HALLOWEEN HORROR CHALLENGE MOVIE #5 - GANJA AND HESS

GANJA & HESS (1973) aka BLACK VAMPIRE
D. BILL GUNN
KINO - Blu Ray

This misunderstood art film is really very stylish and interesting. Thought to be a simple blaxploitation film for years, this is much more of a weird treatise on religion, myth, medicine and immortality. Directed by homosexual director BILL GUNN, this is also the last film to feature the late DUANE JONES of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD fame. 

Duane Jones plays Dr. Hess Greene a man who holds man degrees in various person bound arts. Even before the first image we are explained that Dr. Hess was stabbed by a special dagger three times one for The Father, one for The Son and one for The Holy Ghost. Dr. Hess has become a blood drinker, a vampire. His closest friend is fellow researcher, the suicidal George (played by director Gunn). George is tormented by the intricacies of life and death and teeters constantly on the edge. He is not aware of his friends new needs.

The first section of the film is titled THE VICTIM and deals with these two men's complex lives and relationship. It sets up Dr. Hess as a victim of his circumstances. After this each section of the film is numbered and titled accordingly. 

GANJA and HESS is really a movie about moments. As a whole I can see why the film was edited down from 113 minutes to a probably incomprehensible 78 min. There are lots of stretches that feel like they are going nowhere. Lots of conversations and things like language (bad language specifically) or how to hide dope rectally. There is also a LOT of nudity and sensuality that probably didn't go over well in the art crowd or even the exploitation crowd. Scenes like director Gunn taking a bath (and brushing his teeth in the water) that goes on a long time with his schlong in plain site.

But ultimately the film is about Hess, and Jones intense portrayal of the character. He is not a monster, but a man afflicted and Jones pulls out the stops to bring you into his plight. The film could almost be seen as a venereal disease or AIDS allegory (except AIDS hadn't reared its ugly head yet, and wouldn't for a decade or so). It is also about letting your freak flag fly. To not accept guilt for living a particular lifestyle or for having different needs. Dialogue throughout the film pertains to this. Such as


"Everybody is some kind of freak. Everyone I know is into something." - Ganja

" The only perversions that can be comfortably condemned are the perversions of others. I will persist and survive without God's or society's sanctions. I will not be tortured and I will not be guilty."
- Dr. Hess

Those are words to live by if I ever saw them. One should never allow themselves to feel guilty for their desires and needs.

More art film than horror film, there is still plenty of “frission” to be had from this quirky, extremely personal vision of modern horror.

I watched this on Blu Ray and it looks very interesting. Mastered from surviving 35mm prints as the vault negatives were the cut version it retains the super grainy feel and look of the era it was shot in. Clearly made for very little money all the flaws show up with added clarity in this version. But it does not distract from the overall power and ingenuity the film displays. 

Review © Andew Copp

Not too much at the Top Of The Heap

Day Fourteen of the September Exploitation Challenge: 

TOP OF THE HEAP (1972)
D. Christopher St. John
Unicorn Video O.O. P.
Full Frame


This rather obscure blaxploitation has a few fans because of the delirious fantasy sequences peppered throughout such as our hero running through the jungle naked, smashing watermelons, or helping to fake the moon landing, or recreating the JFK assassination (which I am sure was NOT too cool in 1972!). All scenes that are just weird enough to be humorous and kitchy. But what most reviews don't reveal is just how damn depressing this movie is. What material I have found on it centers on the bizarre stuff, the overblown goofy things. But they seem to have missed the last half hour of the movie where it becomes a rather grinding tale of one man’s life spinning out of control because of his own self loathing and inability to come to terms with his own racial identity. While I wouldn’t call it a “good movie” it certainly is not a brainless one, and by the end really delivers a melancholy one-two punch to the heart. 


Christopher St. John (who most remember from being in SHAFT) wrote, produced, directed and starred in this nightmarish tale of an inner-city beat cop who is on the edge of a nervous break down. We meet him literally as he is having an argument with his wife who wants him to have a heart to heart with his fourteen year old daughter because she has been caught getting busy with a neighborhood boy. He doesn’t want to have the talk, and really isn’t all that concerned about her burgeoning sexuality either “She’s just trying to figure out what’s happening between her legs!” he tells his wife. At work he has been passed over for a promotion by a white cop and the reason is obvious. Though his pissy, angry attitude probably played into it as well. He is fond of telling his partner (and lots of other people as the movie carries on) that he is the law he can “do any Goddamn thing I want to”.

