Robert Clouse - The 1970s

The 1970s

Clouse made his feature directorial debut with Darker Than Amber (1970) (based off the John D. MacDonald novel of the same name) and starring Rod Taylor as the protagonist, Travis McGee. He then followed that film with Dreams of Glass (1970) (which he also wrote and which is also notable for being Danny DeVito's first film role), a film which was also completed in the same year, 1970.

In 1971, Clouse directed an episode of the 70s action-crime TV show Ironside entitled "Gentle Oaks" (1971). Ironside also featured Bruce Lee as Leon Soo, a Karate/Aikido/Judo instructor in a martial arts school (in the episode "Tagged for Murder" (1967)), an icon that Clouse would collaborate with later on for much of his career. In 1973, Clouse directed Enter the Dragon. After that film, Clouse directed Black Belt Jones (1974).

The rest of the 70s for Clouse would yield the films Golden Needles (1974) starring Joe Don Baker, The Ultimate Warrior (1975) (director and screenwriter), a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film starring Yul Brynner and Max Von Sydow, The Pack (1977) (director and screenwriter) also starring Joe Don Baker, The Amsterdam Kill (1977) (director and screenwriter) starring Robert Mitchum, Leslie Nielsen and Keye Luke, Game of Death (1978), The London Connection (1979), and two episodes of the TV show Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color: specifically, "The Kids Know Too Much" (1980) and "The Omega Connection" (1979).