled by the screeching and hocking he does. Don’t believe me? Check it out:
Regardless of the momentary bits of unintentional comedy, it still works because of the violence and, hell, it is the 1970s. The last 15 minutes also has a really well done car and motorcycle chase all over L.A. that ends in the L.A. river basin. This was back in the day when a car chase meant you got real guys screeching real tires in real car all over the asphalt for real. None of this green screen work or, even worse, computer generated cars you see today! Even better is the fact that director of photography extraordinaire Dean Cundy knew exactly where to place the camera for the greatest impact.
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