Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight (1992)

Director:

Oley Sassone

Writers:

Allison Burnett (writer)
Charlie Mattera (writer)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

Don Wilson returns to the screen as a man unjustly accused of a brutal crime. Within the prison he must fight for survival, freedom and justice.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Third Part | Female Nudity | Prison Riot | Cult Favorite

Cast

Don 'The Dragon' Wilson	...	Jimmy Boland
Richard Roundtree	...	Samuel Stark
Gregory McKinney	...	Blue
Rick Dean	...	Wheelhead
Richard Paul	...	Goddard
Charles Boswell	...	Taylor
John Cardone	...	Diddler
Brad Blaisdell	...	Pisani
Stan Longinidis	...	Leadbottom
Tony DiBenedetto	...	Tony D
Andre Rosey Brown	...	Clint
J.W. Smith	...	Sporty Black
Laura Stockman	...	Connie
Kevin Davis	...	Stewart (as Kevin N. Davis)
Peter Cunningham	...	Champ (as Peter "Sugarfoot" Cunningham)

Also Known As:

Forced to Fight (USA) (closing credits title)
Forced to Fight!: Bloodfist 3 (Australia) (DVD box title)
Forced to Fight: Bloodfist III (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | USA:R | Iceland:16

Company:

Concord Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Due to its poor box office performance, this is the last film of the Bloodfist series to be released theatrically.

Quotes:

Samuel Stark: You're so involved with your own hate, you'd rather die than see it go.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Live by the Fist (1993)

The Bloodfist Films Are Getting Better....

After the average Bloodfist 1 (an inexplicably big hit at the time) and its hurried, boring sequel, i wasn't too overjoyed at the prospect of watching Bloodfist 3... but to my surprise i quite enjoyed it. Although originally not intended as a Bloodfist sequel at all but just another Don "The Dragon" Wilson film entitled Forced To Fight (hence him playing an entirely new character), Bloodfist 3 is, for me, the moment the series finally became watchable.

The film opens in your typical, hell-hole martial arts film prison, where our hero Jimmy Boland (Kickboxing World Champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson) discovers his young friend being raped by a load of black prisoners. His friend is then murdered, which prompts Jimmy to embark on a spree of ass-kicking which results in the gang-leader lying dead. Jimmy is then transferred to the toughest coll block in the prison, where the black and white inmates are at each others throats. Its hard to really define what happens next as the film has a curious lack of storyline which makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what the film is about... but there's a lot of fighting and our hero starts uniting everyone to friendship with the help of respected long-termer Samuel Stark (Richard Roundtree), restoring harmony with his fists of justice and Starks words of wisdom.

Don "The Dragon" is as wooden as ever, with that same scowly expression on his face at all times, but he gets away with it here as his character is supposed to be a moody, quiet outsider. His fighting is still below-par when compared to other martial arts stars such as Gary Daniels or Van Damme, but it is a definite improvement over his sloppy display in Bloodfist 2. At least the fights here have a semblance of having been choreographed! All in all, Don "The Dragon" is a lot better here.

The film is also surprisingly gritty, with a lot of ripe prison-talk and some pretty intense scenes - the rape scene and a brutal stabbing scene being the most notable. The switch-your-brain-off innocence of the first films is replaced here by a fairly harrowing prison drama that may stay in your mind a little while after the credits have rolled! Overall, a definite improvement for the Bloodfist series. Don "The Dragon" Wilson provides the fights, while Richard Roundtree provides the drama - he is excellent here, and has always been a hugely under-rated actor, in my opinion. As far as martial arts films go, its not up there with Bloodsport or No Retreat, No Surrender; as far as prison films go, its not up there with The Green Mile or even Felon, but its still an enjoyable enough film, and even - unheard of for a Bloodfist film - thought-provoking in places! Don "The Dragon", to his credit, gets better with each film he makes, and the next in the series Bloodfist 4: Die Trying is even better.