When he busts two black guys with some dope they hit him where it hurts. His racial pride. They want him to let them go, but he doesn’t so they begin to call him a nigger and an uncle tom. Claiming he is ineffectual as a Black Man because he is a cop. He sees that he gets very little respect from his own race on the streets. They look down on him for being “the man”, yet anytime he gets into a tense situation on the streets he gets racially abused by anyone who ISN’T black until they realize he is a cop. Then they backtrack out of whatever they were saying. 


He spends his days fantasizing about being an Astronaut and other big goals. He has a very active inner life. We also find out from other characters that his mother has died, something he never wants to talk about. yet it seems to be weighing heavily on him. At one point he tells his wife about going to the funeral “I don’t want to go and hear all that singing and praying to tell God thank you for all this fucking pain.” 


His only true friend is his former Captain who is now in a old folks home. He visits him and sneaks him in a bottle of hooch they proceed to get hammered on. The old man tells him of the horrors of getting old about “you get smaller and smaller until you are too goddamn small for your own body anymore. You get older and get to sick to even live like a human being anymore.” The old man gives him a loaded pistol as a present that he has kept hidden away from the orderlies. Which is good because he has discovered earlier when arresting a knife wielding madman that somehow his own gun had no bullets in it. 


He tries to reach out to the women in his life for connection, but there isn’t any. His wife is tired of his anger and distance. His mistress is young and wants to live a fulfilling life which he cannot give, and his daughter his clearly using sec and drugs to escape. He blames being a cop for his lack of respect. He blames being black for his lack of respect. Both play their parts, but it is his insolent and unresolved anger that is the biggest motivating problem. His fantasies clearly show he would rather be someone else, doing something else. That he would rather be changing the world, not cleaning up after it. The last half hour is a series of poor decision making for him that clearly are leading him down a path of his own choosing with a brick wall as a dead end. 


The film’s biggest drawback is Christopher St. John himself. the lead character is such an angry, loveless prick that it is hard to like him, or muster up much care for a character that is so bitter and touchy. His plight is worthy, and intriguing. But he garners so little sympathy that the film has a hard time making you feel for him. The fantasy sequences are a little too much too. A few work fine, but for the most part the feel like the left overs from a different movie. Though the JFK finale is strikingly appropriate. 


Overall TOP OF THE HEAP is such a bizarre relic of the era that I couldn’t help but appreciate it. But it also was a pretty big downer. Obviously it was supposed to be and did it’s job. 

Review © Andy Copp 

Berny Casey Kicking your Ass

 Day eleven of the September exploitation challenge lands me in the heart of L.A. trying to find a brother's killer!

HIT MAN (1972)
D. George Armitage
MGM
1.85


Bernie Casey stars in this Blaxploitation noir about a man looking for his brother’s killers in the seedy underworld of vice and corruption in L.A. At times this feels like a black urban remake of Mike Hodges excellent GET CARTER, but often it just sort of spins around in circles until it gets to the brutal climax when it finally comes to life. 


Casey plays Tyrone Tackett a former police officer who moved away to work in the porno industry. He has come back to town on the eve of his brother’s funeral. Seems his brother drove off a bridge drunk and people are calling it a suicide, but Tyrone knows better. He can just feel it was a murder. So he is asking questions, looking for clues and will beat it out of people if he has to. He starts with his brothers former squeeze a hooker named Laurell. Turns out she and his brother were more than just a Thing, and he wanted her out of the game. But that wasn’t enough to drive him off a bridge. Tyrone’s niece and his brother’s 17 year old daughter Rochell is pretty angry about the whole thing but she isn’t saying why. He soon uncovers that a local gangster named Zito may be involved and that he is keeping as a pet a black gal named Gozelda (an early role for Pam Grier, who sheds her clothes a LOT). Gozelda is related to the other local porno kingpin Theatis Oliver who may be ending up in a war with Zito. But none of this seems to have any reason as to why Tyrone’s brother would be killed or kill himself. Or why some really bad thugs keep showing up to try and muscle Tyrone out of L.A. and back to Oakland. 


