Bogard (1975) User Reviews

Are you a joker, Leeroy?

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 16 June 2014]

Leeroy Fisk is a hard case street fighter with a mighty afro, a pregnant wife, a mistress and no money at all. What's a brother who doesn't want to work for the white man to do? Except work for the white man as a street fighter. Leeroy starts working for mid-level gangster Logan, and after a quick training montage is out dealing knuckle suppers to other street fighters in return for a load of the green, which he either gives to his wife or his mistress if his wife isn't talking to him. I also thought he had a kid but then I'm not sure because to be honest the editing in this film is a bit choppy to say the least.

Anyway, Leeroy's finally getting some cash, so of course a crooked (white) cop turns up to put the squeeze on him. This guy was named after a brand of beer so that was cool. Leeroy's not cool with this, especially when he discovers that the cop is giving the money back to Logan. Working for the white man is a compromise Leeroy's had to make, but discovering that the white man he's working for is getting more money from the white cop that's taking the other white man's money off of Leeroy is too much, so he plots to get the once over on the lot of them, involving blackmail, fedora hats, funk and afros.

This doesn't work out too well for Leeroy, because the mob go all Tony Arzenta on his arse. Scratch one pregnant wife and finally the film takes off a bit as Leeroy goes nuts and decides to take down the mob and everyone involved with them.

Filled with so many uses of the N word you'd swear Tarantino wrote the script and sent it back in time, Black Fist is an ultra low budget film that kind of ticks along for a while before the revenge plot takes off. Although it looks as if it cost about twelve dollars to make, this is one of those films where every white guy is evil, all the women get slapped around or killed, and the soundrack is totally funky and enjoyable (probably the best part to be honest). As I said the editing is choppy as hell, the sound varies depending on where the characters are (one scene takes place in a toilet and the reverb makes it hard as hell to understand what's being said), and one main character kind of just disappears towards the end.

It was slow to get going, but it was good enough.

what truly deserves to be remembered here is Lawsons performance

[winner55 · 6/10 · 22 May 2007]

Richard Lawson has done most of his work for TV, which is too bad. In "Black Fist", Lawson is the diamond-in-the-rough that saves this movie from its low-budget woes. His performance is excellent, and keeps us watching just to see his character unfold.

Another reviewer complained that the surviving print of this film, available on video, is a hatchet job for re-release, possibly to television. That explains frequent continuity gaffs that comprise the film's worst failings.

Some of the other actors are pretty limp; the low-budget cinematography clearly shows effort, but can't get around the fact that the director's ambitions outpaced his available technology. The script gets trite on occasion, although there are also some very strong lines of dialog, and the story is pretty good.

But what truly deserves to be remembered here is Lawsons performance. It's a shame that Hollywood has wasted the potential of men and women of real talent just because of their skin color or ethnicity.

Fair Revenge Flick

[VonCouch · 5/10 · 14 September 2006]

To summarize, Black Fist is about a low-rent street tough named Leroy Fisk who is brought into the world of a black market (no pun intended) street fighting ring. He does well until he refuses to be the white leader's stable boy anymore and wants out. The gang leader then kills his family as a goodbye present, and Leroy has to get revenge on the crime syndicate one by one.

The film itself isn't great. The story is simple and drags from time to time, and the ending is a bit weird. The lighting, as with many Blaxploitation films, leaves much to be desired. But still, all those things aside, this film is surprisingly watchable. The street fights, although no Sonny Chiba or Bruce Lee, are handled well for the most part. And I guess I'm just a sucker for a good revenge flick. So if you're in the mood for some Blaxploitation that you can actually sit through, give this film a shot. Trust me, I've seen much much worse.

From Bogard to Black Fist

[pstro · 3/10 · 10 April 2007]

I saw Bogard when it was released in the 70s. It was one of those pictures that received an X rating for violence. We snuck into our local grindhouse, and saw it anyway. Pretty good picture. Lots of blood from the street fights, although the cheap sound effects for the punches took something away from it. And lots of sex. I remember one of the early scenes when Bogard meets this pretty brunette in an apartment she is showing him. Without saying a word, he picks her up, puts her in the windowsill and nails her. From what I remember the picture sailed from that point on. So, when I found out Bogart is also called Black Fist and was available on VHS, I ordered it online. I was very disappointed. Black Fist is Bogard edited for television. So many of the scenes I remember were missing, I wondered if indeed, this was the same picture.

