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Black Belt Jones

Black Belt Jones

Action · Comedy · Crime · 1974

Jones is a secret agent who has gone into semi-retirement, concentrating instead on teaching the martial arts to inner city youths. The karate school is run by a kindly old coot named Pops. His gambling debts, however, bring the local thug, Pinky, down on him. To make matters worse, Pinky is then hired by some white thugs who want to get a hold of the property Pops' school occupies so they can build a shopping mall. When things get heavy, Black Belt Jones leaps into action. Only he's not alone. Pops' daughter, Sidney, shows up to lend a hand, proving herself every bit as agile and powerful a martial artist as Jones.

Movie details

Black Belt Jones

“He clobbers the mob”

1974 Action · Comedy · Crime 1h 27m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.2 / 10

2.9K votes

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Jones is a secret agent who has gone into semi-retirement, concentrating instead on teaching the martial arts to inner city youths. The karate school is run by a kindly old coot named Pops. His gambling debts, however, bring the local thug, Pinky, down on him. To make matters worse, Pinky is then hired by some white thugs who want to get a hold of the property Pops' school occupies so they can build a shopping mall. When things get heavy, Black Belt Jones leaps into action. Only he's not alone. Pops' daughter, Sidney, shows up to lend a hand, proving herself every bit as agile and powerful a martial artist as Jones.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Black Belt Jones?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Clouse

Written by

Fred Weintraub · Alexandra Rose · Oscar Williams

Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly

Black Belt Jones

Gloria Hendry

Gloria Hendry

Sydney

Scatman Crothers

Scatman Crothers

Pop Byrd

Eric Laneuville

Eric Laneuville

Quincy

Alan Weeks

Alan Weeks

Toppy

A

Andre Philippe

Don Steffano

Vincent Barbi

Vincent Barbi

Big Tuna

Court is in session

Put Black Belt Jones on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.