Tyrone ends up finding out what the dope is purely by accident while checking out a porno flick with Gozelda who wants him to see her in action so he will go back to his boss in Oakland and try to get her work. What he sees in the movie gives him answers to his questions and sets about the last act of the movie that will leave a whole lot of motherfuckers dead in their tracks. 


As you can tell the movie is nothing if not a bit complex. At times it gets to twisting so much the movie loses track of what is going on and just drifts aside into senses moments like Tyrone and his oldest buddy taking a drive and getting piss drunk on Wild Turkey and ending up a a car wash. Or Tyrone’s endless dalliances with various ladies (though his hotel manager is pretty hot).  It is almost like the director was getting bored with the material and just wandered off to something else at times. Also weird is the amount of ass shots Bernie Casey gets in the movie. I guess turn about is fair play cause there is no shortage of naked females, but the brother is putting his butt cheeks into the camera just about any chance he gets. 


All in all the movie is kind of a disappointment and pretty much a low ranking entry in the cycle. Casey is great as he always is. And the direction is good, as George Armitage would go on to direct some amazing films in his later years such as MIAMI BLUES and GROSSE POINT BLANK and write the weirdest blaxploitation movie of them all DARKTOWN STRUTHERS. But the script just mulls about too much, before delivering the goods in the last reel. Though once it gets there, it DOES deliver.

Review © Andy Copp

Oh the crap they force on us sometimes!

Day Five of the September Exploitation Challenge

BLACK FORCE (1974)
D. Micheal Fink
Urban Showdown Multi Disc Pack
VHS Rip

Wow, this is  stinky piece of shit. I have a HIGH tolerance for crap and can usually find at least something in most any movie from the golden age of exploitation as long as it isn’t boring. But let me tell you, it took real balls to foist this on the public. I can’t even imagine the stoned out crowd that had to be stuck watching this thing on 42nd st back in the day. One of only two directing credits for director (and boy do I use that term loosely) Michael Fink, the other being VELVET SMOOTH which is in the well worn multi back BAD BROTHAS MEAN MOTHAS. So help me God if I end up watching that (I probably will). 


The entire cast is made up not of actors but Multi-belt martial artists with the only recognizable name being Warhawk Tanzania from the similar piece of shit GANG WARS (that for reasons I cannot explain when it comes out on DVD from CODE RED I will still buy). They play an elite “Black Force” or super trained Martial Artists (we know they are well trained because we spend a twelve minute sequence watching them show their skills - without soundtrack music!) are are hired to find the fat-assed thug who stole a priceless African artifact.


What ensues are endless montages of these dudes (and one lady) walking the streets of New York  cut with lots of shots of garbage trucks and street signs, over dubbed with gibberish that is supposed to be them questioning people, but sounds like secret recordings from an insane asylum. Lots of street fights occur, at random, with people we have no idea who the hell they are. Occasionally a fight will be semi impressive with a stunt or move that catches your attention. As are some of the eye straining fashions. But mostly it is just confusing. 

And cheap. Dirt cheap. Like homeless cheap. Like they found the film stock in a trash can, rounded up their karate school friend wrote the script on a McDonalds wrapper and dubbed the whole thing later when it was edited and they were drunk. THAT kind of cheap. 


To make matters worse the transfer in this box set is clearly from a decades old VHS, probably EP in origin, then wedged on a DVD-5 disc with THREE other movies! So they took what was already a crappy looking movie, made it look worse on a VHS and then said “all well fuck it, how can we make this look even worse than before? I know squeeze this shit out of it on DVD!”


But did I enjoy this? If I could edit it down to a fifteen minute movie I might. Luckily for me the last ten to fifteen minutes of the movie are just that, the “good parts” repeated over to fill the movie up to feature length! So skip ahead to about the hour and five minute mark and you get a highlight reel!

Review © Andy Copp

Man that cat is one bad DUDE!!!

