Tom

I saw this film under the title THE BAD BUNCH. It was directed by and stars Greydon Clark, the low budget film-maker best known for making the effective alien movie THE WARNING (aka WITHOUT WARNING). This is his attempt to jump on the blaxploitation bandwagon and sees Clark playing an army veteran who loses his black buddy to a shell in Vietnam. Back home, he tries to visit the dead man's family, only to run afoul of a gang of white-hating black guys who wish him violence.

There's not much going on in this cheap and cheerful slice of exploitation. There's a lot of bad attitude and a script which delivers some effectively 'hard man' lines. The whole thing was shot in two weeks so you can't really expect much quality at that speed. I did enjoy the way the film explores race relations in Los Angeles in the early 1970s and the way in which both whites and blacks are racist in equal measure. Clark isn't much of an actor but he does get a couple of old timers (Aldo Ray and Jock Mahoney) to play some racist cops. For much of the running time THE BAD BUNCH plays out as a skin flick more than anything else, with silicon-enhanced starlet Bambi Allen particularly 'standing out'.

By going for the DVD of Hi-Riders (1978) this was but on as an extra. There's not that much action going on and it contains a lot of blah blah but still it's worth watching only to see how America was back then just after the Vietnam war. This flick is all about racism that is written here as Jim (Greydon Clark) loses his best friend, a black American, in the war. He want to go to the black ghetto's to tell the father that his son died but he isn't welcome in the ghetto.

From here on we do see how racism worked and how corrupt the cops were always going for the white people and beating up the black ones. The acting isn't all that good and it really looks outdated but it's worth watching as I said before due Aldo Ray being in it as the corrupt sergeant.

It was completely shot in the Watts era in Los Angeles. Also that is worth seeing. Guess everyone knows about the Watts riots in 1965. Another thing I was rather surprised of was the amount of gratuitous nudity and that coming from white and black people. And a lot is full frontal, of course it's early seventies so that means full bushes! For those common with sexploitations could recognise Bambi Allen as Bobbi very active in the sixties and seventies. She to be seen in a lot of biker movies and maybe you remember her with her trademark, voluptuous silicone juggs and pigtails. Sadly she dies shortly after this flick aged 34 due cancer caused by the silicons.

It also shows what free love meant to be. Jim for example had a lot of lovers. And the skinny dipping pool party is so seventies. Only for blaxploitation lovers with a message. But as a freebie it was great to see this.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 0/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Tom (1973) is a movie I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline focuses on two friends in the military, one black and one white, who are about to return home when the black friend is shot and killed. The white military friend comes home and goes to pay his respect to his black friend's family and finds he isn't welcome. He does his best to show he means well, but violence is bound to breakout. Can they resolve their differences and come to an understanding or does someone have to die first? This movie is directed by and stars Greydon Clark (Angels Revenge) and also stars Tom Johnigarn (The Black Bunch), Jacqulin Cole (Black Shampoo) and Bambi Allen (The Bang Bang Gang). The storyline for this picture is methodical and fun to watch unfold. There are some uneven elements in this, like the pimp who has to be the worst pimp ever, but also some fun scenes like the pool scene where the fight breaks out. The sex scenes and nudity are top notch and worthwhile for this era and the conclusion does come full circle (though the message kind of came from nowhere). Overall, this is a very average movie that is worth watching if you're a fan of blaxploitation from this era. I'd score this a 5.5-6/10.

The movie shows it age, but the whole movie does show the tension. You look at today and you see that it is all still there, but covered up better. White man who has a black buddy in 'Nam who gets killed. He goes to the ghetto to inform the father and runs into the brother's gang. Like I stated before, the movie shows its age, but i do think it helps the younger generation realize the way it was....and still is.

Entertaining movie about a Vietnam veteran who gets into trouble with the African American brother of a friend of his who was killed in Vietnam. When racist cops get involved, the situation escalates...

Clark will not go down in history as a great director or actor, but at least he had the guts to address some racial issues in a low budget blaxploitation movie. He doesn't take the easy way out.

Not only the white people are racists this time. In The Bad Bunch it's a human trademark.

I've read a some negative reviews about this one. Bad acting, directing and disturbing stereotypes. Come on, it's still a B-movie. Clark is no Scorcese. But he did make a damn entertaining movie, which is more than I can say for the majority of blaxploitation movies from that era...