Cause of Death: Kung-Fu Moves

I'm sure the IMDB plot outline is the best part of Don Edmond's 1977 action thriller, Bare Knuckles.

"A bounty hunter in Los Angeles sets out to track down and stop a masked serial killer who murders women by using kung-fu moves."

But, on the strength of this trailer, I'm willing to consider that it's a thoughtlessly discarded masterwork on the order of Richard Benjamin's now-celebrated Downtown (about which A.O. Scott recently raved, "Greatness discharges from every frame; as filmgoers, we still aren't ready for it - though I sure am ready for a bath!"):

That brief Gloria Hendry appearance reminds me I just watched Live and Let Die for the first time since Diff'rent Strokes got cancelled.  I know Guy Hamilton is held in very high regards by his peers (mostly because he's a mensch, though he did direct Goldfinger), but how in the hell did his successive combination of Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun not do a Robert Viharo on the franchise?  Those are undoubtedly the three... maybe not worst, but certainly least watchable Bond movies ever made (please mount your Sheriff Pepper defenses in the comments, and know that, regardless, Clifton James did the whole redneck lawman bit better in Superman II, even though he'll always be Sy Orlansky to me). 

As for Bare Knuckles, it's my fervent hope that the movie is wall-to-wall people getting punched in the face by Robert Viharo.  And by "people", I mean everyone:  enemies, friends, children, animals, theater standees, etc.  Should it come up short, that's a script I need to write.  In fact, I want to make a film that sets the world record for most people getting punched in the face period, not just by Robert Viharo, though that'd be a swell benchmark, too.

And, yeah, this all came about because I was looking for a Great White trailer.

Comments

[Matt Lynch]

When I revisited the Bond films some time after I'd seen "The Last Detail", all I wanted was for Roger Moore tell Clifton that he was his favorite turd.

[Dre]

Bond, Unadjusted Bond:
15 Diamonds Are Forever UA $43,819,547
16 You Only Live Twice UA $43,084,787
17 Live and Let Die UA $35,377,836
18 License to Kill UA $34,667,015
19 From Russia, with Love UA $24,796,765
20 On Her Majesty's Secret Service UA $22,774,493
21 The Man with the Golden Gun UA $20,972,000

Golden Gun must have made them rethink, yeah, but Diamonds are Forever and Live and Let Die were hits, probably based on the advertising.

[Devin]

I have still never seen GREAT WHITE. That trailer made me mad about this.

[Dre]

http://www.lfvw.com/last_sharkdvdr.html

If you want to pop the $20, it's yours.