Review: Black Caesar

The rise-and-fall of Tommy Gibbs (played as an adult by Fred Williamson), whose career in criminality begins in the 1950s when the then shoe-shining teen Tommy is a part of an assassination of a gangster, by causing a distraction. Being beaten by a racist, corrupt Irish-American cop named McKinney (Art Lund) also plays a part in shaping Tommy’s trajectory. After a stint in juvie, Tommy comes out ready to climb the criminal ladder, and also ready to take revenge on racist cop McKinney, now the chief of police. All of the ruthless ambition and rage comes at a cost, however. Tommy is so drunk on power he’s alienating loved ones, such as his lounge singer girlfriend (Gloria Hendry), his straight-laced childhood friend Joe (Philip Roye), and even his own mother (Minnie Gentry). Julius Harris plays Tommy’s estranged father, who waltzes back into his life now that Tommy has amassed some wealth and power. D’Urville Martin plays Rufus, another childhood friend who is a preacher of sorts. Val Avery plays a mobster Tommy temporarily aligns himself with early on, whilst William Wellman Jr. plays a lawyer Tommy uses the services of.  

 

Writer-director Larry Cohen’s 1973 update of the 30s gangster movie model, proves to be one of the towering peaks of the short-lived blaxploitation subgenre. A rise-and-fall gangster tale, it’s also the best movie late cult filmmaker Cohen (“It’s Alive”, “Q: The Winged Serpent”, “The Stuff”) ever made, as well as the finest hour for former footballer Fred ‘Hammer’ Williamson. Williamson is clearly no Cagney or Edward G. Robinson, but he’s charismatic and is able to sell Tommy’s confidence, increasingly ruthless ambition, and seething rage well enough. Tommy isn’t a likeable man, and although Williamson has charisma, he’s also unafraid to show Tommy’s cold, ruthless, arrogant side. He probably means well, but after a while Tommy’s become an arrogant shithead on a power-trip, losing all sense of himself, and treating everyone who cares about him like garbage. There’s a particularly tragic familial dynamic here between Tommy, his mother (Minnie Gentry), and his estranged father (Julius Harris – doing a lot with very little). Tommy obviously loves his mother, but so well-entrenched in a life of crime is he that when he’s got enough money to be able to buy the apartment that Momma Gibbs (Gentry) works as a maid…she doesn’t want anything to do with his dirty money. His father doesn’t approve of his life of crime either, but Tommy resents the old man for walking out on them and wants nothing to do with him. The poor old guy has come back into his son’s life at the wrong time.

 

As the racist, white main antagonist, character actor Art Lund is absolutely outstanding. The film is full of the usual racial epithets you get in Blaxploitation films (the dialogue overall is quite schlocky, but occasionally priceless), but Lund’s corrupt, racist cop is a truly disgusting, brutal bastard. He’s also incredibly intimidating, just look at the scene where he menaces poor Gloria Hendry by simply holding her toddler in his arms. It’s obvious what message he's sending there. As for Hendry, she’s not been given the greatest role, she rarely ever got a good part to be honest. She tries her best, the role just sucks. For comic relief in his films,  Williamson would often turn to his buddy, the late D’Urville Martin, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Williamson suggested Martin for a role here. However, here in this much more serious-minded film, Martin’s actually somewhat of a tragic figure. As Tommy’s childhood friend Rufus, who has become a not especially effective minister, he’s more of a well-meaning, ne’er do well. Martin proves excellent in the part. Look out for long-serving character actor Val Avery in the first half as a mobster, he’s great fun.

 

A great cast, a great James Brown soundtrack (including the phenomenal ‘Down and Out in New York City’), a more ambitious than usual script, and gritty location shooting and effective handheld camerawork by Fenton Hamilton (Cohen’s cult fave “It’s Alive” and sequel “It Lives Again”). Unforgettable finale, everything about it works perfectly for what it is, you’ll definitely never hear Jolson the same way again. Absolutely one of the standout Blaxploitation films and a must-see for fans of this sort of thing.

 

Rating: B+