Cleopatra Jones / Black Belt Jones
The Gap Theatre - Wind Gap, PA
The Mahoning is playing the same Disney double feature tonight that they played yesterday, so it became the perfect opportunity to head out to The Gap for a 35mm double feature of blaxploitation classics.
We had tickets to see The Church on their stop at The Colonial Theater for their 2025 North American Tour, but the whole tour has been postponed to 2026.
The first film of the night was the 1973 Jack Starrett film Cleopatra Jones. The title character, played brilliantly by actress Tamara Dobson, is a badass secret agent who fights to take down international drug cartel, and the corrupt cops who work for them.
The second half of the double feature was the 1974 Robert Clouse film Black Belt Jones. This movie is classified by the vast majority of fans and critics as blaxploitation because of its largely African American cast, but I think it could better be described as a fantastic American kung-fu film.
The Mahoning is playing the same Disney double feature tonight that they played yesterday, so it became the perfect opportunity to head out to The Gap for a 35mm double feature of blaxploitation classics.
We had tickets to see The Church on their stop at The Colonial Theater for their 2025 North American Tour, but the whole tour has been postponed to 2026.
The first film of the night was the 1973 Jack Starrett film Cleopatra Jones. The title character, played brilliantly by actress Tamara Dobson, is a badass secret agent who fights to take down international drug cartel, and the corrupt cops who work for them.
This is a fantastic movie. It's a perfect balance of action and camp with a memorable cast of characters. Shelly Winters is over the top in all the right ways in her role as the drug lord, Mommy, and Antonio Fargas is equally great as one of her underlings, Doodlebug. Bernie Casey is also featured in this film as Cleopatra's lover Reuben Masters. His character is in charge of a place called the B&S House where drug addicts can come to detox and to participate in meetings to ensure that they stay clean. I'll always know Bernie Casey best as the teacher in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, but I just saw him in a starring role a couple of months ago when Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde was screened as the second feature of Schlock-O-Rama IX at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater.
I'd strongly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys fun action films, regardless of their appreciation for the blaxploitation genre.
The second half of the double feature was the 1974 Robert Clouse film Black Belt Jones. This movie is classified by the vast majority of fans and critics as blaxploitation because of its largely African American cast, but I think it could better be described as a fantastic American kung-fu film.
The title character is played by kung fu legend Jim Kelly, who is probably best known for his role alongside Bruce Lee in another Robert Clouse film, Enter The Dragon. In this film, he comes to the defense of a karate dojo run by Pop (Scatman Crothers) when they become a target of the mob who wants to acquire the dojo because they learned that the land is going to skyrocket in value due to an upcoming civic center.
This film has become a cult classic in the decades after its release, and for good reason. It's one of the most entertaining kung fu flicks that I've ever seen. I'm not sure if it would have as wide of an appeal to a casual audience as Cleopatra Jones, but if you're a fan of kung fu, Black Belt Jones is a movie that cannot be missed.
And that's a wrap on tonight's double feature at The Gap. They screened two other blaxploitation films after this one with Tough at 10:00 pm and Hangup at midnight. They showed the trailer for Tough before Cleopatra Jones, and it looked more like an ABC Afterschool Special than a movie that I'd have any interest in seeing. If they showed Hangup at 10:00 instead, I would have stayed, but I headed out after Black Belt Jones.
