User reviews

Jim Brown is one cool dude, even when he's making a typical 70s blaxploitation flick.

Here, he is an ex-Green Beret home from 'nam going after the mob thugs that killed his father.

First, he has to get by their secret weapon, Stella Stevens, girlfriend of #2, Rip Torn, a racist that is just seething at the thought of Stevens between the sheets with Brown. And, boy, do they steam up those sheets! That must have been a shock to 70s audiences.

Now, the thugs are not too bright as they try to run Brown down with a Mustang. Don't they know that this former fullback is one of the all time greats in NFL history? Their efforts to catch him in the casino meets with equal disaster as he runs right through them.

Of course, you know Slaughter wins in the end because there is a sequel.

One interesting aspect for the younger folks is the IBM punch card that figures prominently in the film. They probably have never seen one.

Yes, the film stars Jim Brown and yes he kicks a lot of butt. However, I don't think I'd classify this as a 'blaxsploitation film'. That's because the film is mostly set in Mexico and the good guys are the government. This is definitely NOT a battle between Black and White America, but our hero, Brown, is solidly on the side of 'the Man'; i.e., the government.

The film begins with the family of former Green Beret, Brown, being killed by mobsters. As a result, he goes on a one-man mission to kill mobsters. However, this ends up causing problems because he blunders into a covert government operation and the real bad guy gets away. So, Brown agrees to go to Mexico and work with the feds to settle the score. The plot ends up being rather mindless--with Brown shooting and punching as well as mobsters killing each other off like mad. However, it's enjoyable and time-passing mindless.

This film is blessed with a very good supporting cast. The seldom recognized Don Gordon (star of countless TV shows), Cameron Mitchell, Stella Stevens and Rip Torn are all on hand to give the film some good acting, so that all the weight of the film doesn't rest on Brown just killing people! Worth watching but not life changing.

There are only three reasons to see this and they are Stella Stevens three nude scenes, two in bed with Jim Brown, and one in the shower. Other than Stella, there is little to recommend. All you get is plenty of meaningless action, car chases, and other nonsense. Cameron Mitchell is totally wasted, and Rip Torn unfortunately is forgettable as a Mafia boss. The revenge plot seems forced, and the government's involvement has something to do with computers, but is murky at best. One plus is the Todd AO photography, which produces several intriguing wide angle shots. "Slaughter" is nothing more than a weak mafia film, with Stella Stevens being the only attraction. - MERK

It kicks off a little slow, but by the time they get to Mexico, things pick up and get pretty smokin' in the conclusion--Jim Brown's entrance to the casino is terriffic, it's got the shock value of having a dwarf thrown through your bay window. His later entrance to the bad guys' lair from the car is also classic. Jim Brown isn't a great actor, but his ass-kicking stoicism is at it's best here, as he slaps down legions of bad guys with barely a raised eyebrow. (Did you know that, aside from his football skills, Jim Brown was supposedly the greatest Jai Lai player on earth?) Stella Stevens and Rip Torn are also very good, but even higher praise goes to Billy Preston's theme song.

After his parents are killed by the mob, a former Green Beret (Jim Brown) joins forces with "The Man" to get his revenge. An enjoyable Blaxploitation film that's not without its share of flaws. Obviously, NFL great Jim Brown's acting leaves a lot to be desired. He doesn't do well in the quieter, more emotional scenes. When he's ticked off and kicking butt, though, he's fun to watch. Cameron Mitchell is fine as a cop. Rip Torn is the villain and he spends most of the movie squinting and saying the N word. Don Gordon is amusing as a sort of comic relief sidekick. Highlight of the movie is sexy Stella Stevens, in particular her memorable nude scenes. This isn't one of my favorite Blaxploitation flicks but it's solid with some nice action and T&A. Give it a look if you're a fan of the genre or a fan of nice boobs.

Rip Torn makes for a good heavy, but the action sequences are poorly choreographed (sic?) . I've always liked Jim Brown as an actor, but this is not one of his best. Bad guys get shot on rooftops and they seemingly jump off when hit. All kinds of gunfire come from the mobsters but our "heroes" never get shot.............and on the other hand, our heroes never miss. And what happens to Jim Brown's female friend and Cameron Mitchell towards the end of the movie? It seems the screenwriter forgot about them..........watch it and see what I mean. Good enough for one viewing, especially if you want to see Stella Stevens in a rare nude scene and that's it.