There was a decent blaxploitation movie in here somewhere, but it's buried in the edit

[lemon_magic · 3/10 · 8 December 2007]

I think I win the "bargain" contest for this movie, since I got it as part of a "Martial Arts Movie Classics" DVD collection with 50 movies for 20 bucks, which means I paid something like 50 cents for the chance to watch the "Black Fist" version of a movie that was released as "Bogard."

For a basic "revenge" flick, "Black Fist" isn't too bad, even though it is obviously hampered by a low budget. One of my informal "rules of thumb" for watching a movie is that if the lead actor is better than his production and screenplay, the movie automatically gets at least three stars. That is certainly the case here; Lawson has some presence and some charisma, and probably deserved a better film career than he got.

The street fight choreography (the ostensible reason for the film) really won't to impress anyone who has ever sparred in a martial arts school or even just been punched in a schoolyard fight. I only spent about two years learning basic kung fu, but even I would never fall for the front "stamp" kicks, arm drags, and roundhouse punches on display here. But the atmosphere is good - dust and blood and shouting crowds, and the actors put some feeling into the fight scenes.

Less believable is the plot. Dawson's character "Leroy Fisk", is portrayed as a street-smart, sharp young man who goes looking for work as a pick-up fighter in illegal, unsanctioned street matches. Yet he is surprised and indignant when he has to pay off the cops? Excuse me, but I was raised in small town Iowa and even *I* knew (from watching "Hard Times" with Charles Bronson) that the cops have to be paid off for this sort of action, and that the guys who fight needed the fixers in order to get their matches, and that the fixers were worth the money. So you have to watch this movie with a sort of willful suspension of your critical faculties in order to accept it as a "black brother being repressed" movie. (Most of the other non-black fighters in the stable get punched in the face for the same deal too,yes?).

The movie suffers from a short attention span. The director obviously didn't have the budget to film some of the scenes he needed, so he had to fill in the gaps with some fairly ludicrous exposition scenes (The "I wined him, I dined him, and then I killed him" scene just doesn't work) along with voice-overs and montages that are clumsy and unconvincing. This is especially true with the whole romance angle which seems to have been filmed as if it were an afterthought. This is a little shoddy when you consider that the death of "Fisk's" wife's death is supposed to fuel his drive for revenge.

But, once the movie switches all the way from "young fighter rising through the ranks" to the revenge theme, it picks up a little steam and plays with a little more conviction. I'm not sure that the final payoff is worth the buildup - Roger Ebert calls this sort of thing "a long drive for a short day at the beach"..but it does tie things off in a reasonably satisfying way.

If Sylvester Stallone had made this film with a real budget and the same cast, slicker sets and costumes, and himself as the hero, people would have hailed it as the next "Rocky", which goes to show you how circumstance and chance can play havoc with would-be filmmakers' dreams.

Worth seeing once for various decent shots and lines and to watch Dabney Coleman embarrass himself in a role that is beneath him.

Horrible, unfunny except for the part with Avon

[partymachine221 · 1/10 · 31 January 2001]

I got this movie in a bargain bin, hoping for an amusingly bad flick. Boy was I disappointed. (except for avon.) You see, the movie is indeed horrible, but so horrible, it isn't even laughable. The plot, oh wait, there is no plot. I suppose you could say it's about the main character rising up in the ranks of street fighting. At the end of the movie, the directors decided to either not make any more sense, or, more likely, died and had a monkey finish directing the movie. DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ENDING SPOILED! although the ending doesn't really spoil anything. The main character somehow ends up in a room filled with mirrors, a la Enter The Dragon, and then gets real angry, has stupid flashback, and hits a mirror. The end. Wheeee.

The only redeeming factor of this movie was Avon's scene. He's talking to the rival street fighting boss and says something along these lines, completely deadpan: "Do not worry about him anymore sir. I have killed him in a sophisticated manner. I wined him, I dined hm, we went to a disco. We was havin a lot of fun. And then I killed him." at which point the boss says "good work avon. You're number 1." And avon says "Number 1! Alllriiiiight! Alriiight!" The scene continues with avon continuing to say "alllrriiiight!" over and over. The next scene is of a dead Avon floating in a pool. Intelligent? I think not.

Lastly, I own the "Homeboy" version of this movie, meaning the title on the box I own is "Homeboy." It shows a huge guy holding a giant gun and screaming. This never happens in the movie. This man is never in the movie. High quality.