The Guy From Harlem (1977)

D. Rene Martinez Jr.

Mill Creek

1.85 (Open Frame DVD)

This is a blaxploitation epic for those who felt that DOLEMITE was too polished and high tech for their tastes. A dime store circuit classic that for reasons unknown to this viewer has yet to get the cult status it so richly deserves. Imagine a ghetto action movie, minus the choreography to pull off the action, directed by folks who seem to have only seen store front porno movies, but are way too shy to actually shoot any on-screen sex. Hire a lead actor who consistently looks like he has either shit his pants or might cry at any given moment as your bad assssss title hero from Harlem, but set the whole shebang in Miami ('cause the title THE GUY FROM MIAMI doesn't really have a great ring to it, does it?) and you are partially there. Then find a bunch of day laborers, convicts and back street radicals to fill out the supporting roles and you might come close. To make the whole films feel just right you would need to scout locations with the most eye punishing day-glo seventies decor possible that had to blind the junkies crazy enough to actually come see the inspired trash and you might land a butt nugget comparable to this anti-classic known as THE GUY FROM HARLEM.

"Bitch, I'm the GUY FROM HARLEM!"

The flick stars blue-eyed brother Loye Hawkins as Al Conners, aka The Guy From Harlem, a black private dick who's a whiny sex machine to some of the chicks when he isn't running a cut rate detective agency. When one of his pals from up north in the CIA arrives with a job he leaps at the offer of $2000 to help out. "Two thousand dollars! For that kind of money I'll do what ever the hell you want me to!" he exclaims. Turns out the gig is easy street. They just want him to watch over an African Princess who is stopping over in Miami and they know the local Mob is gonna try to kidnap her. Seems the CIA has a leak and they only trust The Guy From Harlem. What they do not trust is his raging libido, because they warn him about sixty five times not to sleep with her as it could cause an international incident. They proceed to stress over and over that "she's cute, real cute, a real looker. But it could strain international relations." Then they tell him they have to pose as man and wife while he looks after her so the mob doesn't catch on! From there it is only a ticking clock before he slips his dick from Harlem into her majesty's secret cave. The moment he meets the Princess (Patricia Fulton and about six tons of blue eye shadow) she bitches about how much she needs a body massage from the rough plane ride. Hint Hint.

"Honky assassin masseuse at work."

Eventually he shows her some class by ordering room service for the both of them. Two New York strip steaks and a bottle of J&B scotch! When it arrives the poor maid delivering it is struggling to push the cart over the two inch orange shag rug, like someone from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA pushing a buddy over a sand dune. Then suddenly Al jumps up and punches the bitch out cold! POW! The princess flips out; "Why'd you hit her?" To witch Al exclaims "It was a MAN, baby!" and he rips off the maid's wig to reveal a knocked out cold dude. "I could smell a good New York Strip steak from a block away!" and he pulls open the tray to reveal a pistol underneath! Maybe The Guy From Harlem is useful after all!

"It's a MAN baby!"

He takes the Princess to his white girlfriend's apartment, saying that it's safe, before shooing the cracker ho out the door for the night, so he can get down to making the beast with two backs. But remember earlier when I mentioned the filmmakers being too embarrassed to actually show any real skin? They start making it and the movie cuts to not only the next morning, but hours later and Al has sent the princess on her way. The plot is over and she has returned to wherever the hell she came! And the movie isn't even half over yet! Then we meet some street thugs who hire AL to do a drop of some drugs and money to someone who works for head mobster "Big Daddy" who are holding their daughter for ransom. Al is smarter this time and asks for much bigger money of $2,000. When he asks who Big Daddy is, Al gets one of the best descriptions of a villain in movie history: "the thing is nobody knows what Big Daddy looks like, very few people have ever seen him. All we do know is, he's a white guy who is six foot two, with blond curly hair. And man, you talk about muscles... he's got the biggest muscles! And he wears bands around his arms. But nobody knows what he looks like. Nobody's ever seen him!" Naturally when Al walks right past him in a gym the very next day while setting up the delivery, he doesn't even notice him!

"When the CIA arrives, people listen."

Meanwhile we meet Sue (Wanda Starr with the biggest Afro in screen history) the girl he's supposed to be helping. She's tied to a chair in some cabin in the woods with a honky tormenting her. Some big muscled, wife beater shirt wearing, mullet headed bo-hunk motherfucker, who vacillates between calling her a nigger, and trying to paw at her dark chocolate titties. Funny thing is that no matter how aggressive he gets or mean he tries to be, this tiny little women, who is bound and tied, still manages to fight him off, kicking him in the balls, pushing him away with her feet, talking shit to him, calling him a honky. And he backs down at very turn. When he finally gets made enough to throw her to the flow to attempt to rape her she wiggles out of her ropes to which he yells "Damn, I knew I should have tied those ropes tighter!", and it becomes glaringly clear that wasn't in the script! She slipped out of the ropes on her own! Outside The Guy From Harlem has infiltrated the compound and is whooping the asses of all the dudes that are guarding the place in some of the most insane action scenes ever put on film. Seems The Guy From Harlem does his best fighting from the ground. A typical fighting move being to kick his legs like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum. The ending is action packed, but I don't want to spoil how it all goes.