Jim Brown is John Slaughter an ex Green Beret who after his folks get blown up by The Mob leads him to South America working for The Man to take down The Mob as both him and the government share a mutual interest in taking these thugs down. Slaughter lives up to its name and is quite violent and action packed. The film looks sharp and Slaughter has a memorable kick ass theme song. Rip Torn makes for a psychotic villain and Stella Stevens is stunning as a love interest. Don Gordon is a solid supporting character, but is much better as a crooked cop a year later in The Mack. Overall this is a pretty fast paced and action packed 70's classic with Jim Brown as a very credible and cool lead. Good stuff, definitely recommend this for fans of blaxsploitation and action.

I'm all for 1970s low-budget exploitation films but Slaughter failed to satisfy. The plot, if there is one, is confused, as if the first reel was missing. After Billy Preston's lame theme song you are dropped into the middle of a confusing story about the mafia, or maybe Mexican mobsters, who kill star Brown's parents in the first 10 seconds. Why? I still don't know. Something about a computer. From there the tale meanders with little action and some really bad acting. That can be forgiven if the film is at least a little fun but there's not much of that either.Brown's 'Hell Up in Harlem" is a lot more fun and makes a lot more sense.

Ex-Green Beret captain Jim Brown sees his father blown up in his car and decides to get his revenge pm the Mob. When he tracks down mob members at the airport, he interrupts an FBI sting. They let him go on condition that he fly down to Mexico and kill them all, which he proceeds to do.

It's a typical Blaxploitation film, with lots of action, and some lovely images by cinematographer Rosalío Solano. Brown is a considerable physical presence whose line readings are a bit off. Stella Stevens makes love to Brown, and Rip Torn, Cameron Mitchell, and Don Gordon fill out the list of White villains.

In a long long line of Blaxploitation movies you pretty much know how it will play out and Slaughter is not different in this regards.

Slaughter is, if anything, a better offering in the genre and Jim Brown does more than a solid job as "Slaughter".

What the movie lacks for most of the time is slaughter, its a bit of a slow film until the last 30 minutes where things finally get going.

Rip Torn is equally good as the chief bad guy with a delightfully sinister performance.

The genre is what the genre is but they do offer some throwback fun films and Slaughter is one of those good additions :)

Low budget, low class, violent and overall grotesque film. Quite possibly the death nail in Steven's career.

Somehow, in even the most sleazy, tacky and sordid surroundings, Brown was able to retain a level of dignity and appeal in his movies. This film revels in the various hallmarks of the Blaxpoitation genre, but Brown comes out of it unscathed. He plays a former Green Beret whose parents are killed by the Mob (his father was heavily involved with them.) When he tries to exact revenge, he winds up recruited by Treasury Department official Mitchell to work together in bringing down several mobsters in Mexico. Here, he is aided by Gordon and, to a lesser degree Clark. Alfe is the primary fat cat with Torn as his second in command. Things get complicated and very ugly when Alfe sends Torn's ex-hooker girlfriend (Stevens) to soften up (or harden?) Brown. Brown, though very low-key through most of the film, presents such an amiable presence despite the tawdriness of the material that he makes this film worth watching. His "shoot first, ask questions later" character is somewhat ill-defined, but he gives the film some honor. Gordon does an admirable job as his short, adoring sidekick who wishes he had even a tenth of Brown's magnetism and ability. Torn gives a brooding, slimy, but interesting performance as a racist, vicious thug. Stevens gets a showy dress (and undress!) rehearsal for her memorable role as an ex-prostitute in "The Poseidon Adventure" (filmed just after this.) Her look in this film is precisely the same, though she has some far more adult scenes in this one. Brown's sex scenes with Stevens had to have been quite the eye-openers in 1972 as they still are even today! It's clear that the two had chemistry together and clearly enjoyed their relationship as actors. Alfe (who, oddly, has not one other screen credit to his name) is distinctive and memorable (if, at times, unintentionally funny.) With a Mr. Roarke hairdo and with a voice that may not be the actor's own, he nonetheless does a decent job of presenting a man with power and influence. Mitchell hardly appears and Clark's role is an almost total throwaway (though she has one memorably hilarious exit from an apartment doorway!) This film is not for everyone as it is decidedly politically incorrect with plenty of the "N" word flying around. However, it is filled with interesting lead actors who give their all to their roles and help it to rise above cheaper variations on the genre. A few of the bit players are bad, but they aren't around long in most cases. Only some of the interior shots in hotel rooms or offices betray a lack of budget (with rotten sound and lighting.) There is definite overuse of a fish-eye lens which becomes distracting and is a by-product of the era. Much of the film, though, comes off as pretty slick with a terrific title song, some well-handled action scenes and enough spark in the dialogue to hold one's interest. It's the type of flick where the men refer to each other as "baby" and even "sweetheart" all in the name of that inimitable 1970's funk. It was followed by an even more lurid, but entertaining, sequel.