Note--I am new to this reviewing, but hell yes I am going to keep it up.

We should start a blaxploitation movie watcher club

[drtturner · 15 October 2006]

I actually bested an earlier writer's bargain by buying this brand new in a shrink wrap for $1 at a dollar store. I regret that the cover art is a close up face pic that is generic and close up to where he looks like anybody else with an Afro and full mustache. I much more prefer the super hero pic that is sported on this page. The movie was middling, not as stellar as Shaft, Truck Turner and Superfly, but certainly above Fred Williamson's Joashua AKA Black Rider, which had it's potential retarded by one of the most inept music scores of all time. Black Fist has a competent soundtrack moving from a Liza Minelli/ Barbara Streisand sound alike crooning an opening homage to the lead character then moving to lush instrumentals with violins that would have made Barry White proud. The lead star looks familiar. In my case, I recently saw him in Burt Reynold's Stick, but I was surprised to find that he has only treaded on notoriety playing in many TV shows. He is somewhat similar to the guy who played on WXRP in Cinncinatti as well as The Brother from the Love Boat, which also makes him seem familiar. I thought his hero was decent with the exception of an opening scene that seemed out of character in which he stuttered when first confronted but then nonsensibly and unexplainably he was confident and confrontational seconds later ( a blooper perhaps). Speaking of bloopers, there is a scene early on when the Gerald Levert looking henchman pulls a gun on Leroy and behind him and clearly in site you see a second yes man who has a gun pointed at the Levert lookalike. It is subtle, but makes no sense 1 henchman pointing a gun at his partner. Perhaps improvised by an overzealous actor who wanted to extend his limited screen time. The actress who plays the love interest is more than adequate for an overall good film.

The storyline was inconsistent but I enjoyed waiting to see what's going to happen next to Lawson's character, who was awesome in this.

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 9 June 2021]

Black Fist (1975) is a movie I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline is about a man who has survived in the streets and believes he can make the money he deserves and start his own business by becoming a street fighter. He thinks once he has enough money to start his own business it will be easy to get out of the street fighter business...he's wrong. This movie was directed by Timothy Galfas (Sunnyside) and stars Richard Lawson (Poltergeist), Denise Gordy (Toy Soldiers), Philip Michael Thomas (Miami Vice) and Annazette Chase (The Mack). There's some good elements to this choppy film. I really liked his messaging and side bar conversations to make it on his own without the white man's help. I thought it was interesting throughout the movie how his wife's desire was to survive and his was to succeed. The slang and soundtrack was also entertaining and fun. The storyline was inconsistent but I enjoyed waiting to see what's going to happen next to Lawson's character, who was awesome in this. I would score this a 6-6/5/10.

LA Grey indeed!! (WATCH FOR SPOILERS)

[HowardBParks · 5/10 · 17 December 2004]

This movie was good except for the ending. It stars Richard Lawson as the main character, Leroy Fisk. Also Dabney Coleman is in rare form as Heineken (not to be confused with the beer), a crooked cop. Also you see Philip Michael Thomas (of "Miami Vice" fame) in here as a wino. The plot is that Leroy is a street fighter working for the mafia, which includes a bumbling black henchman named Avon. One of the funniest lines came from Avon in the beginning when the boss meets Leroy for the first time when he says, "I'll show you what a brother like me can do for a brother like you!" trying to be tough. Heineken, the crooked cop mentioned before, tries to get his cut of the pay from Leroy. It turns out the cop and the mob boss are in cahoots and Leroy wants out. (HERE COMES THE SPOILERS, SO PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW THIS TURNS OUT STOP READING NOW!!! YOU BEEN WARNED!!!) Well after earning a load of money from his last fight, Leroy buys a club and one night, his brother-in-law pays him a visit. But things take a turn for the worse when Leroy's car gets bombed, but his wife and brother-in-law are in the car. Leroy swears revenge on the mob boss. Heineken also gets his by Leroy locking him up in a meat locker at a butchery, virtually freezing him to death. (BIG SPOILER COMING UP!!!) This is where the movie takes a really bad turn. The mob boss's rival tell Leroy that everything has been taken care of and that he's #1 now. Leroy ends up wrestling with the guy who shoots himself accidentally while grabbing for his gun. Then Leroy starts to lose it and have flashbacks of all the events that led to this and he starts punching mirrors all over the place, and that's it. Nothing else. In closing this movie is good up to the end and then it just get's stupid.

