In some ways ahead of its time, 1974’s Three The Hard Way from Gordon Parks, Jr. was a bit of an “Avengers Assemble” cinematic moment, bringing together some of the most meteoric stars of blaxploitation cinema in one irresistible package. Even the marketing tagline at the time sold this picture as an event around its casting: “Action explodes all over the place, when the big three join forces to save their race”. It’s clearly led by Jim Brown as L.A. record exec Jimmy Lait. When his old friend escapes from a nightmare death camp and, on his deathbed, exposes a diabolical plot to exterminate black folks via a 007 villain-esque bio-weapon that only kills them, Lait has to recruit his best ass kicking friends to save the day and rescue his kidnapped girlfriend Wendy (Sheila Frazier). His first stop is to Chicago for his old friend Jagger Daniels (Fred Williamson), a well-dressed player who takes some convincing. But when a literal army of evil Nazis try to kill them, Jagger is all in with a bullet. Lastly, it’s off to NYC to recruit their kung fu master buddy Mister Keyes (Jim Kelly).
Bond Villain-esque Nazi race killer Monroe Feather (Jay Robinson) has recruited his own mad scientist and they’ve already created a sci-fi looking red elixir they plan to introduce into water supplies in 3 different cities across the US, to begin immediately killing millions of unsuspecting black people. It’s diabolical, over the top, and conveniently divided into 3 batches so each of our heroes can foil plans in each of the three cities.
There’s definitely a major entertainment factor running through the entirety of Three The Hard Way. Eddie Murphy’s version of Rudy Ray Moore, in Dolemite Is My Name, makes an incisive comment at one point in criticism of a mainstream movie: “it’s got no titties, no funny, and no Kung Fu.” Well, Dolemite need not worry about Three The Hard Way, because it aims to please and throws everything and the kitchen sink at its contemporary audiences. Not only do you have these big stars, you’ve got them taking time to bed some ladies, rock the most stylish outfits known to 1974 mankind, roll out in fancy cars, and even do it all set to one of those soundtracks written just for the movie featuring lyrics that talk directly about the plot and characters from the movie from The Impressions. It’s simple entertainment. It sells beautiful black people, black excellence, contemporary music, and yes, even some Kung Fu. And for a 90 minute cinematic romp from Super Fly director Gordon Parks, Jr (himself a rare black director of blaxploitation films), it works.
I couldn’t help but bring a modern lens to it as I revisited Three The Hard Way via this Warner Archive Blu-ray release. And it hit me pretty profoundly that with all the entertainment this film throws out to the audience, from stunt casting, to contemporary soundtrack, to over the top and salacious plotting… it still represents a formula that used to be enough from a major motion picture, but which might not be enough today to make a dent in the cultural zeitgeist. Star vehicles alone aren’t enough in today’s crowded pop culture landscape. A catchy soundtrack featuring an up and coming recording artist might not equate to box office gold. Movies were simpler in 1974 (though humanity itself, race relations, etc, were no less complex). Three The Hard Way is formulaic, but formulas used to work! And it works here! It’s just a depressing feeling I couldn’t shake thinking about how even the “Avengers Assemble” approach that worked in 1974 simply wouldn’t be enough today. Alas, we’ll always have the cinematic legends of the past as long as these classic titles continue to be available to us.
And I’m Out.
Three The Hard Way is available on Warner Archive Blu-ray and features the 97 minute theatrical cut of the film (as opposed to a truncated 89 minute home video version that was apparently widely available for many years) in high definition and a theatrical trailer.
