Firecracker (1981)

Before Holly Hunter made us laugh in the comedy Miss Firecracker (1989) and Karen Black freaked us out in the thriller Firecracker (2004), Jill Kesner was kicking ass in the martial arts movie Firecracker (1981). Cirio H. Santiago’s R rated flick is essentially a remake of his blaxploitation pic TNT Jackson (1975) starring Jeanne Bell. Like TNT Jackson, Firecracker follows a woman seeking revenge on the mob for abducting her sibling. The only difference is TNT Jackson is about a missing brother and Firecracker has Susanne Carter (Kesner) heading to the Philippines to track down her sister Bonny (Carolyn Smith). Along the way, we encounter martial artist Chuck Donner (Darby Hinton), a helpful bar owner (Pete Cooper) and his waiter Rey (Rey Malonzo), the arena boss (Ken Metcalfe), a drug baron (Tony Carreon), and a couple of Gladiators (Don Gordon Bell and Jim Gaines). With her average (but sexy) girl-next-door looks, Ms. Kesner is believably packaged as a real life marital arts champion. The panty-clad cutie is certainly convincing when she literally sheds her threads during a revealing fight scene at the 44-minute mark. While delivering karate chops, her bare boobs bounce. In other words, she puts the motion into this motion picture! If that’s not hot enough, the blonde hottie also shows off her stuff in the bedroom. Yes, Susanne and Chuck enjoy a good f… fight before hooking up. As such, we get to see Jill’s hills as she and Darby make war and make love. Talk about a knockout!