One Down, Two to go (1982) Online
During a high-stakes east-west karate tournament, coach Chuck suspects the match is rigged against him. When looking around the other team's locker room gets him shot, he calls in Cal and J, his partners from California. After exercising a little persuasion and a lot of brute force, they discover who's behind it all. Now the only problem is getting back the money Chuck is owed.
Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Fred Williamson | - | Cal | |
Jim Brown | - | J | |
Jim Kelly | - | Chuck | |
Richard Roundtree | - | Ralph | |
Paula Sills | - | Teri | |
Laura Loftus | - | Sally | |
Joe Spinell | - | Joe Spangler | |
Tom Signorelli | - | Mario | |
John Guitz | - | Bob (as John Gruitz) | |
Richard Noyce | - | Hank | |
Peter Dane | - | Rossi | |
Victoria Hale | - | Mrs. Rossi | |
Warrington Winters | - | Sheriff Lucas | |
Louis Neglia | - | Armando | |
Aaron Banks | - | Announcer |
The fights that take place during the fictitious martial arts tournament that open the film, were in fact actually real and not staged. Fred Williamson had organized it so that the fights would look authentic and the winner of each fight got paid five hundred dollars and with the loser getting one hundred dollars.
Fred Williamson conceived the idea of the film while he was in New York filming the movie, Vigilante (1982).
Fred Williamson considers the film to be a true sequel to Three the Hard Way (1974).
The Martial Arts tournament that opens the film took over 12 Hours to shoot according to Fred Williamson utilizing multiple cameras around the Brendan Byrne Area (which would later become the IZOD Center) to capture the action which was completely unscripted.
The film was actually written by Fred Williamson with the help of his son Jeff who is given on screen credit as Story By instead of Written By.
The movie was filmed in three weeks as Writer, Director and Star Fred Williamson was in between projects and preparing to film, Vigilante which would finally start shooting in October - November 1982.
The fights that were featured in the martial arts tournament that opens the film were actually real. Fred Williamson stated that nothing was faked and that they were all there to fight and were actually in competition for a money prize of only 400 hundred dollars unlike the prize money in the film itself which was four hundred thousand.
The film was shot on location on Staten Island, New York.
J and Cal are seen carrying the same or a similar 44. Magnum gun throughout the film and never seen reloading it at any time during.
One of the major reasons Writer/Director Fred Williamson decided to make the film besides the down time between projects was because he wanted to give Jim Brown, Jim Kelly and Richard Roundtree work. He stated that besides doing a sequel to Three The Hard Way, that Brown, Kelly and Roundtree were not given the work they should've been getting in Hollywood at the time and deserved better.
Writer, Star and Director Fred Williamson stated that he approached Warner Bros. who produced and released, Three The Hard Way to do a sequel to that film and said that they weren't interested in doing one. Williamson thought of the idea of reuniting with Jim Brown and Jim Kelly to do a film, he thought of this one which would be in the vein of the former. He added Richard Roundtree to the mix because he was a close friend and of the popularity of Shaft.
The cast and crew members assembled for this film came together very quickly and filmed within a three week period during the Spring 1982.
According to Fred Williamson, it took six weeks for the film to be edited despite the fact that he was already editing while viewing dailies everyday after filming wrapped for the day.
The sex scene between Fred Williamson and Laura Loftus was edited completely for pacing.
The running gag of Three "The Hard Way" was that Fred Williamson and Jim Brown just kept firing their guns without ever reloading at any point during any of the action sequences which continues in this film. This would also be parodied in the comedy, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka", which featured Brown doing the exact same thing with Kadeem Hardison clearly pointing that out to him as in-joke in which Brown agreed.
James Lemmo who is the film's Director of Photography would work on Fred Williamson's next film, Vigilante, which would begin production months after this film wrapped.
The film's MacGuffin is the money stolen by Mr. Rossi and Mr. Mario for the crooked Martial Arts tournament. We never actually see the money in any way, only the brief case that Mario gives to J in his apartment which contains it.
The money prize for the rigged Martial Arts tournament is $400,000 dollars.
Fred Williamson would star in Vigilante which was Directed by William Lustig a few months after this film was completed. The film would feature Joe Spinell as one of the mobsters part of the rigged tournament who starred in Lustig's cult classic horror film, Maniac.
Daniel Lowenthal who is the film's editor would work on The Big Score which would be released after this film and Vigilante which feature Fred Williamson as the star.
Joe Spinell who plays one of the mobsters associated with the crooked Martial Arts tournament in this film, would be the main villain in The Big Score which would also star Fred Williamson and produced by his company, Po' Boy Productions.
Fred Williamson and Richard Roundtree would go on to star in The Big Score which would be released the following year 1983, after this film was released and around the same time as Williamson's other action film, Vigilante would also be released.
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