In my career I’ve worked on a ton of movies — big budget, low budget, made for TV, direct-to-video…you name it and I’ve done work on it.  In spite of all the bigger flicks I’ve worked on, my absolute favorite experiences were on the set of the micro-budget film, “Bite Me, Fanboy.” 

BMF was shot and put together on a shoestring budget — although, on the money we had to do it I doubt we could have actually affored to buy shoestrings — and filmed late at night on the weekends for about 6 weeks.  I believe we had about 14 days or so of shooting.  The majority of the film was shot at Comic Relief in Berkeley, California, which was a lot of fun to get to do.

Anyway, I’ll talk more about the flick in upcoming posts, but to start I’ve posted a copy of the Blooper Reel from the “Bite Me, Fanboy” DVD release.  It’ll give you an idea of the blast we all had while filming.

Oh, and before I forget, you can purchase the “Bite Me, Fanboy” DVD at the Nifty Comics Store.  Check it out!

-NiftyMat, Professional Nerd
http://www.thenfitynerd.com

Black Belt Jones
Directed by: Robert Clouse
Screenplay by: Alex Ross, Fred Weintraub and Oscar Williams
Starring: Jim Kelly, Gloria Hendry, Scatman Crothers, Eric Laneuville, Alan Weeks, Malik Carter
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rated: NR
Release Date: 1974
DVD Release: Blax Film

Earlier this week I received a copy of one of my favorite films of all times, Black Belt Jones. I’ve been dying to get this flick on DVD for more than 10 years now - since I wore out my old VHS copy. Now, I found it on Amazon and I’m not completely sure where the DVD came from. As far as I can tell there has been no official DVD release of the film, but the copy I received in the mail is a fairly nice transfer from a company called “Blax Film” and judging from the cover art may have originally been an Asian release or bootleg. The only real downside to the DVD is there are absolutely no extras aside from trailers for some other flicks.

Bootleg or not, it’s great to have Black Belt Jones on DVD. I believe Black Belt Jones to be one of the greatest of the so-called Blaxsploitation films of the 1970s and the forerunner of the modern action film. Watching Jim Kelly in Black Belt Jones gives a great look back at the source of the Arnold/Stallone/Segal/Van Damme/Whoever action flicks of the 80s, 90s and today. It is one of the original sources and originators of all of the bits that eventually became cliches in modern action movies, down to the pithy one-liners. It’s a shame that a film that was such an influence on modern action movies has become forgotten. Read More »