Death Promise (1977)

Variety magazine is to blame, for they coined the phrase, they made the name… “Chopsocky.”

This was the term, used to describe the martial arts craze prevalent in America during the 1960 and ’70s. During this period in time, Bruce Lee “entered the dragon,” Karl Douglas had everyone kung fu fighting and every kid in America without training though he was a ninja or black belt.

A perfect depiction of the chopsocky craze can be seen in the movie BOOGIE NIGHTS. You know that flick with the kid “Eddie Adams” from Torrence. Eddie Adams’s alter ego was Dirk Diggler. Dirk Diggler had giant Bruce Lee photo montage in his room, Bruce Lee posters and he’d stand in front of his mirror practicing
karate moves he’s seen in movies.

Dirk Diggler had a dojo in his house and he would tell people that he would use his “karate” if he had too. When upset, he gets into a stance, ready to deliver his most serious kick. Dirk Diggler loves Karate.

At the tale end of this hysteria during the late ’70s, Dirk Diggler went to a theater and he watched DEATH PROMISE, a movie that was created at the apex of this era.

As soon as DEATH PROMISE starts, you get a sense of what you’re in store for. The eponymous blaxploitation theme, collaborates with establishing shots of New York City’s skyline and Central Park. It instantly creates a sense of a forgotten and missed New York City.

The story goes like this, a group of corrupt landlords, get on some urban renew shit, they want their tenants out of the buildings, so “some deal” can go down, and they can get millions. They resort to unethical tactics, like trying to burn down the building, rat infestation and eventually coercion. They run into a problem, with their tenant Charles Roman, who at the time, was the real life black belt and Bronx fighter, Charles Bonet.

Charlie and his sidekick Speedy successfully thwart the efforts of hired hands, and the landlords realize that Charles Roman is a potential problem.

This movie is so chopsocky… like remember how everyone in the bad guy’s gang just seemed to know martial arts? Or remember those movies where all of the bad guys would be on some, “let’s forget using our guns shit and just fight with our hands?” DEATH PROMISE is a culmination of all of those moments.

Charlie is sent on a mission to train with “the big master,” known as Master Ying, who is actually long-time martial arts movie veteran Tony Liu. Master Ying refines Charlie’s skills through a series of scenes that has Charlie catching flies with chopsticks and throwing shuriken into apples.

The corrupt landlords are those diabolical world conquering types, you know, the ones with a giant map of the world in their office, who sit around toasting to their endeavors, while some mysterious person is in a giant chair stroking his kitty cat. There is also the obligatory black landlord who just so happens to sell drugs.

This is a great martial arts film, but great for all the wrong reasons. It is one where if you removed the fighting, it would automatically become the worst drama, suspense or action film of the year but because it is a chopsocky flick, we love it. How can you not like a movie where someone has a shuriken thrown into their neck? Or how can you not love a movie with a mysterious Yakuza boss, who wields a samurai sword?

This movie also has one of the best endings I’ve ever seen in any martial arts film, meaning that it’s so bad, you’ll laugh hysterically and wonder what the director was thinking.

The martial arts action is enjoyable, and absolutely necessary, because the script comes across as something that was sown together with schemes from every blaxploitation and chopsocky flick that failed.

However, this is a necessary movie in your archive. You’ll find reflections of “THE KARATE KID and THE LAST DRAGON when watching this film. This movie has been on the shelf way too long. To many martial arts writers have been influenced by it but never reference it when discussing films that influenced them.

Last night, after I watched DEATH PROMISE, I got on some Dirk Diggler shit, I took off all of my clothes and stood in front of my full length mirror wearing my underpants. I went through a series of moves that I had learned while watching Charles Bonet. I then looked at myself and said, “yeah…that’s right!”

Dirk Diggler loves karate.