The Tattoo Connection (1978)

After one of the members of a Chinese gang steals money from the treasury he is brought back by a man named "Tung How" (Tao-Liang Tan) and physically punished on the orders of the boss, "Mr. Lu" (Sing Chen). Not long afterward that same Chinese gang steals a briefcase full of diamonds. Since the diamonds are insured the insurance company sends a man named "Mr. Lucas" (Jim Kelly) to Hong Kong in order to find those responsible and retrieve the diamonds. When he gets there he contacts a friend in the Hong Kong police force. Unfortunately, the Chinese gang finds out about Mr. Lucas and decides to do something about him. But as skilled as they are in martial arts what they don't realize is that Mr. Lucas is more than capable of taking care of himself—and he is intent on getting to the bottom of things. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that for a film that had Jim Kelly--and to a limited extent--Tao-Liang Tan and Bolo Yeung (as "Ta Niu") I honestly expected something a bit better. That's not to say that this film was bad necessarily but it wasn't particularly as good as it could have been either. That being said, I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Things get off to a cracking start in this when a Chinese guy walks casually over to a jeep full of thugs and after giving them some haughty lip (comprising some truly priceless dialogue!), gives them a fine ass whooping! So sets the standard for this ostensibly unrelated sequel to the original Robert Clouse directed blaxploitation classic. The awesomely cool Jim Kelly appears here as an ex CIA operative named Lucas who's mission is to retrieve a priceless diamond that has been stolen by an underworld gang.Yep, as you can probably guess, plenty of kung fu action, prolific nudity and some gems of dialogue inevitably ensue as our ultra cool hero pursues his objective.Whilst an enjoyable enough affair in its own right, it has to be said that this sadly not a patch on the original film. Nonetheless, Kelly is on good form (although sadly dubbed!) and there's enough action to keep ones attention throughout. Best of all though, there are a plethora of unintentionally hilarious scenes on offer all backed by some super groovy seventies music! How much cooler can you get?! Hell, it's enough to make one yearn to don seventies fashion, grow an afro, take to the streets and administer a major ass kicking to societies vermin!

The movie was just pure wacky. The zoom in on their faces just made me laugh. Not a bad movie but the plot was a bit mental but the action was just great, some of the best fight scenes ever are in this movie. I would recommend you watch this movie as it is cool, always something good happening.The Special effects in the movie are not anything special and the sound effects where also pretty bad but the dubbing was pretty good. I liked John Kelly in this movie but he was at his best in Enter the Dragon but still very fit and still kicking ass. The cast is a good cast many famous Chinese actors from all sorts of martial art movies made in china.good movie!

Jim Kelly stars in this action packed kung fu extravaganza of a movie. In a time when kung fu cinema was more abundant in Hong Kong than rice, The Tattoo Connection was just another export of the time. The cinema in Hong Kong at the time did not even touch Hollywood, in terms of actual film quality, with a ten foot pole. However, the kung fu movies from Hong Kong had a big leg up over the States in terms of fight choreography. Under the fight choreography of Bruce Liang, The Tattoo Connection shone out like a bright beacon of Hong Kong cinema. Punch for kick, the fight sequences in this movie were absolutely awesome. Back when the genre of kung fu movies was an accepted category, there were two basic kinds: those taking place in the 70's and 80's, and those taking place in feudal Japan and China. Every movie, regardless of when it took place has the same basic stereotypes and formulas. The bad guy boss, and his henchmen, the bad guy turned good, the hero, and the two faced 'good guy'. This movie was no exception, it filled all of these categories, however the main bad guy does not have any odd deformities like so many of them did (but he did wear sunglasses). However, unlike every other kung fu movie, this was not a revenge story. Most kung fu movies the protagonist is seeking revenge on the bad guy boss for something that happened during his childhood. This story stands alone in a very unique way, the protagonist (Jim Kelly, Enter The Dragon, The Black Samurai) is a hired man, seeking the return of some stolen diamonds for an American insurance company. From a technical aspect, the movie does not offer much. There are bright colours, usually lacking in Kung Fu movies, and the uses of extreme close ups are way overdone. The sound in the movie was, well, less than par is a nice way of putting it. It was poorly dubbed, and Jim Kelly's character's voice is dubbed by another man, not the same, compared to the cool and calm voice of Enter The Dragon ('When it comes I wouldn't have to worry about it… I'll be busy lookin' good'). They did, however, manage to get the timing of the dubbing relatively well but, the fact that the people selected to dub the movie, save Kelly's dubber, all had British accents did not help the believability of the movie, although the story was not too believable either. On the box it says something along the lines of, watch Jim Kelly get sucked into a world of hookers and prostitutes because of a stolen diamond. Although, during the movie, Kelly is seeking it out, going to strip clubs and inviting the dancers back to his hotel room. Well, what can you expect from a 70s action, kung fu, drama, blaxploytation movie? The music, however, was totally cool, the wet funky theme music brought the movie to a level of cool unequaled by any other Hong Kong cinema production.It is still no Shaft theme, but cool none the less. Sound effects in kung fu movies are usually limited to the whacks and thunks of punching and kicking. This movie, along with every other kung fu flick, could not get the timing down. There would be a foonk with no punch thrown, and a whap with no kick, and the same the other way, a kick and punch with no sound. Overall though, much like another huge Chinese export, the sound quality was grainy, and I found myself straining to hear what was being said in some instances. The true great quality of this movie is the level of 'coolness' emanating from the movie. It really achieved a 'wow, I want to be as cool as him' feel, which few other movies can broadcast. Aside from the cheesy antics, and less than perfect acting, this is one gem of Hong Kong cinema that should be on everybody's too watch list. 'That's why they call me the six million dollar man.'