Fun Movie, Terrible Ending--SPOILERS

[bean-d · 4/10 · 11 March 2011]

"Black Fist" (1975) is a fun action movie that fizzles in the end. It's as if the filmmakers hadn't written an ending for the film, or maybe they just ran out of energy or money when it came time to wrap up the film. A white Mafioso kills the pregnant wife of a successful black street fighter, Leroy Fisk, after Fisk takes his winnings, leaves the fighting scene, and opens a bar. Fisk vows revenge and begins to kill off the boss' men one by one. The white Mafioso, all the while, is made out to be a disgusting, brutal thug, torturing his junkie girlfriend even after she gives him useful information against Fisk. These scenes, of course, whet our appetite for the eventual bloody confrontation we assume will happen between Fisk and the Mafioso. Not so. In the end, an even higher-ranking Mafioso kills him, and he does so off screen, and then he tells Fisk about it. (You see, he wants to hire Fisk to run part of his organization because he's such an efficient killer.) Fisk is obviously ticked off--as are we--and he dispatches with the man in about three second of screen time and the movie ends. While very anticlimactic, "Black Fist" is still a good low-budget blaxploitation ride.

Good Flick.

[ving13 · 8/10 · 10 June 2000]

I bought this as a clearance video for $3. This movie certainly has a certain charm about it. Richard Lawson's portrayal of Fisk reminds me a lot of Samuel L. Jackson's character Jules in Pulp Fiction. Dabney Coleman is also excellent as the scummy, corrupt cop. Some of the violent scenes are rather realistic and unsettling without resorting to gore. Production values are a little weak in spots but if you're a fan of 'blaxploitation' films or the '70's you'll enjoy this flick.

Watchable Obscure Movie

[arfdawg-1 · 5/10 · 26 April 2014]

To make money, a Los Angeles street-fighter goes to work for gangsters.

Wow. Porn music. Porn Direction. And originally rated X.

This is some real obscure blaxpoltation flick. With Dabney Coleman no less!!!!

The movie is VERY 70s. The homes they shoot in a re so 70s.

The movie starts with a white mobster getting his haircut in a black barbershop!

Leroy becomes a street fighter fighter for money in junk yards roof tops, etc. Nuts. How are they making money off this The lemon aid stand?

Not really sure why this movie was rated X when it came out. Not much blood or nudity.

Anyway...surprisingly, it's a watchable movie. I was very surprised.

Lacks A Certain Everything

[Theo Robertson · 2/10 · 1 August 2010]

" Blaxploitation " was a short lived action genre from the early 1970s made with an eye to making a profit from a black audience hence films like SHAFT where said black audience could relate to the characters and situation . Ironically the producers of these films were white and in a great number of the lesser quality films you'd believe the only knowledge they have of blacks is via BIRTH OF A NATION . This blackploitation flick known under several different tiles such as BOGARD , BLACK FIST or BLACK STREETFIGHTER gives the impression that the makers not only don't know any black people but that they don't know anyone capable of making a halfway mediocre film

This is incompetent film making on every level . You know when a film starts and the theme song alone has you thinking that things possibly get worse but they do . The film starts with the protagonist and his homie going to see a mafia gangster in a barber shop :

" What's your name boy ? "

" Lee. Leroy "

Which suggests that the actor has fluffed his line and the production company couldn't afford a retake . Actually of every technique involving the production it's the editing that stands out as the worse . It really is painfully bad with no sequential logic behind it which seems to interfere with the time frame The movie has no rhythm and scenes start and end with no sound and dialogue ends in mid sentence . . That said when you've lines like

" Nigga you gonna make one more jive about me being a punk I'm gonna put your feeble ass thru that mirror "

maybe it's a good idea to delete the lines . Especially when they delivered with all the passion of people reading out their groceries list . I mean when you've got a character apologising for raising his voice in a scene where he doesn't actually raise his voice you can tell this movie isn't going to win any Oscars

That said there is two stand out performances in the film BOTH of them by Philip Michael Thomas as firstly Fletch , Leroy's main man and later as Boom Boom a Latino drug dealer and pimp . Okay both the performances are over the top but they are entertaining in a film lacking deliberate entertainment

This is a film lacking a certain everything and the fact that its official title is BOGARD and unless I missed something there's nothing on screen to give an indication of why the film is called this sums up how badly produced it is

Two movies in one

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 3 July 2019]

Black Fist is - like Spookies - really two movies in one. It's a combination of the films Bogard - originally rated X for some steamy sex scenes that were chopped out here - and another called Get Fisk. The Greek producers of the former movie had illegally financed the film, so producers William Larrabure and Richard Kaye did some surgery and ended up with a film that's kind of all over the place but still has some interesting moments. I can also add to the confusion by sharing the fact that New Line re-released this movie as The Black Streetfighter.

