Casse dans la ville

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!

Another kick ass blaxploitation classic, director Larry Cohen really knows his stuff! "Hell Up in Harlem" features even more action than it´s great predecessor "Black Caesar" does! It´s a fast-paced crime story about the rise and fall of an Afro American godfather and everybody who loves such blaxploitations goodies like "Dolemite", "Blacula" or "Foxy Brown" should give it a look! Once more, main actor is the ultimate coolness and it´s no wonder why Quentin Tarantino digged him out for his funny "From Dusk Till Dawn" movie. Unfortunately, they don´t make stuff like this anymore! Movies like "Dead Presidents" or "New Jack City" are nothing else but failed attempts to exhume the blaxploitation genre! Better watch the originals again, they are da real deal!

This sequel to the popular blaxploitation hit "Black Caesar" was cheaply and hastily shot, and it shows. It is pretty obvious at times that star Fred Williamson wasn't always available, meaning that he's either doubled or his character simply doesn't appear at all in a scene. The low budget and speedy production also shows in other aspects, one being the screenplay. There isn't too much of a story here. Indeed, it seems at times writer/director Larry Cohen was making things up during the shoot. But despite the crude nature, the movie all the same kind of works. It is fast paced, and never boring. And Fred Williamson does manage to make his character magnetic enough that you keep watching him. Apparently audiences agreed, since this sequel was successful enough at the box office that the studio planned a third movie concerning the adventures of character Tommy Gibbs, but those plans were eventually cancelled.

I loved Larry Cohen and Fred Williamson's previous collaboration 'Black Caesar', one of the toughest and most enjoyable movies of the early 70s blaxploitation boom. That movie was a great success and in the rush to cash in with a sequel something was lost. Cohen was shooting his killer baby classic 'It's Alive' at the same time Williamson was making 'That Man Bolt', yet they still attempted to make 'Hell Up In Harlem' simultaneously! Cohen's script is weaker this time around and the emphasis is on fights (fists and guns) over character development and story. The movie is more of an action film than a crime drama and therefore much less interesting to me. Williamson is still a powerhouse, but the movie as a whole fails to satisfy. Gloria Hendry ('Black Belt Jones') and D'Urville Martin ('Dolemite') both return from the first movie but aren't required to do all that much. You could even call their roles cameos and not be far wrong. Julius Harris ('Superfly') also returns as Williamson's father, but this time round he has a much larger role, and almost carries the first third of the movie all by himself. The film directly follows on from 'Black Caesar' with Tommy Gibbs (Williamson) recovering from a near fatal gunshot wound. He relies upon his Pop to keep things together, and this enables Harris to blossom from a middle aged straight citizen into a cool dressing killing machine almost overnight! This is one of the most entertaining things about the whole movie, but not enough to stop it from being a disappointment. Even the score this time round is inferior, with no James Brown content. I think this movie was too rushed and suffers for it. It has its moments but isn't a patch on 'Black Caesar'. I've noticed that quite a few blaxploitation classics fail to deliver with their sequels (I'm especially thinking of 'Foxy Brown', Jack Hill's weak follow up to his sensational 'Coffy'). I wonder why that was? Greed perhaps, or lack of faith in the material, I don't know. Anyway, 'Hell Up In Harlem' is okay, but it could have been, SHOULD have been a lot better! 'Black Caesar' is still brilliant though, don't miss that one.

(There are spoilers) Rushed sequel to "Black Caesar" that was released the same year that it's predecessor premiered in 1973. "Hell up in Harlem" takes up where "Black Caesar" ended with Black Godfather Tommy Gibbs,Fred Williamson, staggering through the streets of New York with a bullet in his gut courtesy of the NYPD and corrupt New York City District Attorney DiAngelo, Gerald Gordon. Saved by his dad Big Papa Gibbs, Julius Harris, and a group of local homeboys Tommy, no longer limping like he did in "Black Caesar", is nursed back to health and before you can say Jackie Robinson is back in action to take out those, gangsters and law men, who tried to do him in.

Extremely violent and far more rousing then "Black Caesar" the film "Hell up in Harlem" has a WWII-like commando sequence with Tommy and friends storming ashore a Mafia held island, like US Marines or Navy Seals. After taking out what looked like an entire battalion of Mafia soldiers Tommies commandos force the remaining head Mafioso's to eat a full plate of "Soul Food" and make a peace settlement with Tommy's gang. There's also a graphically sick and nauseating lynching scene in the movie and what has to be the longest chase sequence in motion picture history; 3,000 miles from NYC to L.A.

Tommy back in the saddle again as Harlem mob kingpin expands his gangster empire to Philidelphia Detroit and L.A. What turns out to be the biggest threat to his power is, like in almost all Godfather-like films, are those close to him. Having the goods on DiAngelo and the corrupt politicians and big wigs in NYC, with the secret ledgers that he stole in "Black Caesar", the local power brokers in and out of the city's government don't prosecute or kill Tommy. Instead try to get to him through his top enforcer Zack, Tony King. Zack murders Tommy's ex Helen, Gloria Hendry, and makes it look like it was sanctioned by his dad Big Papa Gibbs.

Tommy in a fit of fury quits as mob boss and throws the organization that he founded into the hands of Big Papa who ends up doing a better job running it then Tommy did. Going legit and moving to L.A Tommy later gets the bad news that his dad was killed by Zack, who took over the Gibbs Harlem rackets. In a fit of rage Tommy goes back home to NYC to get even but it's not only Zack that he has to deal with but D.A DiAngelo and the entire NYPD as well.

Too vicious and violent even for a gangster film "Hell up in Harlem" has really no one in it to cheer on or feel sympathy for with the exception of Helen and Tommy's wife the Bible reading and church going Sister Jennifer, Mrgaret Avery, and Tommy and Helen's young son Jason.

"Hell up in Harlem" starts off with the last ten minutes or so of the movie "Black Caesar" which makes you think, if you already saw "Black Caesar", that you've already seen it before and turn the film off. Were told at the end of the movie that Tommy disappeared, together with his young son, and was never seen or heard from again but he did re-appear, of sorts, as Willie a Tommy Gibbs-type mobster a year later in the movie "Crazy Joe".