Black Caesar, le parrain de Harlem

This was a great movie for BLAXPLOITATION. I recently became a HUGE FAN of this kind of movie. Fred Williamson just OOZES the essence of COOL!!! He is cool all the way through the movie. He sure does get even with that JERK OF A RACIST cop!!! I was amazed how TENSE this movie became toward the end!!! Still, Fred Williamson was buff and cool the entire movie. The music was really good as well. There was some great James Brown music. "I paid the cost to be the boss." That song personified the wonderful Fred Williamson!!! I plan to watch the commentary here pretty soon. I was shocked though at the way Fred was shot in the street yet he continued to walk around New York and nobody seemed to really care that he was shot. Very sad.

As I watched this low budget film I came to realize that while it is exploitation, it's still a story of an angry man that deep down wanted respect from those close to him. The film starts out with a young kid in 1953 Harlem who makes money giving shoe shines and gets involved in a mob hit and is told to take a package to a building to a bad cop named McKinney (Art Lund). McKinney accuses the kid of stealing money from him and is beaten badly until he has a broken leg. Fast forward to the mid 60's and young Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) is now a grown man and executes a mob hit on his own and tells a mafioso named Cardoza (Val Avery) that he's responsible and wants in with the mob and just wants to run an area in Harlem. He rises in power and has some important log books with all the information on important people on the take. He has a girl named Helen (Gloria Hendry) but doesn't have the sophistication to keep her. Finally the mob decides to get rid of him and now he's the target! This film was directed by Larry Cohen (It's Alive!) who is a veteran of low budget efforts and the film is benefited by his experience. The film is actually shot on location in Harlem and in several shots you can see people staring at the camera. Also, the Apollo Theater is seen as the camera pans the street. While this is another version of "Little Caesar" there is an aspect of the story that I found very well handled and it was the scenes where Tommy Gibbs is feeling betrayed and alone. One scene in particular that stands out is at his mothers funeral and he asks his father if he's all right. What adds to these scenes is the effective use of music that helps establish the mood of the film and these scenes in particular. The music is by James Brown and Barry DeVorzon. Even with limited funds and some poorly dubbed dialogue can't detract from the emotions in parts of this film. Fred Williamson is a former football player and his acting experience was very limited so his performance is even more impressive to watch. The guy has natural charisma on screen but he also shows that he can bare his emotions like any good actor. If you like these types of films than this is one of the classics of its genre. As much fun as it was to watch Williamson smear shoe polish on Lund and make him sing "Mammy" the film has more to offer than that. The scenes of Williamson's character feeling alone and betrayed along with the good music score are what make this film stand out from the others of its kind. Classic exploitation.

BLACK CAESAR is only the first half in the gangster epic of Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson). It has attitude, and comes up strong in detailing the urbanized ghetto culture in a gritty style. Compare this to THE GODFATHER, if you will, because there isn't a lot going on here that its second-half sequel HELL UP IN HARLEM actually offers much more to the story (Maltin, take note of this!). Both films gave Williamson the spotlight he deserved in show business with his mean, dirty style of action-packed influence. This one's just warming up. Best scene to remember: Gibbs putting on the shoe polish of a white man's face to resemble Al Jolson, only in beating the living daylights out of him as he shouts "Mammy! Mammy!". As you'd normally expect for a "blaction" classic, it's pure entertainment, and James Brown's soul music score (absent in the sequel) is the best I've heard. There is a call for examination on Gibbs' "superior" gang who wants to rule over the opposing race, a plot that sometimes goes overboard and needs to be studied. You need to check out and watch BOTH of these titles simultaneously to avoid instant confusion, letting them stick together into a three-hour movie on its own.

Not one to miss on an opportunity, Larry Cohen's second feature film utilised the explosion of blaxploitation cinema after the successes of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and Shaft (1971), and crafted his own "black" action film, modelled on the 1931 film Little Caesar. Fred Williamson plays the titular role, a boy from the streets, witnessing and being victim of brutality from the white community, and particularly a local police officer, McKinney (Art Lund). As an adult, Caesar's goal is to become kingpin of Harlem, and he won't let anything stand in his way.

The narrative is a story told over, which focuses on a person who looses everything in the pursuit of power, including childhood friends, wives, and particularly looses sight of the person that they are. It's always great to watch a Cohen movie from this period. When filming in the streets (in this case New York - of which is his usual setting), his guerilla-style is self evident: clearly in the making of these films, Cohen does not get any kind of permission to film, he simply turns up and does it. In one scene, Williamson has been shot, the camera follows him down the busy street from a roof top, and passers by seem to want to help him. It's these elements of exploitation cinema that I embrace.

Whilst this is certainly not one of Cohen's greatest (check out his horror output for some terrifically socio-political subtexts), the film oozes charm. Not only do we have the easy-cool of Fred Williamson, the film also has the ubiquitous Gloria Hendry , although not in her usual kung-fu-influenced fighting mode. Even though this film is less well known than Shaft or Superfly (1972), who's soundtracks were composed by soul giants Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield respectively, Black Caesar's soundtrack is provided by the godfather of soul himself, James Brown: Break it down! Heeyyyyaa!!

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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".