Leroy Fisk (Richard Lawson, Poltergeist) is a fighter for mob boss Logan (Robert Burr), enduring that man's racism while providing for his family. Heineken (Dabney Coleman!) is a racist cop who demands that Leroy cut him in on his action. Our hero just wants to earn money for a club and provide for his family.

Even when he's a success, training to become a better fighter and beating the hell out of his opponent (Hard Boiled Haggerty) and throwing Logan onto the man's bloody body, the white men won't let him get away with it. A car bomb is meant for our hero, but kills his wife and brother-in-law. Of course, he's going to get revenge.

Look for Edward James Olmos in his first role, a quick cameo as a junkie, and Phillip-Michael Thomas playing two different pimp characters (one assumes that the blending of the two movies led to this occurrence).

Bogard

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 11 December 2017]

Leroy Fisk (Richard Lawson) goes to work as a street fighter for Logan (Robert Burr), back when the first rule of fight club was to let everybody know so they can pay to gamble. Leroy becomes successful and catches the eye of Policeman Heineken played by Dabney Coleman a character actor we love to hate (Franklin M. Hart Jr. "9 to 5"). Heineken shakes him down for money. When Leroy can't get out, he fights back.

The acting was bad as was the restoration of my copy. Some good fist throwing, but not much plot.

Guide: F-word, sex, nudity.

blaxploitation

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 15 February 2015]

Leroy Fisk (Richard Lawson) tries his hand in street fighting but loses his first fight. His woman doesn't want to talk to him. So he goes to another lady. Heineken (Dabney Coleman) is a cop and also a big underground fight promoter. He wants his share.

This is straight up blaxploitation. There isn't much of a story. The fight action is mostly brawling street fights. It has some limited appeal in its low grade amateur fun. Lawson is fine for the lead. He has some charisma which goes a long way. There are some interesting names in this. Overall, it's not one I would recommend other than for obsessive fans of the genre.

Fairly limited Blaxploitaion effort

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 27 August 2016]

A black guy from L.A. becomes a prize fighter for the mob. After an initial good working relationship, he becomes unhappy when he learns they are exploiting him. He leaves their organisation but the gangsters kill his wife in retaliation, resulting in him seeking violent revenge.

This Blaxploitation movie seems to have two different versions. The original version, entitled Bogard, was seemingly so ram packed with sex and violence that it attained an X rating, however, the version most readily available nowadays goes under the Black Fist moniker and this one was re-edited down to an R rating and does not seem to contain overly much salacious material. This is the one I myself saw. It seems only fair to say that the original must be the more entertaining of the two versions, as Black Fist is fairly underwhelming stuff on the whole. The story-line is strictly by-the-by and certainly could have done with an injection of more sex and violence! It does have a certain period charm though and will no doubt still be of interest to Blaxploitation aficionados but it's certainly limited stuff. It does have a somewhat unusual and rushed ending too, which posed more questions than it answered but was at the very least distinctive. Of additional note this film featured a bent cop played by Dabney Coleman, who would later become quite well known for playing the nefarious boss in the comedy film 9 to 5 (1980).

When Art Is Vandalised...

[Falconeer · 8/10 · 9 September 2019]

