''Dynamite Brothers'', also known by its alternate title ''East Meets Watts'', is a 1974 martial arts and

blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president ...

film. It was filmed on location in Watts,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. It stars football-hero-turned-actor Timothy Brown, who was also known for his role as Spearchucker Jones in the TV series ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker (auth ...

'', and Hong Kong star actor and martial artist

Alan Tang Alan Tang Kwong-Wing (20 September 194629 March 2011) was a Hong Kong film actor, producer and director. Early life Tang was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. He was the youngest of four children, having two older brothers and one older ...

. It also stars Aldo Ray as a crooked cop and

James Hong James Hong (; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. He has worked in numerous productions in American media since the 1950s, portraying a variety of roles. With more than 650 film and television credits as of 20 ...

in a villainous role. Current and future stars including Tony Liu, Biff Yeager, Phillip Ko, Billy Chan,

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

and Susan McIver of The Golddiggers fame pop up at various stages in the film.

Plot

Larry Chin, a Chinese martial arts expert, sneaks into the United States at a San Francisco port, looking for his brother Wei Chin who disappeared several years prior, shortly after Larry's wife died in an accident. Larry is waylaid by men working for the crooked police officer Burke, who was told to watch for his arrival, but Larry is able to overwhelm the group and escapes. Larry convinces his cousin to tell him an address in

Watts, Los Angeles Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated com ...

where his brother had last been seen, unaware that his cousin has been warned not give that information and is later killed in a car bomb. Larry is picked up by Burke while attempting to take a bus to Los Angeles, where he is handcuffed to Stud Brown. Stud creates a distraction to allow them to escape, and the two work their way to Los Angeles, with Larry explaining his situation to Stud and Betty Fon, a driver who helps them out. In Los Angeles, they arrive at the address which is a bar operated by the Smiling Man. They find that they are in the middle of a gang war between the Smiling Man and Razor, the latter looking to distribute illegal drugs into the city. When Stud and Larry save the Smiling Man's life, he recruits them to his cause and offers to help. While talking with the Smiling Man, Stud becomes attracted to the mute Sarah. Betty has been looking into Wei's whereabouts for Larry, and directs him to Kung Fat, a local businessman. Kung tells Larry that Wei is dead and tells him the site of his gravestone, but when Larry goes there, he determines that Wei is not buried there. He goes back to Kung to accuse him of lying, but Kung and his men secure him, and attempt to take him to the outskirts of Los Angeles to be killed by a snake. Larry manages to escape and returns to Stud and the Smiling Man; the Smiling Man reveals that Kung is an agent in the drug ring, as well as Burke, who has been using his position to cover for the drug ring. When Larry returns to Kung's, he finds the man dead. Larry and Stud go to Burke, forcing him to reveal the location of the drug ring's mastermind. After they leave, Razor kills Burke for revealing this information. Larry, Stud, and the Smiling Man plan an attack on the drug ring, when they learn Razor has been seen near Sarah's place. Larry and Stud arrive too late and find Sarah dead by Razor. Angered, the two begin the attack on the drug mastermind. Stud manages to kill Razor, while Larry meets with the mastermind, discovering he is really his brother Wei Chin; Wei was the one that accidentally killed Larry's wife and fled the country to avoid his brother. As Smiling Man's men attack Wei's base, Wei attempts to flee but Larry is able to catch up and cause him to drive his car off the road, killing him. Stud and the Smiling Man finish off the rest of Wei's and Razor's gang. After regrouping back at the Smiling Man's bar and making sure that they have taken over Razor's gang, Larry and Stud say their goodbyes as they are both still on the run from the law.

