Hit!

I have to say, that image of a tailored Billy Dee Williams holding a rocket launcher is a beautiful sight; but blaxploitation this is not.

"Hit!" plays like a straightforward drama and its star, much closer to Bronson or Eastwood, brings the intensity as a grieving father whose daughter just O.D.'d. the movie has its eye on commentary as Williams and his DIY strike team take the drug war to the kingpins at the top.

There are lighter moments - like the McDonald's product placement and Richard Pryor ad-libbing his end of the dialogue - and the pacing isn't perfect, but this is a pleasant surprise.

I knew I'd like this, but for different reasons altogether.

7/10

Starring Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor. With a title called Hit! This has all the hallmarks of a 1970s Blaxploitation movie but that is a deception.

Nick Allen (Billy Dee Williams) is a federal agent who goes rogue when his teenage daughter dies of a heroin overdose.

Realising that getting the pushers is not enough and the US government not interested in the big fish who live a life of luxury France.

Allen organises his own team in secret. People who have suffered loss because of drugs. He trains them and takes them to Marseilles and they are at first unaware that this is not an official government sanctioned mission.

This is a revenge thriller with a black lead. Dee Williams is suave and smooth, cunning and resourceful. He uses devious tricks to recruit his team. Pryor has a straight role as Mike Wilmer, a welder whose wife was killed.

The film was influenced by The French Connection but also has elements of The Dirty Dozen. The finale reminded me of The Godfather. This was released by Paramount Pictures and at one point, a victim of a hit is in the cinema watching the French version of The Godfather.

Sidney J Furie directs without much panache although there are a few good setpieces. It is at times illogical and overlong. The film could easily had been 30 minutes shorter.

John Alonzo lends some distinctive cinematography and gives the film some style. Hit! has become an obscure film but it does have a good performance from Pryor who apparently ad libbed some of his lines. It also is an important movie in 1970s black cinema because it was not a blaxploitation movie but a revenge movie with two black actors.

When someone very close to him dies of a heroine overdose Nick Allen (Billy Dee Williams) seeks to make someone pay. His first stop was the street dealer that sold the drugs. While practicing his jabs and hooks on the drug dealer's face he had an epiphany: why not go to the source. Of course, that's not easy, so he had to put together a great plan and a team. The team was less than great, but it was all he could muster. Their destination: Marseilles, France.

The movie was a stretch but it was good at times. I liked the idea of the movie I just didn't like the execution. Assembling a group of very reluctant participants isn't the best way to assassinate big time drug dealers. But, that was the story line we were given and that's the route Nick took.

the plot is awful but the premise is heart felt. Substitute heroine for any vice or society's many ills and that's the "bag guy(s)" in this movie.

The Hit! takes a little from each previous genre during the '70's and late '60's and twists them to such an extent that if the movie was made 40 years prior to it's release date or 30 years after, it would, could and still stands up to the test of time.

You can see elements of the dirty dozen/guns of the Naverone themes. James Bond/"Get Carter" char. Shaft/inner city turmoil etc.

I initially saw bits of this movie at 0'dark thirty on USA channel about 13-14 years ago. It was just before the plan's 'plot' implementation. But What kept me spellbound was seeing Billy Dee holding what I believe was a Swedish K or M-36 "pulverizer" submachine gun! I mean Billy Dee?!? Mr. Cool!?! I'd never even seen him look mean! Forget about being a assassin. But their he was.

After 5 minutes I was hooked. I tried finding the movie in the stores but to no avail. I asked every retailer I could find if they had the movie. Most thought I was DELUSIONAL. They'd never heard of the movie or couldn't order it.

Finally 5 years ago the movie came on AMC of all places and I could finally watch the movie in it's entirety. I wasn't disappointed. A sequel or a remake would be perfect write about now.

Billy Dee's Daughter dies in heroin overdose. While beating the hell out of the dealer, he realizes that killing him won't solve the problem so he sets his sights high... At the top of the food chain.

This film runs at about 2 1/2 hours and final "Hits" take about ten minutes, so the rest of the film is setup and much of that is implausible and unfortunately very slow to develop. Billy Dee Williams however was an electric presence, very hard to take your eyes off of while on screen. A very menacing cool. Richard Pryor... What can you say, the man is an artist. While watching the film you know he was given one line and the rest he made happen with his own special magic. Just watching the guy is enough to make you laugh.

You would have expected more from the director of 'Lady Sings the Blues', but it was stellar considering the same gentleman also directed 'Superman IV'