Nathan McScary
06-27-2005, 06:22 PM
For those of you that don’t recognize the name Jim Kelly right away, recall the classic martial arts epic “Enter the Dragon”. Remember the jive-talkin’ black martial artist with the giant afro? That’s Jim Kelly. Jim Kelly is both an accomplished actor and martial artist. It is however, a little known fact that in addition to the aforementioned, he is also a bullshido master.
The following article was written by myself. The Jim Kelly quotes are from “Black Belt Magazine, Dec. 1975.”
Jim Kelly got some major recognition in movies and martial arts community when he stared with Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon,” but Kelly was not happy that he was offed so early in the film and had plans to take over the martial arts movie scene, and soon the entire box-office.
Jim Kelly: “After this year, I will be the No. 1 black star, and in three years, I’ll be the No. 1 worldwide box-office champion-black or white….I used karate as a stepping stone to get on the screen. I used it to get in the front door, and now I just get better in each film.”
Kelly stared in “Black Belt Jones” after “Enter the Dragon” in hopes of gaining star recognition and paving the way to becoming the best actor ever. The film flopped and so did Kelly’s movie career.
On set with “Black Belt Jones,” Kelly claims to have been too good a fighter for even the professional stuntmen in the film “I split one guy’s skull and broke up another guy’s face because they were ‘unqualified’ to fight me.”
Back in the 70’s, Kelly also believed that he was the best fighter in the world, and even went so far as to challenge former heavy weight boxing champ, Joe Frazier. “I think I’m the baddest dude in the world and that no one can beat me…I could beat Frazier, Ali, and George Foreman all in one night.”
Back in the day, Kelly even taught martial arts himself. “I get a minimum of $100 an hour to teach ‘The Jim Kelly Method,’ and I only teach guys who are black belts. I teach unorthodox karate combinations of all fighting methods. Belts don’t mean a thing to me. I don’t even wear my belt.” Note that this was the 1970’s so $100 an hour is even more then it seems at a glance. Also note how Kelly contradicts himself by saying that belts are worthless to him, yet he’ll only teach you if you’re a black belt.
On the plus side, Kelly was in fact mostly talk and both him and his bullshido faded away with the 1970’s martial arts craze.
The following article was written by myself. The Jim Kelly quotes are from “Black Belt Magazine, Dec. 1975.”
Jim Kelly got some major recognition in movies and martial arts community when he stared with Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon,” but Kelly was not happy that he was offed so early in the film and had plans to take over the martial arts movie scene, and soon the entire box-office.
Jim Kelly: “After this year, I will be the No. 1 black star, and in three years, I’ll be the No. 1 worldwide box-office champion-black or white….I used karate as a stepping stone to get on the screen. I used it to get in the front door, and now I just get better in each film.”
Kelly stared in “Black Belt Jones” after “Enter the Dragon” in hopes of gaining star recognition and paving the way to becoming the best actor ever. The film flopped and so did Kelly’s movie career.
On set with “Black Belt Jones,” Kelly claims to have been too good a fighter for even the professional stuntmen in the film “I split one guy’s skull and broke up another guy’s face because they were ‘unqualified’ to fight me.”
Back in the 70’s, Kelly also believed that he was the best fighter in the world, and even went so far as to challenge former heavy weight boxing champ, Joe Frazier. “I think I’m the baddest dude in the world and that no one can beat me…I could beat Frazier, Ali, and George Foreman all in one night.”
Back in the day, Kelly even taught martial arts himself. “I get a minimum of $100 an hour to teach ‘The Jim Kelly Method,’ and I only teach guys who are black belts. I teach unorthodox karate combinations of all fighting methods. Belts don’t mean a thing to me. I don’t even wear my belt.” Note that this was the 1970’s so $100 an hour is even more then it seems at a glance. Also note how Kelly contradicts himself by saying that belts are worthless to him, yet he’ll only teach you if you’re a black belt.
On the plus side, Kelly was in fact mostly talk and both him and his bullshido faded away with the 1970’s martial arts craze.