"Real mobsters wear scary suits."

Some movies are bad. They throw money at the screen trying to cover ineptitude. Then there are movies that wear that ineptitude like a badge of honor. Then there are movies like THE GUY FROM HARLEM, that are completely fucking clueless that they are inept at all. It exists in a bizarre universe where time and space stand still and only craptastic spectacular nothingness like this remain. I'll take this over a $200,000,000 piece of shit any day of the week. In fact, I am ready to watch this one again.

And I haven't even mentioned the incredible theme song the flares up when the main character walks on screen, or takes off his pants, or the boom mic that gets as much screen time as most characters, or how each scene is covered in medium shot, or how it is all lit from one giant light. The list goes on and on. Amazing. Truly and utterly amazing.

Review © Andrew Copp

Here is the AMAZING trailer available on the Synapse 42nd Street Forever Vol #2 trailer compilation.

Man that Samson is one rightious dude!

BLACK SAMSON (1974)
D. Chuck Bail
Warners
1.85
* NOTE: The screen grabs featured in this review are actually from a VHS source and do not reflect the quality of the DVD source being reviewed.



This minor blaxploitation classic doesn't get much ink, which is probably because it was somewhat difficult to see until now. Thanks to the release of the Warner Brothers Urban Action four pack (including BLACK BELT JONES, THREE THE HARD WAY, HOT POTATO and BLACK SAMSON the only film in the set not featuring Jim Kelly) fans can finally see all the big African staff ass whoopin's, sedated lions, bouncing white titties, bad dubbing of background extras, bug eyed cocaine fiends and William Smith beating up women as you can handle. This is black foot to white ass classic seventies cinema.


Samson (Rockne Tarkington) is a bar owner in a small part of town. He keeps his little corner of paradise drug free and is well respected for it. The pushers on the outer edges are mostly cats he grew up with and have agreed to stay out of his turf out of respect. His club is one that everyone enjoys, young, old, rich, poor; everyone loves coming there, mostly because they love Samson. He keeps his pet lion on the bar at all times, and the lion just calmly chills there, watching the crowd and interacting with the local old town drunk Samson has taken in (Napoleon Whiting) in some rather funny scenes.

Give this lion a drink, before someone gets mauled!

But when local Mafia arm breaker Johnny Nappa (a scene chewing William Smith) and his buddy, the bigot mouth Arthur (Michael Payne), start causing trouble, it's time for Samson to bring out the six foot African cane and whip the shit out of Arthur to prove who's really boss.

See, it's funny because we're RACISTS!

Nappa goes home and beats up his lovely blond girlfriend (Connie Strickland) to prove his manhood, while Samson makes sweet, sweet love to his big afroed, philosophy spewing babe (Carol Speed). Turns out the Italian mob want to start peddling the dope on Samson's streets, but in a weird plot turn, the old Mafioso refuses to do it if it will require violence to convince him. At this point, he and Samson have a sit down and agree to let it go. It is hot headed, racist Nappa who keeps at it. Sending his girlfriend to be a dancer at Samson's club to spy, then beating the shit out of her when she becomes friends with Samson's woman.

Now this, this is the kind of thing that makes coming home worth while don't ya think?

Eventually it all comes down to a chase which leads Nappa and his gang straight into Samson's hood, where they're trapped. All through the movie, one of the big bones of contention is that the people of the neighborhood supposedly wouldn't stand up for Samson the way he stands up for them. That his idealism is just that, a false security for people who do not appreciate it. Turns out, those who believe that are very wrong, as the entire hood come out to Samson's defense cornering the white gang pummeling them from the rooftops with pots, pans, beds, tables, refrigerators and anything else they can hurl from windows and rooftops. A few of the good guys get shot, but not before a lot of villains are smashed up real good. Which leads to a showdown between Nappa and Samson which must be seen to be believed. Starting with Nappa yelling out at the top of his lungs "Nigggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr" (an infamous someone once left that exact thing on my answering machine while drunk...).

