Customer Reviews

Cleopatra Jones & Casino of Gold [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold" was my initiation into the "Blaxploitation" film genre. In this film, Tamara Dobson stars as a statuesque African-American secret agent woman. She teams up with an Asian woman named Mi Ling (played by Tanny) in order to rescue two undercover agents from the clutches of the Dragon Lady (Stella Stevens), a casino-owning drug pusher. Written by William Tennant, the film is directed by Chuck Bail.

"Cleo" is full of outrageous costumes, hip dialogue, action, and funky music composed by Dominic Frontiere (starting with the opening credits song, "Playing with Fire"). There is a fair amount of graphic violence. Cleo is a fun character; she's sort of like an African-American female James Bond (in fact, I found the tone and pacing of this film to be similar to that of the Bond flicks of this time period). The film makes good use of its Far East setting.

Dobson gets solid support from the rest of the cast, but I especially loved Norman Fell (an actor best known as TV's Mr. Roper from "Three's Company") as Cleo's grouchy but likeable boss. Fell and Dobson have a really enjoyable chemistry in their scenes together.

"Cleo" is a fascinating film that could, I imagine, inspire some lively analyses grounded in race, gender, economics, post-colonial politics, criminology, and other fields of inquiry. Or you could just enjoy it as a fun, slightly campy adventure flick with a kick-...heroine.

Some things are frankly mystifying about this DVD release and the movie itself in terms of its high quality. In 1975, most film stock was pretty poor, especially for budget productions. Casino of Gold looks like an A-list production with great film quality, camera work, lighting, etc. and the DVD release is sharp as a tack. Someone somewhere really applied themselves to this transfer because I've seen Blu-ray releases of 70s films that don't look nearly as good as this. Worth every penny, you would be easily justified in thinking it's high-def if you saw it unawares.

We all know Tamara Dobson owned this role, but Norman Fell is terrific and under-used as her theoretical boss.

The DVD quality is so good I'm tempted to give 5 stars but ultimately this is a guilty pleasure, not high art. Strongly recommended though.

This movie only gets better with multiple viewings. Although this is a sequel you do not have to watch the first movie, simply titled, Cleopatra Jones, to understand Casino of Gold. For various reasons a third movie was not made. ENJOY and have a great time watching a great action film.

The Amazonian Tamara Dobson returns as 'CLEOPATRA JONES' in this entertaining sequel to the original. Here we find our heroine lifted from the sleazy city streets of the U.S. to the glossy Casinos of Hong Kong. The grittiness and somber mood of the original film is replaced by action packed comic book style set pieces as writer/producer William Tennant transforms Cleo into a seventies female Batman figure even introducing actress Ni Tren billed as Tanny as her Robin side kick. The film is showered with martial arts action scenes and why not, it's also produced by Run Run Shaw who would also place the same bits into Hammer's production 'LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES' around the same time and also maintains the classy chop sockiness of 'ENTER THE DRAGON' . Ms. Dobson handles the role excellently and one of the highlights of the film is to see how each costume that she wears seem to get more outlandish as the proceedings go on. Norman Fell looks tired and wasted as her police superior but the true standout is the beautiful Stella Stevens as Miss Big, the Dragon Lady. While Shelley Winters chewed up the scenery in the original film, Stevens downplays the role making it more chilling. She also gets into the action in two superb fight sequences, one involving Shen Chan where after she has him tortured and then revived, introduces him to a sword fight to the death in a circle of swords and the inevitable showdown at the climax where she gives Dobson a run for her money in the hand to hand department. She leaves such an impression that you don't seem to mind the cliched crack uttered by one of Cleo's buddies: 'That chick could bite Count Dracula on the neck and make him like it." The brassy music score by Domenic Frontiere externalizes the comic book feel yet the photography by Alan Hume dazzles the eyes with bright colors and candy coated sets. Director Chuck Bail directs the action briskly and really shows the talents of Tamara Dobson who unfortunately never pursued the character or her career. Warner Archive releases a beautiful 2.35 widescreen transfer with flawless color and great sound. Highly recommended to lovers of Saturday afternoon action flicks, the 'CLEOPATRA JONES' films will always hold a warm place in this fans heart. Where else can you see an over 6Ft tall heroine kick butt and look so beautiful in the same scene? Ms. Dobson, you were the best.

Typical blaxploitation from the 70's but with a great flair in that that leading roles are played by two hot butt kicking ethnic Princesses! Cleo knows her Kung Fu and uses it well. My fav is the asian hottie Mi. In one scene Mi has just finished showering and walks out into the living room in her bathrobe only to be greeted by a group of intruders. They proceed to tie her hands up but are in for real surprise. This lady is a deadly martial artist. With her hands still tied, she turns her bare legs and feet into deadly weapons overpowering the men with some explosive kicks. She is soon joined by Cleo and the girls finally finish the guys off leaving the baddies knocked out cold. Although a bit campy, this movie is a cult classic and a great sequel to the original.

The sequel to "Cleopatra Jones" benefits from the authentic location of Hong Kong and its good production design. The story is almost the same as the original one, showing us Cleo fight against drug syndicate, of which mastermind, this time Stella Stevens, lives in a gorgeous casino.

You might remember Warner Brothers once produced "Enter the Dragon" featuring Bruce Lee, which became a worldwide hit, and probably this fact influenced the studio's judgment to shoot the film in Hong Kong. The film is full of shoot-outs and kung-hu fights, but unfortunately, not as good as Lee's deadly fighting style, but still it is mildly entertaining. The final action sequence, chain of good stunts using motorcycles running in a casino, with its riders shooting machineguns (!), is the showdown of the film, and though the film nearly gets so close to ludicurousness, still remains enjoyable as a whole. And check out Stella Steven's outrageous costume.

This movie isn't anywhere near as good as the original. It isn't really a blaxploitaion movie at all. It seems more like they were experimenting, trying to see if a black female lead could carry a non-black movie on her own. It was a somewhat interesting movie, maybe for historical value, but not really entertaining at all. A typical "kung fu" movie of the era. The sad part was this character wasn't really the same one that I liked from the original movie. And I don't think Ms. Dobson showed her hair at all throughout the movie, she wore hats the whole time. I was so distracted trying to figure out what was wrong with her hair.

This sequel is that rare bird... one that is better than the original movie (CLEOPATRA JONES). Largely because of the exotic setting (Hong Kong and Macao are more fun than East L.A., after all), and certainly because of the villainess, Stella Stevens.

Cleopatra Jones tends to find herself up against Evil White Lesbian dope queens, and Stella Stevens is certainly nicer to look at than Shelly Winters (in the original). Her climatic fight scene ... with the foxy black Cleo is OVER THE TOP! The ladies must have been covered with bruises after shooting this (NO stand-ins apparent!).

As for Stella's "wild" outfits, they are conservative compared to the title heroine's!

A "must see" for Blaxploitation fans!

By far, this movie is fierce. tamara Dobson is the original Grace jones

The sequel to "Cleopatra Jones" outshines the original in virtually every respect. Better story. Better action. Stella Stevens' Dragon Lady is way cooler than Shelley Winters' cartoonish Mommy in the first film. Terrific use of the exotic locales of Hong Kong and Macao. An ending that would make Peckinpah proud. Plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor but not the outright campiness that scuttled "Cleopatra Jones". Tamara Dobson, who rose above the silliness in the original, relishes the opportunities that she's given here and goes with it. Now if they would only issue "Norman...Is That You?" with Dobson and Redd Foxx on DVD.