Jesse Crowder
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Beginning with the painfully low-budget Death Journey in 1975, former pro football hotshot turned action film star Fred Williamson starred in four films as high-living tough guy P.I. JESSE CROWDER, a man who's no stranger to guns or the martial arts. He also seems to be game for just about anything. And in the world of cheesy action B-flicks in which he moves, that could be just about anything.

In Death Journey, he's hired by the NYC D.A. to escort an overweight accountant who's a key witness in a case against a mobster cross country. In No Way Back (1976) he kicks some white butt. In Blind Rage (1978) he takes on five blind kung fu masters eager to get their hands on the 15 million bucks he's just delivered to the Phillipines for the U.S. government. In The Last Fight (1982) Jesse gets involved with with a singer-turned-boxer (Ruben Blades) who risks his life and his girlfriend for a shot at the championship. Needless to say, there's plenty of fightin', shootin' and more fightin' in all these films.

After the last Crowder film, Williamson tried , but failed, to establish another series character, Los Angeles courier and sometime private eye Thomas Fox, in 1985's Foxtrap.

UNDER OATH

• "Death Journey is so non-budget that when Crowder's chauffer get out of car to open the door for Crowder, it was a two door car and not a limo (!). I love the Jesse Crowder series and Fred Williamson will always be a icon of the 70's action scene, and it's too bad I didn't enjoy this one."
  (William in Seattle, IMDB)
  

FILMS

• DEATH JOURNEY
  (1975)
  Tagline: ASSIGNMENT: Bring in the informer...3000 miles in 48 hours...ALIVE! The MOB says "NO WAY!" Crowder says "TRY AND STOP ME!
  Screenplay by Abel Jones
  Directed by Fred Williamson
  Producer Fred Williamson
  Starring Fred Williamson as JESSE CROWDER
  Also starring Bernard Kirby, Art Maier, Virgil Riley, Lou Bedford, Heidi Dobbs, Stephanie Faulkner, Ed Kovins, Patrick McCullough , Emil Farkas, Sam J. Coppola, Geoffrey Land, James B. Campbell, D'Urville Martin , Tony Brubaker, Jack Oliver
  .
• NO WAY BACK
  (1976)
  Tagline: You pay the bill. I'll deliver it, legal, illegal, moral or otherwise!
  Screenplay by Fred Williamson
  Directed by Fred Williamson
  Produced by Fred Williamson
  Starring Fred Williamson as JESSE CROWDER
  Also starring Charles Woolf, Tracy Reed, Virginia Gregg, Argy Allen, Paula Sills, Don Cornelius
  .
• BLIND RAGE
  (1978)
  Tagline: Five blind master killers pull off the most unbelievable heist of all time...
  Screenplay by Leo Fong and Jerry O. Tirazo, Efren C. Pinon (story)
  Directed by Efren C. Pinonna
  Produced by Leoncio Imperial, Pio Lee
  Original music by Tito Sotto
  Locations: Philippines / USA
  Starring Fred Williamson as JESSE CROWDER
  Also starring Tony Ferrer, Leila Hermosa, D'Urville Martin, Dick Adair, Darnell Garcia, Leo Fong, Charlie Davao, Carlos Padilla Jr, Subas Herrero, Chuck Doherty, B.T. Anderson, José García, Fred Param
  .
• THE LAST FIGHT
  (1982, Best Film & Video)
  86 minutes
  Screenplay by Fred Williamson
  Directed by Fred Williamson
  Produced by Jerry Masucci
  Original music by Jay Chattaway
  Starring Fred Williamson as JESSE CROWDER
  Also starring Rubén Blades, Sal Carollo, Willie Colon, Nick Corello, Darlanne Fluegel, Don King, Nereida Mercado, Izzy Sanabria , Tony Sirico, Joe Spinell, Bert Sugarman, Salvador Sánchez, José 'Chegui' Torres

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.