Hell Up in Harlem

Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) is also known as Black Caesar, he finds himself shot by a corrupted police officer in the middle of the street in New York City. Since Gibbs is an well-known gangster, he has the ledger with the name of every bad cop and government officials on the mob's payroll. Gibbs is now public enemy number one in the city. He brings his father (Julius W. Harris) to the mob, Gibbs teaches his father every he knows. But someone in the gang is double-crossing Gibbs and he knows, there will be hell to pay. Revenge looks sweet for Black Caesar.

Written, Produced and Directed by Larry Cohen (It's Alive Trilogy, A Return to Salem's Lot, Q:The Winged Serpent) made an amusing, violent, if sometimes unintentionally funny sequel to "Black Caesar". Cohen is at his best, during some of the action sequences, the quick-paced editing and hand-held camera work. Williamson and Harris are fun to watch in this movie. Although the movie looks rushed, the story isn't as clear as its supposed to be and the film is quite sloppy at times.

DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an decent Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Sound. The DVD's best feature is the humorous and informative commentary track by Cohen. At times, his commentary track seems to be more entertaining than the movie! DVD also includes the original theatrical trailer and an teaser trailer. "Hell Up in Harlem" is a lot of fun, despite some real flaws. Some of Edwin Starr's songs are quite good. If you are an fan of Soul Cinema in the 1970's. Don't miss it. (*** ½/*****).

70s action and a blaxploitation classic with Fred Williamson (The Inglorious Bastards - 1978, MASH) as Black Caesar leading the way backed up by the luscious Gloria Hendry.

Lots of shoot-em-up action as the black gangsters take on the Mafia and the crooked cops that support them.

Things settle down, Black Caesar moves to LA, and comes back with a vengeance when his pops is killed. Cute scene where Mafia in park dies with hot dogs in their mouths.

The dialog and story wasn't the greatest, but if you are looking for righteous action, you've come to the right place.

Fun sequel takes off where Black Caesar took off...lots of violence...soul soundtrack not as good as James Brown's work on Black Caesar, but passable. Overall this movie has an even more fantastic plot than the first but is still basically enjoyable...particularly the island ambush scene and the chase in which Williamson runs after his opponent, who boards an airplane to L.A. from New York...Fred doesn't sweat it and gets a flight that just happens to leave a few minutes after the first gets off. We see scenes of the two men in planes...upon landing, at the same time, Williamson finds his quarry in a crowded airport and picks up where he left off in New York. As I said, ridiculous, but fun.

Hell Up in Harlem (1973)

** (out of 4)

Sequel to Black Caesar has Fred Williamson surviving his assassination attempt and slowly moving up the ranks. How does he do this? By killing any Italian person he can get his eyes on. This film has a somewhat legendary making of since both the star and director were busy doing other things and they just got together on the weekends to shoot this film. I think it's easy to tell that the movie was rushed because there isn't any evidence of a screenplay having been written. The movie is nothing but non-stop, bloody violence from the opening to the closing. There's nothing wrong with this as it adds a lot of fun to the movie but if you're expecting anything deep then you can forget it as this thing is weak, story wise, even when compared to the poorest written blaxploitation film. Williamson is once again good in his role and he has the perfect attitude for this type of film. There are all sorts of shoot outs, explosions and even some kung fu thrown in for some good laughs.

No, this is not one of the greatest blaxploitation movie ever made; and yes, it has its flaws. But man, is this one a fun ride or what? It's an hour and a half of pure action with one of the greatest action hero of all time. It's ass kicking after ass kicking, as Tommy Gibbs takes revenge on everybody that have ever been dumb enough to mess with him. The fight scenes are great, inventive and plentiful. The cinematography is quite decent too and the story fun enough to keep you interested in it. Larry Cohen once more delivers the goods in this one. It's actually much better then most action stink fest that Hollywood produce this days. So sit tight and enjoy the roller coaster ride while it last.

Go Fred Williamson!