When things get really heavy Samson and his people come down hard. All the way!

The final fight is a weird one. William Smith is awesome when matched with someone who can keep up with him like Fred Williamson. Their fight in BUCKTOWN is one of the all time great fight scenes. But Rockne Tarkington is no Fred Williamson. They roll around on the dirty mattressess flailing and flapping like two ducks fucking. Smith tries to make it look manly but it keeps going to the ground, and finishing up with lame kicks that Rudy Ray Moore would have demanded they speed up in the editing. All in all it is certainly amusing. But being that this is directed by 70's stunt man extraordinaire Chuck Bail you would have expected that final fight scene to be seriously the shit. It is clearly the lead actor who lets it down.

The dubbing in the film is hilarious as well. Anytime the bar is full there is a chorus of voices, clearly not being spoken by anyone on screen, saying things like "Man! That Samson is one righteous DUDE!!!" If you listen carefully ,at one point you can even hear someone say "Look, I'm talking but my lips aint even movin!!!" This insane off screen narrator bit would be put to more effective use by Lloyd Kauffman in every movie he ever made.

Carol Speed's fro deserves some sort of extra residual package. That thing is out of sight!

The new Warner's four Pack looks awesome. These aren't exactly demo material, but the films are letterboxed and look way better than they ever have. My only complaint is no extras, not even the easily accessible trailers. Bummer about that, but the films are great, and BLACK SAMSON is the gem of the bunch.

Review © Andrew Copp

Day #13 finds Sugar on the hill...

SUGAR HILL aka SUGAR HILL AND HER ZOMBIE HIT MEN aka THE ZOMBIES OF SUGAR HILL (1974)
D. Paul Malansky
American International Pictures
1.85

This well loved Blaxploitation horror hybrid played the drive-in circuit for years and years before becoming a late night TV favorite well into the 80's. Being rated PG allowed it to play second bills safely and get into syndication with very little editing which made it a popular replay, plus the snappy and memorable various titles made an impact with audiences over the years. But what has stuck with people are two things: the cobweb-covered, bug-eyed voodoo zombies, where they used cut in half ping pong balls painted silver for eyes, and, of course, the titular badass anti-hero Baron Samedi, played by Don Pedro Colli, with his wide eyes, toothy grin, and joyful menacing laugh. His image seared its way into the stoned minds of many a drive-in patron all over the country, regardless of color or creed. But he's just the pawn of the title heroine Sugar Hill, one pissed off Mama out for revenge because a syndicate of honky motherfucka's killed the man she loved so they could take over the nightclub he ran. Being that she came from a family of voodoo practicing folk, that was one bad move on their part. She goes to her old Mama, a voodoo priestess who helps Sugar to raise the Baron and his zombie slaves. Literally, the corpses of slaves brought over from the old country, who died of disease soon as they set foot on the plantations of America and were buried in the swamps of Louisiana. Together they all set out to wipe the lily white scum (and one token black brother) from the face of the earth.

Marki Bey is Sugar Hill, and she's smokin' in the roll. Hot as can be, and, as many of the black actresses of the time often did, exuding an air of absolute control and power. She just shines forth as a woman not to be fucked with in her various white and blue power jumpsuits that amazingly never look tacky or retro on her. As the movie progresses her cleavage seems to take on a life of its own, becoming more and more prominent in each outfit, until those breasts are demanding their own screen agent. It all seems rather appropriate for a character who enters every room and takes charge of everyone in it. The movie is clever in how each scene sets up Baron Samedi in some way, as well: as a bartender, a cab driver, or a gardener, allowing the bad guys to walk to their doom as he watches them take the bait and suffer their fate. Laughing the whole time at their stupidity and cries of anguish.

SUGAR HILL is ripe with a thick atmosphere of genuine Southern gothic antiquity, with lush swamps and plantations and a feel of down-home voodoo in some scenes that's eerie, to say the least. The fog-basted scenes of Baron Samedi's resurrection are particularly effective.

