Three The Hard Way

Zatoichi and Yojimbo fans will love this!Shintaro Katsu has aged and put on some weight, but the Zatoichi wry humor is still there, as is his lightning sword-play.Toshiro Mifune remains his Yojimbo double-dealing self.Together, they are lost souls, trying to survive in a miserable world filled with crooks, scoundrels, and murderers. Try as they may, their humanity keeps peeping through.It is refreshing to have enjoyable story plots instead of the continual escalating into stupid absurdity seen in most sequels these days.

Sure Zatoichi has put on a few pounds. Yeah, he broke his sword & his swordplay is @ a minimum. But the plot is intricate, characters rich and animated, the twists and turns, keeps one wondering who the bad guy really is. Toshiro Mifune is his old self, loud, rude and drunk most of the time. The interaction between these two is a joy to watch. And as usual, some pretty Japanese eye candy to balance it all out. Well worth the investment and IMHO one of the best in the series.

Good action film. One of my favorites growing up.

good

White supremacists are trying poison a bunch of black people because..... propaganda. Love this movie

Not the best of the Yojimbo trilogy but still entertaining.

Exactly as Described & arrived on time!

Black Belt Jones is the most enjoyable flick out of the four but a disc & pop corn will kill a couple of hours...

Action packed 70s b movie is.top notch from start to finish. The blu ray adds back footage previously removed fromthe film, including an entire song by The Impressions. If you want escapism, this is for you. Jim Kelley’s best flick.

Love Zatoichi

What’s there not to like? Jim Kelley, coming in hot and hard as Black Belt Jones after triumphing in Bruce Lee films… you get BBJ as the hero, taking out not only the sleazy white mobsters, but also the black proprietor of a pool hall who’s in bed with them.Hong Kong action scenes with poorly choreographed karate, amazing sound effects, and hilarious setups make BBJ a classic. It’s a black Bruce Lee film with an even thinner plot…made up with 70s funk music and some baaaaaaad ass martial arts.Three other films complete the package, each as hokey as the last. Don’t miss this classic collection.

Very entertaining

As a black person I enjoyed watching these classic movies. The theme was always the same, "the man is trying to put a brother down!" The heroes acting abilities weren't that great, and sometimes the lines were pretty corny but they make up for it by giving you plenty of action. To me these were 3 feel good movies of the 70's that I enjoyed watching.

Great service and delivery. The package arrived in great shape.

I had may eye on these foe years, but I never bit because I was hoping for blu-ray releases. Then I thought about Three the Hard Way's subject matter, and I figured that would never come out on BD anytime soon. I also got interested in Jim Kelly films again and Black Belt Jones in particular, when I realized that there is not clean cut of this film, so I decided to bite on this set.Let me start by saying that I have never heard of Hot Potato or Black Samson, but after having watching them, i do recall having seen Hot Potato at a theater that used to run all martial arts related films for $3 for 2 or 4. I do recall the ending of Black Samson, but I believe that I was a baby in the theater. ALL films look clean and near-HD on my set up - except for the main film that I wanted - Black Belt Jones, which looked no better than a copy that you can watch online. THAT was a big disappointment, as it was not even standard home media, direct from the studio quality, it was an exact copy of what you can find online.Three the Hard Way is impossible to find online in any kind of decent quality, so I was forced to buy it. I would have preferred the TV version with the extra 15 minutes, because some portions jump over things, plus I cannot find that version anywhere. All but Jones had that cinematic look on my setup and if they don't make it to BD, they look great for what they are, I just don't understand why Jones got the bootleg treatment.The only other complaint that I might make is, on the case they were supposed to have been double sided DVD's which could mean up to 9gb per side/movie, but we get two discs with both movies on one side, which could be up to 9gb, which means less bitrate/quality per film. I am OK with it since they ended up looking good. I would have given it 5 stars if the quality of Jones matched the others.

I like that fact I was able to find these classic videos in one package. It's two disc with two movies per disc. Ass kicking action!

My family and I have watched 'Zatoichi Meet Yojimbo' several times, now; and we find ourselves belly-laughing at the very same scenes, repeatedly. This film has action, an engaging storyline, and it is surprisingly funny; plus, the great Toshiro Mifune is in it, which makes it even more of a gem. (However, with the violence and all, we do not recommend this film for young children.)

Toshiro Mifune is the greatest actor of all time next to Daniel Day Lewis. Put him in a Zatoichi movie and you can't possibly go wrong.

I love old school movies. These movies are OKI will buy it again.

One of the Greatest Samurai movies of all time

Yojimbo vs zatoichi can’t sake for more. Unless it was Godzilla vs ultra man but we get an awesome action comedy worthy of the characters

I'm really glad that the major studios are still making an effort to make their back catalog available for purchase. I had only ever seen "Three The Hard Way" out of this pack, and not the other three. The two I was most interested in was "Black Belt Jones" and "Black Samson". As far as I know, these films have not been released as standalone on home media before, making this pack one of the only ways to get them. Each film looks good and you get a good value for your purchase.I really liked Black Belt Jones! I had heard the theme that Dennis Coffey did for the film, but I never saw the film due to it's scarcity. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the film is as good as the soundtrack is for it, and it's equally as entertaining. "Black Samson" was alright, and "Hot Potato" was just kind of strange. Overall I would reccomend this to anyone who has an interest in watching other 1970's exploitation films or Jim Kelly.

Product was exactly as advertised, so I have no complaints

The interaction of Shintaro Katsu and Toshiro Mifune is classic. Well written and delivers on excellent swordplay skills. Well worth the rental price.

I’m a big fan of 1970’s blaxploitation films, and purchased this in order to see Three the Hard Way which often appears on “best of” blaxploitation lists. It’s definitely the reason to make the purchase as it’s the most polished of the films included here as it showcases better production values, better choreographed fight scenes, better acting, and more locations; however, I was impressed with Black Samson which has a pretty solid and straight forward plot and was competently directed. Most fans of blaxploitation films hold Black Belt Jones in high regard, but while I like Jim Kelly, I thought the top notch cast was wasted (including Scatman Coruthers). Hot Potato is much derided as it is filled with slapstick and doesn’t know if it wants to be a comedy or martial arts film, but the Thailand locations make it watchable.

Word...

Not the best plot, but having these two actors playing these two characters on the same screen is fun and enjoyable. You really have to watch it once if you're a fan.

If you are a fan of true samurai movies and this is for you.

great movie , nice and clear , great tale and loved the subtitles in different colors for each person, great combination ..

This is the top of the top! Mifune is magnificent as always, phenomenal Katzu next to him. A sentimental ending, for a change.

this is a classic anyone who is into movie , quality themes everything this movie is awesome we can learn a lot from this great director