Cast

* Timothy Brown as "Stud" Brown *

as Larry Chin * Aldo Ray as Detective Burke *

as Wei Chin *

Don Oliver Donald Carthew Oliver (16 April 1937 – 26 February 1996) was a New Zealand weightlifter and fitness centre founder. He represented his country at three Olympic Games, and won two Commonwealth medals, including gold in 1966 in Kingston. E ...

as Smiling Man *

Carol Speed Carolyn Ann Stewart (March 14, 1945January 14, 2022), known professionally as Carol Speed, was an American actress, singer-songwriter and author. Speed was best known for her roles in films during the 1970s blaxploitation era, most notably star ...

as Sarah * Claire Nono as Betty Fong * Chan Lung as Tuen's Bodyguard * Richard Lee-Sung as Kung Fat *

Lam Ching-ying Lam Ching-ying (; born Lam Gun-bo (); 27 December 1947 – 8 November 1997) was a Hong Kong stuntman, actor, and action director. As a practitioner of martial arts Lam starred in a number of notable films that found recognition outside Hong Kong ...

as Tuen's Bodyguard * Margo Hope as Chu Lin *

as Tuen's Henchman (uncredited) *

Philip Kwok Philip Kwok (; also known as Kuo Chui, Kwok Chui, Kwok Chun-Fung; born 21 October 1951) is a Hong Kong-based Taiwanese actor, martial artist, and stuntman. He rose to fame as a member of the Venom Mob, an ensemble of highly-talented martia ...

as Tuen's Henchman (uncredited) * Tony Liu as Tuen's Henchman (uncredited) * Philip Ko as Tuen's Henchman (uncredited) * Billy Chan as Tuen's Henchman (uncredited)

Soundtrack

The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

was composed and performed by organist Charles Earland and the soundtrack album was released on the Prestige label in 1974.Prestige Records discography
accessed March 11, 2013

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

awarded the album 2 stars, stating, "Although there were some soul-jazz elements in the score, it also reflected the move among many musicians from that background into funk, fusion, and rock territory in the early- to mid-'70s, particularly in the synthesizers... It often sounds like the kind of music you might have heard from a band warming up a crowd for a Miles Davis concert of the time. It's suitably slightly spaced soul/funk/fusion, atmospheric but not too heavy on remarkable compositional ideas."Unterberger, R
Allmusic listing
accessed March 11, 2013

Track listing

''All compositions by Charles Earland'' # "Betty's Theme" - 5:01 # "Never Ending Melody" - 5:19 # "Grasshopper" - 2:47 # "Shanty Blues" - 4:11 # "Weedhopper" - 3:32 # "Razor J." - 2:25 # "Snake" - 8:37 # "Kungfusion" - 3:41 # "Incense of Essence" - 4:39

Personnel

* Charles Earland - organ,

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, so ...

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

, Eddie Henderson, Danny Moore, Victor Paz -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

Wayne Andre Wayne Andre (November 17, 1931 – August 26, 2003) was an American jazz trombonist, best known for his work as a session musician. Andre's father was a saxophonist, and he took private music lessons from age 15. He played with Charlie Spivak in ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

*Dave Hubbard - soprano saxophone,

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the ...

Patrick Gleeson Patrick Gleeson (born November 9, 1934) is an American musician, synthesizer pioneer, composer, and producer. Career Gleeson moved to San Francisco in the 1960s to teach in the English Department at San Francisco State. Gleeson began experimentin ...

- synthesizer *

Cornell Dupree Cornell Luther Dupree (December 19, 1942 – May 8, 2011) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He worked at various times with Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis and Steve Gadd, appeared on David Letterman,

, Mark Elf, Keith Loving -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

*Melvin Bronson -

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Billy Hart Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's " Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among others. B ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

*Darryl Washington - drums,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditiona ...

*Larry Killian -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Video release

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

by BCI Eclipse on March 12, 2002. BCI was later shut down by its parent company, Navarre Corporation, and the DVD was discontinued. ''Dynamite Brothers'' was featured on

Cinematic Titanic Cinematic Titanic was a project by ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') creator and original host, Joel Hodgson. The project involved " riffing" B-movies, in a manner similar to that of ''MST3K''. Joining Hodgson were some of the original ...

's live tour as ''East Meets Watts'', and video from the tour was released on DVD on December 16, 2009.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1974 films 1974 action films 1974 independent films American action films American independent films Blaxploitation films 1970s English-language films American martial arts films 1974 martial arts films Films directed by Al Adamson 1970s American films