Black Caesar (1973)

That was an excellent one.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is one of those films that not just made Fred Williamson a star but also a iconic figure in the early 1970s. The film does have some flaws such as the acting which to me had many mediocre moments but the film had many great moments that were believable and authentic. I also love Larry Cohen's approach to the film in the 1930's Warner Bro's gangster film fashion which is not to me a bad thing. The thing I loved the most about this particular film was its use of violence and how ugly and horrible it really is but in my personal opinion this a flawed but powerful gangster film that I consider a classic of the genre and a very memorable piece of film making by Larry Cohen.

This review's title obviously refers to a famous Julius Caesar quote, and personally I think the greatest thing about "Black Caesar" is the subtle title reference towards the great historical leader. I deliberately state "subtle" reference, because the name itself isn't mentioned anywhere throughout the entire film, but the similarities between protagonist Tommy Gibbs and the Roman emperor are clever and relevant. Tommy also builds his own way to the top; in this case the conquering of a mafia empire that quickly becomes as over sized, cluttered and unmanageable as the Roman Empire. His methods are also merciless and strategic, but he also gradually transforms into a dictator feared by his loved ones as well as the target of conspiracies and assassination attempts. I don't know about you, but I think it's quite an ambitious and intelligent concept for a supposedly simple and low-budgeted piece of 70's exploitation trash! That being said, I have to admit that I nevertheless expected even more from this blaxploitation classic. I'm certainly not an expert in this domain, but I've seen the most important ones ("Across 110th Street", "Ganja & Hess"), the most outrageously entertaining ones ("Foxy Brown", "Truck Turner") and the passable ones ("JD's Revenge", "Blackenstein"). "Black Caesar" somewhat balances between the first two categories, as the script isn't solid enough to be important and not cool enough to be outrageously entertaining. Basically it's just Fred Williamson looking mean and shooting white mobsters in the chest so that he can take their place in the New York gangster hierarchy. During this process he abuses and scares off the people he initially wanted to protect, like his mother and childhood friend. The film features too many dull parts and repetitive sequences. Every conflict is solved with a bullet and end with a close up of a dead body covered in thick and bright red blood syrup. The most memorable sequences include the intro, with a teenage Tommy enrolling the criminal life, a virulent taxi/on foot chase in busy NY streets and a sadist final confrontation between Tommy and his nemesis. Other terrific elements for exploitation fanatics to enjoy are the swinging soundtrack (with James Brown's unique voice) and authentically raw and gritty set pieces. Williamson is excellent, of course, but Art Lund gives an even more impressive performance as the disgustingly corrupt cop McKinney. Larry Cohen's direction is uneven, but it was one of the first ventures of this multi-talented and versatile cult genius. There's a sequel entitled "Hell Up in Harlem".

I've only seen a few vintage "blaxploitation" films, so tonight I'm watching Black Caesar (1973), of interest to me because it was written, directed and produced by ol' Larry Cohen, just a couple years before his inexplicable masterpiece God Told Me To, with the outer space Jesus and the vagina on his chest...that Larry, madman with a camera...Right from the start, the music is top notch! Mainly James Brown, but there's also a cool female-fronted song a girl performs while Fred Williamson shoots up a room fulla white folks. Williamson is probably the only good actor in the whole film, but who can read Larry Cohen's dialogue, in any movie, and come off sounding real. All his movies have such cartoony dialogue, but that's part of the charm of his stuff (other than Q and a coupla others just too awful to recall). Most of the characters in Black Caesar are hollow and soul-less anyway, so the junior high acting doesn't distract. Williamson is good enough to make up for the others -I really didn't know what to expect going into it, so it was pretty astonishing to see Williamson smear shoe polish on a guy and make him sing "Mammy"!! A Larry Cohen moment I'll certainly never forget ---Despite all the grindhouse schlock - all of which I love! - there's a solid little story. The scenes with Williamson breaking his mom's heart and then facing off with his neglectful dad shows Cohen was going for more than machine guns and chase scenes. And, again, the music - wow! Even the most incidental bits of background music are smokin', and perfectly suited to the frequent NYC exteriors.So now I've seen three or four blaxploitation flicks, and part of one other, Scream Blackula Scream, which was so bad that it caused me actual pain, so I shut it off...(for some reason, I can't handle anything with VooDoo, it freaks me out with all the animal mutilation and stuff, hence me never seeing Angel Heart, Serpent and the Rainbow, etc).So far, Black Ceasar is the best I've seen of this genre ---

Movie starts out in 1953 where we see young black Tommy Gibbs doing jobs for the mob. He starts developing his own little gang. As he gets older (and becomes Fred Williamson) he works his way into the white mob--even though they don't want "ni**ers" (as they say throughout the film). Then he steals some damaging ledgers and uses it to run crime in the city, help black people and keep the evil white people at bay. But the white guys in the mob aren't about to give up...Perhaps I'm not the best person to review a Larry Cohen movie--he's the producer, writer and director of this. I've never liked any of his movies and he makes really bad low budget films (unlike Roger Corman who makes good ones). This one is full of goofs--I love it when you hear a baby crying on the soundtrack but you can clearly see that the baby isn't making a sound! This is full of bad dialogue and has a very predictable script. This is the type of gangster film Hollywood was making in the 1930s--it's just done with black characters now. The movie also contains plenty of swearing and some pretty graphic bloody violence. Also I can't think of any film I've ever seen that has such a negative view of women--they're either vicious witches, use sex to get what they want or are slapped around left and right. It doesn't help at all that Gloria Hendry (the main victim) gives a terrible performance.To be truthful I was struggling to stay awake. The bursts of violence helped and Williamson is tall, handsome and pretty good in the title role. But the technical goofs (there are plenty) and the by the numbers story got annoying. Poorly made on a low budget. Check out "Foxy Brown", "Coffy" or "Blacula" for a good blaxploitation film.