...when film distributors get their hands on someone else's creation, and take a hatchet to it, you get "Black Fist." Even the title was changed. Originally called "Bogard," this was a hard hitting character study of a desperate man who turns to bare knuckle fighting matches to survive in a world that had no use for an uneducated and poor black man. Actor Richard Lawson radiates a certain sex appeal and a strong screen presence as Leroy Fisk, the guy that can't be knocked down by anyone or anything. His fighting skills soon get him noticed by a corrupt, mafia-like syndicate of bad guys, determined to make money off of him, and the harder he tries to break free of them, the tighter their hold on him becomes. The boxing business has always been a shady one, and the fact that bare knuckle street fighting is completely illegal, make the situation even worse. The plot has been described in other reviews, so I will just comment on the quality of this Grindhouse gem, which offers everything you would want from the genre. Violent, gritty, sordid and sexed up movie that has no shortage of action as well as drama. "Black Fist" also has this atmospheric quality that is similar to a film called "Penitentiary," another Grindhouse gem that deals with similar subject matter. But what happened to the original print of this film? "Bogard" played briefly in select theaters in 1975, and almost immediately vanished from the face of the Earth soon after. The few people who were lucky enough to catch it in the theaters, seem to remember the movie fondly. Indeed this is a hard one to forget, even in it's altered form. Several years later the movie resurfaced, only with a new name, and minus a lot of scenes that were both controversial and essential to the plot. There were even some new scenes added that were NOT in the original cut, as apparently the producers were trying to create a product that was more commercial, hoping to make some money off the now vandalized "Bogard." Not surprisingly, It didn't work. So the movie once again receded into obscurity. These days it can be found on very poor quality dvd's from disreputable distributors who are unconcerned with quality and just want to make a dollar. This disgraceful practice has been utilized before, and after "Bogard." Another fantastic art house/blaxploitation masterpiece by the name of "Ganja & Hess," was apparently too "art house" and not enough "blaxploitation" for it's distributors, so the movie was cut and the plot was changed, and, basically ruined because of greed. And in the 90's a film called "54" suffered a similar fate, when the distributors at Miramax thought that film was too sleazy and sordid, not considering the fact that a film about the notorious nightclub 'Studio 54' could be anything other than sleazy and sordid. so they cut half the movie out and forced the director to re -shoot the other half. The reworked film was a complete failure as well. Thankfully movie fans are now getting the opportunity to see these ruined films in their original form, with the advent of Blu Ray technology. And fans of "Bogard" should be thrilled to know that, as of this writing, one such Blu Ray label is working on the restoration of "Bogard." Recently the missing reels have been found and it is only a matter of time before we can see "Bogard" in it's original glory. Apparently the entire subplot that dealt with an interracial relationship was cut out, as that subject was still considered too controversial for audiences of the time. The sex scenes were surprisingly graphic as well, enough to earn the film the 'X' rating. Another scene resembling a modern day "slave auction" was cut, among some other scenes. Anyway this fan will be among the first in line to pick up that Blu Ray whenever it hits the shelves. As the standards of Hollywood continue to decline, and the quality of new releases gets worse with every passing year, I think it will become a trend for people to look to forgotten movies of the past, for their entertainment. This explains the new trend of restoring and releasing forgotten or lost films from decades past. There is a growing interest in movies of the past, and "Bogard" is one film that is due for rediscovery..

1975, film black fists

[Kungfulady19 · 8/10 · 15 October 2007]

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=30737523 Richard Lawson ... Leroy Fisk, Philip Michael Thomas ... Fletch & Boom Boom, and Dabney Coleman ... Heineken (5-0) Story takes place in California, it's about a black man who was a living hard times, until he meet fletch who then hired him to street fight. Fletch is a mobster, who best buddy DL is a cop (Heiniken). Heiniken starts approaching Leroy for pay off money, and Leroy is disrupted, and confronts Fleth, when fletch tells him he was going to try and square it, not realizing Fleth was lying, then Philllip Michael(Miami Vice) gets him this log, and the situation hits the fan, Fighting, Murder, and lots of action. Black Fists, is not an OK movie, it's a great movie, and one of my favorites, Enjoy Ali Jordana Maltz www.myspace.com/kungfulady19

Information published by the American Film Institute

[EdgarST · 14 April 2024]

According to a letter to the 11 Jan 1985 Reader by screenwriter Tim Kelly, the film, originally titled "Bogard" after its production in 1974, received an X-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for violence and an interracial sexual interlude. When the producers removed the sex scene during a recut for the new title, "The Black Streetfighter", the rating was changed to R, the 26 Jul 1976 Box reported.

In the Reader letter, Kelly explained that after "Bogard" was filmed in Los Angeles, CA, in 1974, it re-emerged in 1976 as "The Black Streetfighter" following Centaur Films' bankruptcy, containing "most, certainly not all, of the original 'Bogard' footage." Additional scenes were taken from a proposed sequel to "Bogard" called "Black Fist", which became the new title of "The Black Streetfighter" in late 1977.

Though Peter Traynor and William D. Sklar of Centaur Films were the original producers of "Bogard", according to an 8 Feb 1975 LAT article, their names were removed when the title was changed. So was the name of screenwriter Mel Frohman.