Gunn la gâchette

The Character listed in the credits as "Ray Kelley" played by Bruce Glover is incorrect. The name of the character in the movie "Black Gunn" is "Ray Kriley". I hated that man and his name will forever be etched into my mind as far as remembrance of this great movie. Kudos to Mr. Jim Brown. This movie was one of a handful of movies that would normally go unnoticed by most, but Jim Brown was involved in projects that were not only "Blaxploitation" films, but sound and solid acting performances such as the legendary "Tick...Tick...Tick". While his acting could never rival his athletic accomplishments, Jim Brown made his mark on those who wanted to see action films. He helped to break down the myth that Black Actors and projects were not viable for the movie industry and he was a part in paving the way for Black Actors of today. Thank you, Mr. Brown.

Black Gunn (1972)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fun blaxploitation film has Jim Brown playing Gunn, a club owner who has to seek revenge against the Mafia after they kill his younger brother. Gunn teams up with his brother's "Black Power" group and they try and locate the man (Martin Landau) responsible for the death. If you're a fan of blaxploitation then this here is going to offer enough to keep you entertained from start to finish. The story itself was pretty standard for this type of film but it's good enough to keep the film moving and Brown turns in a nice performance in the lead. I think the lead actor was always the most important thing to a film like this and Brown doesn't disappoint as he can kick enough ass to keep a smile on your face and deliver enough lines to make you laugh. Brown does get a more dramatic moment when he discovers his brother's dead body but this scene really doesn't work too well especially when he's crying with no tears. Bruce Glover adds a lot of fun as one of the racist Mafia guys and many will remember him from his roles in CHINATOWN and BIG BAD MAMA II (what a double feature that would be). Landau, years before his Oscar, does a decent job in his few scenes as the top dog. Vida Blue, who won the Cy Young award a year before making this, appears briefly as does other sports stars like Mike Thomas and Mike Bass. As normal for a film like this, there's all sorts of hysterical racist dialogue being screamed out with most of it dealing with watermelon but that just adds to the fun when Brown finally breaks them down. We also get all sorts of bloody violence with your expected shoot out at the end but the highlight remains the cool, laid back Brown doing his thing.

Jim Brown once again shows us what screen presence is all about in this rather routine but enjoyable blaxploitation-action-melodrama. He plays the title character, who owns a club in L.A. One night, his younger brother Scott (Herbert Jefferson, Jr.), a member of a militant group, brings in the proceeds of a late night robbery, including some incriminating books; this brings down the wrath of the local mob. Before too long, Scott is dead and Gunn is therefore ripe for revenge.

The story is nothing special; it entertains solidly even if it's pretty predictable by and large. But director Robert Hartford-Davis (who went on to do "The Take" with Billy Dee Williams) handles a lot of this material with style. There's some eye candy on display (but no nudity), and the violence is potent all the way through the film. There's no shortage of slimy, reprehensible white villains to have fun booing; if nothing else, "Black Gunn" is enjoyable on a visceral level.

Brown is one cool customer, as so many of the best protagonists were in this sort of thing. You won't see him change his facial expression often, but you WILL see him take some lumps before this is over. However, as the primary nemesis, Martin Landau is almost thoroughly wasted, giving orders and throwing his weight around, but you never do see very much of the character.

Familiar faces scattered throughout the supporting cast also help to make it fun: Brenda Sykes (as Browns' gal pal), Luciana Paluzzi, Stephen McNally, Keefe Brasselle, Timothy Brown, William Campbell, Bernie Casey, Gary Conway, Tony Young, Jeannie Bell. The movie has a particularly strong role for Bruce Glover (of "Diamonds are Forever" fame) as a creepy white strong-arm man. He makes your skin crawl whenever he's on camera.

The dynamic cast and the equally dynamic soundtrack (composed by Tony Osborne) make this a most agreeable (if forgettable) way to kill an hour and 37 minutes.

Seven out of 10.

Jim Brown deadpans his way through Black Action Film heaven. All the touchstones are here: The Mafia, a Black Panthers rip-off, drugs, trashy whores, nasty pimps, jittery dealers and even sweatier addicts, fist fights, gun play, drug dealers, revenge killings, psycho hit men, racial slurs, car chases, stolen cars, and explosions. Even more than that, plenty of early Seventies atmosphere here to enjoy: giant sedans, huge lapels, enormous hair, used car dealers, bowling, black revolutionaries, sexy stewardesses, and lots of fuzz guitar, tremolo and wah-wah pedals on all the music.

Jim Brown is a schmoove nightclub owner (this is an adult nightclub, kids, where the immaculately coiffed adults eat steak, drink whiskey and slow-dance to overproduced soul easy listening music) who's cooler than a cucumber popsicle. His uncool little brother is in with BAG, the Black Action Group, who get deep into it when they steal money and ledger books from THE MOB.

The greasy mobsters aren't gonna put up with that, so they put out the word: find those lousy #$$%*#* and kill 'em. But little brother hid the ledgers at Gunn's nightclub/suave bachelor pad. So they kill the brother anyway, and that REALLY makes Gunn mad. It's all-out war now, and Gunn has to avoid both the Fuzz and BAG on his one-man war of vengeance. There are some slow spots here and there, but the action sequences make up for the few slack bits. Brown is not going to be doing heavy drama anytime soon, but he does what he does here extremely well. Highly recommended for fans of Black Action Cinema.

I'm not sure why the Mill Creek Entertainment company thought that this movie was deserving of a Blu-ray release. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy some elements of it. Since it's a blaxploitation movie from the 1970s, it has many of the fun trademarks of the genre, such as the clothing, hair styles, attitude, slimy bad guys, nudity, and so on. Also, the movie does boast some good action sequences here and there (love those splattery blood wounds!) Unfortunately, there are less action sequences than most viewers will be expecting and demanding. The movie instead is strung along with many long (and slow) sequences of talking, which often doesn't advance the plot that much. In fact, it takes almost half the movie before the character of Gunn is enraged and decides to take revenge. And even when the character of Gunn is engaged on the path of revenge, the performance by Jim Brown more often than not makes the character seem disinterested and bored. The movie also ends on a note with several plot threads clearly not given a proper conclusion. There are definitely worse blaxploitation movies than "Black Gunn", but there are definitely some that are much better. I'd only recommend it to fans of the genre who have already seen the better efforts and are really craving for more, and who are willing to put up with the aforementioned defects the movie has.