THE DYNAMITE BROTHERS (1974)
Director: Al Adamson
Brentwood

Al Adamson toyed with every exploitation genre possible, and at certain points in his career, he's been known to blend them together. By the mid 70s, the blaxploitation and kung fu crazes were the most popular of their type, and so was born THE DYNAMITE BROTHERS. Originally playing in certain ethic vicinities as "Stud Brown," the film's new DVD packaging hypes the tagline, "Before RUSH HOUR there was..." confirming the film as the first pairing of an Asian martial arts star and an African-American action star as a team.

Alan Tang plays Larry Chin, a young martial arts expert who comes to the U.S. searching for his long lost brother. The brother may or may not be living, and we learn through a series of red-tinted flashbacks that Chin's love had been killed back home. Chin gets arrested for not having his papers and gets handcuffed to a brawny black man, Stud Brown (Timothy Brown of NASHVILLE fame). They easily flee the moronic cops, but instead of the expected DEFIANT ONES-type hostility, the pair get along fine from the start and operate as a team for the rest of the movie.

The action moves from San Francisco's Chinatown to the streets of Watts, here represented by an empty Hollywood lot with only a dumpy bar being active. It's there that they meet Smiling Man (Don Oliver), the nicest, most socially conscious pimp in cinema history. Being against narcotics, Smiling Man is in conflict with a local Chinese drug lord, Tuen, played by veteran character actor James Hong (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA). Tuen has a connection to the whereabouts of Chin's lost brother, and is also in alliance with a corrupt police captain, Burke.

Burke is played by the legendary, gravely voiced Aldo Ray, an actor who in his career accumulated as many bad movie credits as John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell. Burke is on the take and benefits from a nice house and a flashy young wife who likes to swim naked in their in-the-ground pool. Burke is also a racist, addressing the other characters as "nigger," "chink" and "slant eyes," making for some racy dialog in the notorious Jack Hill tradition. Carol Speed (ABBY) is a mute(!) prostitute who becomes Stud's women. Given the challenging role, she's here billed with class as "Carolyn Ann Speed" and for a change has to overact with her big mouth shut.

THE DYNAMITE BROTHERS is solid proof that Adamson could handle action/adventure films with great flair. There are kung fu fights, shootouts, car chases, explosions, deadly snakes and an over-the-top script. Al even throws in some female flesh and a bit of gore: As Razor, Al Richardson likes to dice people up using his namesake! This is basically just good drive-in era entertainment that really lives up to its name.

Brentwood has presented THE DYNAMITE BROTHERS on DVD with a full frame transfer, but it looks like it should've been offered in the more common 1.85:1 ratio. There is far too much headroom, and the sides look a bit cramped -- but still, the composition is not that bad. The colors look very stable and the film source is in excellent shape, but there is much grain in the picture which also appears soft at times. The mono sound plays fine with no noticeable defects.

There are no extras on the disc, so a Sam Sherman commentary is missed (perhaps he didn't have any significant comments to offer for this film). Instead, Brentwood just lets the title take the front seat, and with the attractive packaging and nice transfer at hand, that's enough to recommend the disc. (George R. Reis)

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