Former Green Beret Slaughter (Jim Brown) wants revenge after a car bomb kills his parents. His father's underworld dealings got him killed by the mob and the killers keep coming. Slaughter tracks them down. Dominic Hoffo (Rip Torn) is an ambitious thug under mob boss Mario Felice. Ann (Stella Stevens) is part of the organization.

I like Jim Brown kicking butt and taking names. As long as the movie stays in that area, I have no problem with it. It gets a bit boring when it tries to tell a story. As far as blaxploitation, this is somewhere in the middle. The production value is better than most. I like Jim Brown and I like the action.

Banging blaxploitation film starring Jim Brown as an ex Green Beret who travels to Puerto Rico to kick some serious butt. Really good action content, with well-staged shoot-ups, fights and car chases. Its helped also with a pretty good cast too, with Rip Torn playing an especially despicable racist villain. Real good fun to be had here.

Blaxploitation copped a lot of grief. White people called it subversive, a lot of black folks considered it self-abusive. Those who loved it, and still do, took it on its own terms, as simple, trashy fun.

Sadly, it's fun that is sorely missing from this lame Jim Brown vehicle. Brown plays the titular ex-Marine and all-round bad-ass whose father is murdered by some Latin American gangsters. Whatever Slaughter actually does for a living is obviously not so important that he can't drop it in a heartbeat to and work for some CIA-esque law agency who are trying to shut the gangsters down. With all the money and equipment they have at their disposal, they haven't been able to do this, so they recruit Slaughter to do it for them because... well, presumably, for some reason, they think he can. Sound silly? It is.

Unlike many of the lighter Blaxploitation films, there are no winks to the audience here. No, the film-makers seem to actually want us to take them seriously. This is the film's downfall.

Jim Brown is charismatic enough, though he's no Richard Roundtree or Fred Williamson. Stella Stevens genuinely shines as his "love" interest and a young Rip Torn is positively loony (and totally out-of-place) as the goon-turned-boss out to get Slaughter. The rest is padding. The action sequences are barely worth watching and the script is not a patch on the films it clearly tries to emulate.

All things considered, Slaughter is really one for die-hard Blaxploitation fans and/or completists. All others proceed with caution.

Typical 70s, AIP swill. About a third as good as this same director's later film for the studio, "Cleopatra Jones". And it makes good American International offerings like "Coffey" look like Bridge Over The Friggin Kwai. I stuck with it for an hour or so because I'm a big Stella Stevens fan and an even bigger Rip Torn fan and I very much agree with Joe Gillis, as he read Norma Desmond's memoirs, that it's fun to see just how bad bad writing can get. But when I realized, somewhere between the obligatory sex scene with JB and SS and what felt like the umpteenth car chase/fight/shooting, to music that sounded like Lalo Schiffrin with gastrointestinal issues, that I was watching rather pallid violence and soft core porn, I pulled the plug. Don't give many ratings lower than 4 on this site but I'll happily make an exception for this mongrel. D plus.

PS...This has to be the most uninspired cinematic look at Mexico City, well, ever.

...because I've been able to watch this film and other great blaxploitation classics.The plot is pretty basic for this genre(the tough black hero avenges the death of his loved one and kick some "whitey" butt in the process).Although the film seems dated,the action pieces more than make up for it.Jim Brown shows a limited range as an actor,but Rip Torn is great as the slimy mobster & Stella Stevens is hot as always as the girlfriend.

Jim Brown plays a former Green Beret captain named "Slaughter" who is shocked to hear that his parents have been killed by a car bomb. He then discovers that the reason for this was because his father knew some details about an underworld crime boss named "Mario Felice" (Norman Alfe) and his subordinate, "Dominic Hoffo" (Rip Torn) has taken it upon himself to kill them. Although the information is rather sketchy, Slaughter decides to take matters into his own hands and kills one of the men he thinks was responsible. But this ruins a Department of the Treasury stakeout and as a result the person in charge of it "A. W. Price" (Cameron Mitchell) coerces Slaughter to work for them in exchange for not pressing murder charges against him. Naturally, Slaughter agrees and he is soon headed to South America to hunt for the person who ordered the hit on his parents. Anyway, rather than disclosing the rest of the story I'll just say that this was a basic crime-drama which featured plenty of action but other than a couple of interracial love scenes between Jim Brown and Stella Stevens (as Dominic's mistress named "Ann") there really wasn't anything that remarkable about it. But this was 1972 after all and racial tensions were more predominant back then. In any case, the acting was mediocre (at best) and the movie suffered because of it. That said I rate this movie as average---but nothing more than that.

Really awesome movie with great acting. Good story line. Taboo interracial relationship. Bad racist white guys that you can't wait to be taken down! Perfect blaxploitation movie! Jim Brown rocked it!!!!