That Man Bolt is a 1973 American action film directed by David Lowell Rich and Henry Levin. It stars Fred Williamson in the title role of courier Jefferson Bolt and Byron Webster. The film combined several genres: blaxploitation, the martial arts film, and James Bond superspy films (with some posters featuring the tagline "He's Bonded"). It was filmed in Hong Kong, Macau and the United States and featured several martial arts experts in action: Mike Stone, World Professional Light Heavyweight Karate Champion, Kenji Kazama Japan Kickboxing Champion, Emil Farkas, European Black Belt Karate Champion, and David Chow, Former California State Judo Champion. It was titled Operation Hong Kong outside the United States. Peter Crowcroft wrote the novelization of the screenplay.
Contents
Plot
Courier Jefferson Bolt is asked to take a briefcase from Hong Kong to Mexico City, but he is not told what is in it or the identity of the man who asks him, a man named Griffiths. Convinced he will get good pay and see a few good places, Bolt takes on the job, while looking out for anything suspicious. Soon he does find exotic places, beautiful women, and ruthless gunmen interested in the briefcase.
Cast
Fred Williamson as Jefferson Bolt
Byron Webster as Griffiths
Miko Mayama as Dominique Kuan
Teresa Graves as Samantha Nightingale
Masatoshi Nakamura as Kumada
John Orchard as Carter
Jack Ging as Connie Mellis
Ken Kazama as Spider
Vassili Lambrinos as Raoul De Vargas
David Chow as Chinese Thug
Paul Mantee as Mickey
Emil Farkas as Karate Fighter
Mike Stone as Karate Fighter
Production
Fred Williamson had recently starred in Hammer (1972), produced by Bernard Schwartz, which had been a big success. This led to Universal Pictures signing him for three films featuring the Bolt character as a black James Bond, but avoiding the urban locations of blaxploitation films. The first film was also produced by Schwartz and was known during shooting as Thunderbolt.
Filming look place on location in Hong Kong, Kowloon, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The picture began shooting under director Henry Levin. In April 1973, Levin fell ill and was replaced by David Lowell Rich. Reportedly Levin shot for 28 days, including the Hong Kong sequences, while Rich shot for ten days, and supervised the editing. On his days off during filming, Williamson shot scenes for Hell Up in Harlem.
Reception
Variety called it a "travesty".
No more Bolt films were made, though Williamson was paid for two films. He later recalled:
They weren’t ready for a black James Bond... It was a great film! Universal made it and then got scared... They said, “Fred, we don’t know what to do with you. We think we’ll just pay you off, because we don’t really know what to follow up with." So they copped out, out of fear, they copped out. And the big black film movement hadn't really started yet.