The Black Godfather - Der Schwarze Pate

It would only be fair to say that the title of this one gives a pretty clear clue of what it's going to be about in advance. Needless to say, The Black Godfather is about the head honcho of an African-American gangster group. It's clearly a Blaxploitation riff on the earlier mega hit, The Godfather (1972), except in this one there is no focus whatsoever on the rise of the central character up to the summit of his organisation. Basically, in this one he has arisen to the rank of godfather after approximately ten minutes in! So the focus is on things he has to deal with as the leader of a black gang, such as white hoods trying to introduce drugs into the neighbourhood, something the black criminals are strongly opposed to. In order to combat this, the godfather joins forces with a Black Panther styled militant group.

I was looking forward to this one, as it sounded like a sure fire winner but in all honesty it's a pretty poor effort from a genre where even most of the ropiest entries are still somewhat entertaining. It is a little too talky for its own good and it doesn't deliver enough fun on the whole. The black godfather himself wasn't truthfully the most interesting central character as it turned out, which was disappointing. It's probably a film suited mostly to Blaxploitation fanatics and I'm sure it will deliver something for most of them. One point of interest I did find though was the presence of Duncan McLeod as the requisite corrupt cop – he, of course, played the shady lawyer Porter Hall in the delicious cult classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) and it certainly was at least nice to see him appear in something else.

Despite my skepticism about the whole "cash-in" business, I can't deny that the Blaxploitation genre has yielded some remarkable achievements, most notably Larry Cohen's BONE (1972) and Bill Gunn's GANJA AND HESS (1973); unfortunately, THE BLACK GODFATHER would definitely come somewhere near the bottom if such a list was compiled…! Having already updated private detectives, vampires, monsters and what have you to the funkier generation, it was only a matter of time before we also had a colored Don to lord it over the underworld; it's a pity, though, that the mobster here is nothing like his Italian namesake (unless having his bodyguard named Sonny is enough to earn him the title of "Godfather"!).

Anyway, I've already spent far more time writing about this film than it deserves; suffice it to say that the hip dialogue (brimful of catchphrases like "dig", "nigger", "brother", "right on", "the man", "that where it's at", etc.) is risible, the hairstyles outrageously dated, the action sequences amateurish, the compulsory song score mediocre and the acting woeful. Despite all this, I guess I was in a "bad movie watching" mode tonight because I was reasonably entertained by this junk and I can't wait to get my hands on that other Blaxploitation double-feature disc – THE BLACK SIX (1974)/THE BLACK GESTAPO (1975) – which is available for rent from the local DVD store…!

"The Black Godfather" begins with a young guy, J.J. (Rod Perry), nearly getting himself killed but being ultimately rescued and taken under the wing of a guy who is in charge of the numbers rackets in the inner city. Despite nearly getting killed, J.J. is insistent that he has plans---plans on taking down the established white mob that has set up shop in the ghetto. However, and this is odd, it's never really certain what his plans are once he's destroyed this mob. Does he want peace for his community or does he want to be the next mob boss.

This is an unusual blaxsploitation film in that I have seen similar types of movies but never one that is so muted and low-key. The normal bouncy 70s R&B music is gone and so are the loud stereotypical sorts of characters. Some, I am sure, will dislike this--they WANT the crazy over-the-top characters you see in many blaxsploitation films. Some might appreciate that the folks AREN'T so stereotypical. The problem I had is that although I appreciated these sorts of characters, the script itself just lacked energy and life--definitely making this a lesser film of the genre.

By the way, look for the rather visible mic at 20:00 at the top of the screen--much like you'll see deliberately included in the recent blaxsploitation parody "Black Dynamite" (a definite must-see).

With the help of Kingpin, Nate Williams (Jimmy Witherspoon), a smalltime crook named J. J. (Rod Perry) works his way up to the big time. Unfortunately, as is often the case in these films, mob types are trying to move in on Williams' turf. Their boss, Tony Burton (Don Chastain) has been pushing his dope on the local youngsters, and that will not stand.

THE BLACK GODFATHER is a solid entry in the urban action / crime subgenre. Mr. Perry's character seems to get tougher and wiser as the film progresses. There are several interesting characters, like the bada$$ Diablo (Damu King). He's definitely the sort of guy you'd want on your side.

The final confrontation contains a surprise for old Tony!...

On the one hand, it's pretty good to focus on a man whose aim is to keep drugs out of his community, but this is silly. The fight scenes aren't as neat as those seen in "Shaft" or "Superfly". An interesting factoid is that Tony Burton, who plays Sonny, has also starred in two of the most famous movies: he played Apollo Creed's trainer in "Rocky" and the garage owner in "The Shining" (on whose set he played chess with Stanley Kubrick).

So, there's nothing special about "The Black Godfather". Like any blaxploitation flick, it's purpose is to show African-Americans being cool. This one succeeds at least partly.