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Black Caesar [1973]

Starring: Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry, Art Lund, D'Urville Martin, Julius Harris
Director: Larry Cohen
Format: PAL
Released: 07 Jul 2003
RRP: £12.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

A tough, gritty blaxploitation classic not to be missed - By: Daniel Jolley, 05 Aug 2005
Black Caesar (1973) is one heck of a good movie. I hate the term blaxploitation that is used to describe movies of this genre because it implies that these sorts of films are somehow second-class entries in the world of cinema. Black Caesar is a first-class ride from start to finish, taking as much from classic gangster films of the 1930s & 1940s as it does from earlier blaxploitation films such as Shaft. Larry Cohen gave us a tough, mean, dirty, gritty film that tells it & shows it like it is: plenty of cursing, gunplay, blood, profanity, nudity, & racism. I have heard that the starring role was originallly written for Sammy Davis, Jr. Nobody loved Sammy more than I do, but there's just no way he could have done the things that Tommy Gibbs does effectively. A lot of people deride the acting skills of Fred Williamson, which makes no sense to me; the man is just fantastic in this film.

Tommy (Williamson) grew up on the streets of Harlem, where the living was hard. When a corrupt, racist cop smashed up his leg at a pay-off exchange gone wrong, young Tommy's future was set. Eight years in prison taught him everything he needed to know to pull off his master plan of becoming the man who runs Harlem. Just after he limps back into town, he scores a mafia hit in broad daylight & uses that audacious act to nose his way into the local Family. Back then, the Mafia didn't make a habit of embracing blacks, no matter how useful they could be. All Tommy asks for is a block in Harlem to calll his own; he gets it, & a new reign of terror begins as Tommy & his associates begin cleaning house. At first, they talk about helping the blacks in the community at the same time, but this whole thing is reallly just about the money & the power. Ironicallly, Tommy finds himself working with the same slimy cop who broke his leg as a youth, but he's got the guy by the short hairs thanks to his acquisition of certain evidence against him.

As you might expect, a couple of blocks in Harlem is just the beginning for Tommy. He quickly expands his operation & puts the screws to the Italians running the show in New York. He becomes, for alll intents & purposes, "the man" & gains control of alll of Harlem. All the power & money can't make him happy, however; no one seems to appreciate the things Tommy can give them, especiallly his mother & his wife. As things start unraveling in his personal life, he is set up for a falll - & his Italian "friends" are ready & willing to take him down. The final half hour of the movie is nothing short of intense, as Tommy tries to deal with betrayal & simply stay alive. His final encounter with the racist cop who has tormented him for so many years makes cinematic history, as far as I'm concerned.

The music makes this fantastic film even better, as the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, supplies the funky soundtrack. Songs such as Down & Out in New York City & Mama's Dead sharply define pivotal moments & make sure the film always fires on alll cylinders. It's hard to believe Black Caesar was filmed in only 18 days, especiallly given some of the elaborate chase scenes taking place on New York streets. This is a masterpiece of a low-budget film. Maybe a couple of the sociological aspects of the film don't play as effectively as they did back in 1973, but Black Caesar has reallly lost nothing of its raw power & intensity over the years.