- J. Torres
- Aug 29
- 4 min read
Most martial artists know that Fred Weintraub served as producer of Enter the Dragon, the 1973 Bruce Lee blockbuster. What few know is that Weintraub, even though he doesn’t regard himself as a martial artist, has a laudable track record in fight filmmaking.
He’s produced a slew of other movies, many of which boasted notable Hollywood stars. Here’s a partial list with some of Weintraub’s fondest memories — and comments from Black Belt’s resident cinema expert.
BLACK BELT JONES (1974)
This blaxploitation movie features Enter the Dragon co-star Jim Kelly in his first starring role. Gloria Hendry and Scatman Crothers are also part of the cast. Weintraub served as producer and writer for the action comedy.
The filming resulted in plenty of fond memories for Weintraub — even 40 years later — and most of them involved the karate star.
“The part at the car wash where Jim Kelly dumps [the bad guys] into the garbage can is a wonderful scene,” Weintraub says.
Critical opinion: “Jim Kelly gives more nods to Bruce Lee than a bobblehead doll,” says Dr. Craig D. Reid, author of The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s. “He fights, walks, creeps, screams and wields escrima sticks and a rubber hose like Lee. It’s an homage to the max.”
JAGUAR LIVES! (1979)
This actioner stars Joe Lewis, as well as Christopher Lee and Donald Pleasance. Weintraub, who worked as producer, says Lewis was an impressive martial artist.
“Joe Lewis was hoping to get the mantle from Bruce Lee,” Weintraub says. “Obviously, that didn’t quite work — no disrespect to Lewis.”
Critical opinion: Early American martial arts films tended to cast real champions as the heroes, but that was often problematic because few of them could act well or do convincing film fights, Reid says.
THE BIG BRAWL (1980)
Also known as Battle Creek Brawl, this motion picture stars Jackie Chan and Jose Ferrer. To date, it’s earned more than $8.5 million. Weintraub served as producer and is credited with providing the story.
“Jackie is wonderful,” Weintraub says. “He’s terrific. Whenever I see him, it’s hugs and kisses. The only problem with Jackie is he loves to do the impossible. For one scene in The Big Brawl, Jackie was ready to jump 50 feet into a bunch of boxes — that was before we had [crash] pads. We had to scream for him to come down because we didn’t want him to get hurt. He wanted to do the stunt, but we brought him down to the first level, which made it a 6-foot jump. We put the camera underneath him and got the shot — and it looked the same.”
Critical opinion: “[Director Robert] Clouse believed that Jackie could be a Hollywood star if American audiences related to him the way they related to Bruce Lee, but it didn’t work,” Reid says. Eventually, Chan became famous in America by being Jackie Chan, not by trying to mimic Lee, Reid adds.
FORCE: FIVE (1981)
An ensemble cast of major martial artists — including Lewis, Bong Soo Han, Richard Norton and Benny Urquidez — were on board with Weintraub as producer.
“Richard Norton I’ll always remember,” Weintraub says. “He’s a good guy, one of the unsung heroes of martial arts films.”
Critical opinion: “The trick to doing a good action film with legitimate martial arts stars is having adversaries who are just as skilled, and when that happens, the fights are more engaging to the audience,” Reid says. “However, the heroes and villains of Force: Five looked like they were doing another day of training at the dojo.”
GYMKATA (1985)
Kurt Thomas, Norton and a cast of lesser-known actors teamed up for this film, which attempted to combine martial arts and gymnastics. Weintraub was hired as producer. The movie wound up earning $5.7 million, but production costs exceeded $8 million.
“I loved the idea, and it would have worked because everything was good, including the script,” Weintraub says. “And then they hired an Olympic gymnast who did great stunts but who wasn’t an actor. He was a nice kid, but it was impossible to get anything out of him.”
Critical opinion: “Considering that great Chinese kung fu films at the time featured stars with strong acrobatic skills, it made sense to cast Kurt Thomas in Gymkata,” Reid says. “But to specifically craft fight scenes around his gymnastic abilities and handy, gymnastic apparatus that ‘blended in’ with the environment was contrived.”
Trivia note: “Gymkata is the martial arts film I get the most mail about,” Weintraub says. “I figure in about 25 years, some guy will remake it.”
CHINA O’BRIEN and CHINA O’BRIEN II (1990)
Back in the 1970s and ’80s, female action stars in Hollywood were unheard of. In Hong Kong, however, an American martial artist named Cynthia Rothrock had carved a name for herself. In 1990 she teamed up with Norton and Keith Cooke for two China O’Brien films. Once again, Weintraub was producer.
“Cynthia was really the first American woman to play the lead in an action movie,” Weintraub says. “We shot the two movies at the same time — we had to do that to save money. I think both of them turned out nice, and they ended up making a bit of money.”
Critical opinion: China O’Brien and China O’Brien II benefited from the combined Hong Kong martial arts filmmaking experience of Rothrock and Norton, Reid says. “They had the capacity to be good American martial arts films. Rothrock and Norton were impressive in their Hong Kong movies, but they fell short in these films.”
