Doug Russell (Iglehart), McGee (Kennedy), and Morelli (Argenziano) are Vietnam buddies. They're on a boat headed home after finally completing their service - and stealing a cache of gold. The duplicitous McGee and Morelli stab Russell and throw him overboard. Instead of dying in a watery grave, he washes up on a remote island inhabited by two Japanese soldiers (played by Gamboa and Avellana) who have been living there since World War II. The two soldiers nurse Russell back to health, and also train him in Japanese Karate and swordsmanship. When he finally makes it back home to L.A., he has a new set of skills to use on his attackers. And he's going to need them, because McGee is attempting to move in on Russell's wife, Maria (Jayne Kennedy). All Russell wants to do is reunite with his wife and young son, but McGee and Morelli are making it hard for him, as while he was stranded on the island, the two men moved up in the L.A. underworld. Now they control many things, including the club scene, where they have Maria, a singer, blacklisted from performing. That's clearly the last straw, and Doug Russell becomes FIGHTING MAD! Hard to believe, but this is the twentieth Cirio movie we've seen. So we're pretty familiar with his style, and Fighting Mad stands as a solid, snappy entry in his canon. It seems to have a faster pace than some of his other works, and the editing style reinforces that, with no scene ever going on too long. The parallel plot lines of Russell on the island doing his extensive training/what's going on at the home front, and eventually the two coming together, made for entertaining viewing. There's some nice humor to leaven things out, and plenty of 70's style that is extremely visually appealing. Soft focus Jayne Kennedy mixed with giant, boatlike cars reinforce this feeling. As does the scene where Kennedy walks by the famous Rainbow club, and we see that Savoy Brown is playing with Baby, with Man performing a week later. Born Losers (1967) is on a cinema marquee, Fonzie is on the cover of People magazine, and haircuts were only 2 dollars. What a time.

Leon Isaac Kennedy (not to be confused with Lawrence Hilton Jacobs or Philip Michael Thomas) plays a good charismatic slickster, and how could you not love his great outfits? Iglehart also shines, along with his non-Japanese compatriots, in the Hell In the Pacific (1968)-inspired plot line. The scene in the barbershop is also a movie highlight, and all his sword work does indeed pay off later, with multiple "fan favorite deaths" following his training. They do indeed get some classic comeuppance! The final showdown between Kennedy and Iglehart features another favorite cliché, the "talking baddie", who continuously says the hero's name as he's trying to bait him to fight. So Fighting Mad contains enough elements in its 90 or so minutes to certainly entertain.

A great example of Drive-In action, we can definitely recommend Fighting Mad.

Now this is more like it! When two crooks decide to bump off their partner and pocket all the loot from a profitable crime, little do they suspect that our man not only survives their murderous attempt, but is washed ashore an island where he is nursed back to health by two Japanese soldiers who have been stranded there since the second world war and who in addition, don't even know that the war has ended! In fact not only do they nurse his wounds, but one of them additionally teaches him the way of the samurai thus paving the way for our man to return to the states and take a bloody revenge!

This is a great little film and very much a product of its time featuring cool seventies fashions, proud looking afros, some soppy romantic scenes (in glorious seventies slow motion obviously!), a groovy seventies soundtrack and last but not least some cool and gory action throughout including our hero cutting off one of his enemies ears, and later sending the same guy his crime lord associates head in a box!

Highly entertaining stuff and it even has a happy ending! What more could you possibly want?