When martial arts legend Joe Lewis died in the summer of 2012, I was astonished to read in his online obituaries that he was from Knightdale, North Carolina. This town is right next to Raleigh (where I live) and yet there was no mention in the local media about his passing. Besides growing up here, Lewis joined the Marines and was stationed at Cherry Point and Camp Lejuene. He fought in Vietnam and would later be stationed in Okinawa. It was during his time on the Japanese island that Lewis began to seriously train in Karate. Joe Lewis won the titles “United States Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion” and “World Heavyweight Full Contact Karate Champion.” Bruce Lee declared Lewis as “The Greatest Karate Fighter of All Time.” At this time, my kid was taking taekwondo classes. I asked the head of the school if there was a local martial arts tournament named after Joe Lewis. He gave me a blank stare and asked who I was talking about. Perhaps Lewis would have been better remembered if he’d fought Bruce Lee in Way Of the Dragon. Because of a scheduling conflict, his role was recast with Chuck Norris. Lewis’ big name cinematic career wouldn’t happen until end of the ’70s. Force: Five has him team up with several major fighters as a hit squad that can smash your face.
The children of rich and powerful Americans have flocked to join a cult run by Reverend Rhee (The Kentucky Fried Movie‘s Bong Soo Han). They want to be enlightened although the Rev. Rhee has other plans to lighten them. Among the kids eager to join the cult is Cindy (A Nightmare On Elm Street‘s Amanda Wyss). Her father is a U.S. Senator who wants his daughter back home. Except this isn’t going to happen easily since The Rev. has a goon force led by Carl (Russ Meyer’s Up!’s Bob Schott) to keep his cult members “safe.” This leads the senator to hire Jim Martin (Jaguar Lives!‘ Joe Lewis) to retrieve her. The marital arts expert puts together a team that includes Billy Ortega (Wheels on Meals‘ Benny Urquidez), Lockjaw (The Bad News Bears Go To Japan‘s Sonny Barnes) Laurie (The Call Me Bruce‘s Pam Huntington), Ezekiel (Mad Max: Fury Road‘s Richard Norton) and Willard (Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dream‘s Ron Hayden). Although there’s a problem with Willard since he’s locked up in Ecuador. Martin sees busting him out of prison as a great warm up for the cult compound. Any excuse for explosions and a group battle is perfectly fine in a movie like this. Eventually they free Willard with a bit of a comic twist on their escape. This leads them to their true destination of the Rev. Rhee’s jungle worship center on his island. Martin has a serious undercover plan using the Senator as cover as they drop by for a visit with all the loving kids dressed in white robes. More than just grabbing Cindy and running, Martin wants to uncover the dark secrets of Rev. Rhee’s operation.
Force: Five seems like it was based on a spec script for The A-Team that involved Hannibal and the guys going to Jonestown. The part where they have to bust out their helicopter pilot often happened in the TV episodes. Getting Bong Soo Han to play the heavy works since he is able to pull off being despicable when torturing people with needles, the action scenes while being a bit light and having perfect hair. This is what made him great in “A Fistful of Yen” in Kentucky Fried Movie. He proves himself a worthy opponent for Joe Lewis in their big finale battle.
Director Robert Clouse had major success working with martial artists turned actors. His major hit was Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. He was brought in by Golden Harvest to make a movie out of the footage Bruce Lee shot for Game of Death. His other films include Jim Kelly’s Black Belt Jones, Jackie Chan’s Battle Creek Brawl, Cynthia Rothrock’s China O’Brien and the pilot episode of Lee Van Cleef’s The Master. Clouse would helm Gymkata that turned gymnast Kurt Thomas into an action star. He seems focused here on not over complicating the plot and using any excuse for a fight scene. Which keeps the movie entertaining. Force: Five was produced by Fred Weintraub who had also produced Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon along with classics Black Belt Jones, Truck Turner, Battle Creek Brawl and Gymkata. The producer and director understood martial arts flicks. Audiences wanted to see the badass moves more than dramatic acting moments. Benny Urquidez, Sonny Barnes, Pam Huntington and Richard Norton knew how to look good when swing leg kicks with Lewis.
Force: Five is formulaic and still fun to watch because of Joe Lewis’ amazing skills on the screen. This is the kind of film that the Golan and Globus Theater podcast would enjoy recapping. The movie doesn’t try to out smart the audience. This is all about delivering the promise of what would happen if a martial arts fighter battled the Rev. Jim Jones. It’s great to see one of Joe Lewis’ starring films get properly upgraded so you can appreciate his physicality on screen. It allows you to see how he earned such a reputation of being the best in the ring. Perhaps someday he’ll get a namesake tournament in this area. It should be pointed out that Joe Lewis was buried back in his hometown of Knightdale. I might have to visit his grave and pay respect soon.
The Video is 1.85:1 The frame can barely handle all the fists and feet lying across the screen. The transfer brings out the swift blows delivered during fights. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Stereo so you hear all the body blows. The movie is subtitled.
Archival Interview with Joe Lewis (50:08) is a video chat. He talks about working with Bruce Lee. He gets into how Bruce’s approach to martial arts went against what others were teaching. You can hear the Southern accent as Joe speaks about his background in fighting styles.
Archival Benny Urquidez Interview (8:59) has him explain the proper way to wrap your hands before a fight. He gets into his history of learning fighting techniques.
Benny Urquidez Fight (6:41) is a German featurette on how he does in the ring. This is like the early days of UFC before they invented the Octagon. They show off his dojo in Van Nuys.
Original Trailer (2:19) has them tells us why there’s five deadly martial arts commandos in this movie.
Collectible Mini-Poster is suitable for framing.
MVD Rewind Collection presents Force: Five (Collector’s Edition). Directed by Robert Clouse. Screenplay by Robert Clouse. Starring Joe Lewis, Bong Soo Han, Sonny Barnes, Richard Norton, Benny Urquidez, Ron Hayden, Bob Schott, Pam Huntington, Michael Prince, Peter MacLean, Amanda Wyss and Tom Villard. Running Time: 97 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: February 24, 2026.