The movie was formerly owned by MGM as part of their deal with American International's library (formerly owned by Orion), but I don't know what's happened to it since then. I believe it's shown on MGM's HD channel once or twice, but it's still not available on DVD as of this writing. Rips from that broadcast and the old Orion VHS are floating around, and either are a perfectly acceptable way to watch this fine 70's slice of drive-in horror fare. This one has now entered the pantheon of a real favorite.

Reviews © Andy Copp

Run, Just RUN!!!

The Black Connection Or Run Ni**er Run! (1974)
D. Michael Finn
Something Weird Video
Full Frame

This Las Vegas based blaxploitation anti-epic released by Box Office International Pictures is a riot. It appears to have been made as a vanity project for the R&B soul group The Checkmates limited who do all the funkadelic music for the flick as well as star in most of the lead roles. Anytime there is a lull in the action, which is about every three to five minutes their music kicks in to fill in the gaps. One viewer on IMDB mentioned that this makes the film the perfect late night viewing with your sweetheart because it gives you perfect time to cuddle up and kiss on your sweet heart with great soul music in the background every few minutes without missing any important action! The music is fantastic imitation Motown with a heavy (and I do mean HEAVY) layer of keyboards and moog synths mixed in. You can groove hard to The Checkmates man. And you get plenty of opportunity to do it too.

The plot is a confusing mess, and it seems that a bunch of the movie is missing as characters are introduced and never figure back into the action at all. But the gyst of it is the Miles Carter (Bobby Stevens) is a big time black Pimp/Dope pusher on the West Side of Las Vegas. He has made a deal with the Don, the big Italian mafioso who runs the rest of Vegas, but the deal has gone sour because somewhere along the line half a key of dope has gone missing. It is never explained where that dope went by the way. So various allegiances are made and broken, double crosses are planned and carried out, and a couple of honkies who hate Miles are pretending to be a Hooker and John to get close to the man to rub him out. Then there is the pudgy, and possibly gay, hitman on his case, who stands around in the background and smokes a lot. As the film progresses the cast gets whittled down in various shotgun rubouts until the almost Greek tragedy style ending that quotes the bible!

This is the typical no budget regional filmmaking from the 70's that made the era great fun. Yeah it is a bad movie, the acting is atrocious, the filmmaking technique is pretty rotten. But it is filled with enough charm to carry it through ten Hollywood blockbusters today. Just the dialogue alone in this movie demands a viewing. Take for example the whore who is describing her run in with the lesbian bodygaurd of the Don "that bitch don't understand what to do when she runs into a lady, and make no mistake I'm a motherfuckin LADY!" while sitting topless in bed with a nerdy white nebbish guy. And naturally this prostitute character is one that doesn't come back. Or the junkie white whore who calles Miles on the phone to get her fix "You know why I called, and its not because I miss your big black swinging dong, though it is good baby!" She doesn't show back up either. Sometimes the characters don't even have to say anything to be entertaining like Mile's girlfriend who is the most serious looking woman I have ever seen. She has painted on eyebrows that go half way up her forhead that Divine would applaud, and a look on her face at all times like someone in the room just farted. This woman is severe! No matter what is being talked about she looks like she is gonna cut some motherfucker at any moment. She's not unattractive, just mean looking. I was afraid of her. Then there was the chubby white hitman. He has probably the film's best scene when he springs into action with a totally unexpected kung fu fight scene where he totally obliterates a Mafia guy with ease. It comes out of nowhere, you don't expect it, and frankly it aint all that convincing. But after a half hour of this guy just walking around smoking cigarettes and looking at people it was refreshing to see him go into action. And I haven't even mention the mafia guys yet. In a movie that wears its racial stereotypes with pride, these guys are the top of the line. Greasy, with frightening combovers, always stuffing their faces with food and wine, smoking cigars and talking in wiseguy speak that makes Goodfellas look tame. There's a Cuban guy too but you can't really understand him at all. But he doesn't live very long anyway.

The movie is mercilessly padded with long scenes of people driving around, or shots of locations. When Miles goes to a resort town there is loooong montages of him riding a ski lift up and mountain and then back down the mountain. All so they can pad the movie out and wedge in some more of the smooth ass Checkmates limited music. So that's your cue to grab your sweetie and get some quick lovin in before the next round of action.

This is low end stuff that makes Dolemite look sophisticated and well made. But if you are in the right mood, it is a whole lot of fun. A real case of they don't make 'em like this anymore.