Review: Black Gunn

Jim Brown stars as Gunn, owner of the Gunn Club, whose brother Scott (Herbert Jefferson Jr.) has become involved with black revolutionaries (Bernie Casey among them) who commit robberies to afford weapons for their Black Action Group (BAG!) exploits. On their latest heist, the group rob a mob-run gambling house, and Scott nicks off with some cash and mob books that apparently have very prominent names listed. He hides them in a safe at the Gunn club. Unfortunately, it’s the last thing he does before getting bumped off. Now it’s up to Gunn to seek revenge and take on the mob, largely represented here by occasional used car salesman (!) Martin Landau, who works for mafioso Stephen McNally. Bruce Glover and William Campbell play henchmen of varying degrees of efficiency, Brenda Sykes is Gunn’s lady, whilst Luciana Paluzzi plays a glamorous woman whose role in proceedings is meant to be somewhat of a mystery for much of the film (It’s pretty obvious). Gary Conway plays a Kennedy-esque congressman who seems to want to help Gunn, but can he be trusted?

 

Another day, another solid Jim Brown vehicle, this 1972  flick from English born director Robert Hartford-Davis (“Corruption”, “The Fiend”, “The Take”) is every bit as good as the better-known “Slaughter”. The only flaw here is that there’s too many characters involved in the screenplay by Franklin Coen (who co-wrote the Oscar nominated script for “The Train”) and Robert Shearer (who didn’t). Stephen McNally (looking old) in particular barely has a walk-on, or more precisely, a golf-on. A shame, because he’s a very fine villain when given the chance, as anyone who has seen “Johnny Belinda” can attest. Luciana Paluzzi and her congressman friend are two characters too many as well, lovely as it always is to see the glamorous Ms. Paluzzi. I get why the characters are here, but there’s not quite enough room for them to be properly fleshed out. It results in even Martin Landau getting fewer minutes on screen than he should. Otherwise this one’s a winner, with star Brown giving his most committed performance. No one does simmering, threatening rage like Brown and he really brings everything to the table here. He even gets to play smooth-talking ladies man from time to time here and daaaaaaamn, he’s smooth.

 

The film gets off to an exciting start with African-American robbers wearing white hoods. I see what you’re doing there, guys. Yes, this is yet another blaxploitation era film that features African-American war veterans banding together to perform robberies to buy weapons so they can stick it to The Man. One of them is played by the surprisingly very tall Bernie Casey. I had no idea he was so huge. He’s solid, if underused. In fact, aside from a couple of smaller turns (the white cop actor in particular) this one is pretty well-acted, especially by the known names and faces. Our main villains are the creepy duo of Martin Landau and Bruce Glover, whilst McNally is merely the Man behind the man (Landau). Landau is a golf-playing used car salesman and mafia lieutenant, which is certainly a mouthful. He’s got the creepy-eyed stare, whilst serial punching bag Glover (father off oddball actor Crispin) has a creepy whisper and thuggish brutality in the best role I’ve ever seen him in. You know he’s gonna get the shit slapped out of him by Brown, and boy is it deserved – and fun to watch. Like I said, overpopulation does kinda leave Landau off to the side for a stretch, which is a shame because he’s the main heavy pretty much, and really solid. Familiar genre face Brenda Sykes meanwhile, immediately excels in a pretty stock-standard role. She shows off a surplus of charisma here. Look out for an hilariously inept, wannabe tough guy in Paluzzi’s Elvis-haired stud, played by a William Campbell. It’s not the actor’s fault, the character is just an ineffectual idiot with stupid hair.

 

Good short, sharp bursts of action, a strong starring turn by Brown (baring his chest more often than Pam Grier used to) and some strong villainous support by Landau and especially Glover. This one’s a bit overpopulated and has a fairly stock plot, but it’s really entertaining stuff nonetheless. Both the beginning and the climax are especially exciting. It probably deserves a slightly larger notoriety to be honest. Excellent music score by Tony Osborne (“The Fiend”).

 

Rating: B-