I've never heard of "The Guy From Harlem" until I saw it listed here at the IMDb. I like blaxploitation so upon seeing the title and year it was made, checked out some reviews here. Needless to say, I had to watch this thing immediately after reading these reviews.
And they are all true. No one is exaggerating. "The Guy from Harlem" IS every bit as bad as people here at the IMDb say it is. I have no idea why this classic isn't spoken about when people talk about the worst films ever made, just a bad break I guess.
This is basically a feature-length home movie from 1977. The acting - if you want to call it that - is beyond horrendous. Lines are stuttered and the "actors" are unbelievably wooden and fake. NO ONE acts natural. But they give it their all which is part of the fun! The lead actor who plays the title role is a smooth-talking suave Shaft wanna-be private eye, who gets involved with solving a few related cases that also involve saving a few pretty girls in succession. Of course, even though he is warned not to hit on the girls, Mr. Smooth lays his smooth moves the second he is alone with each of them. No ebonics for him - he speaks extremely eloquently as he charms the girls he is saving out of their clothes. He is so smooth he even hides them out at the apartment of some other girl he knows.
The fight scenes must be seen to be believed. They are the most fake fight scenes you have ever seen. At one point after the very skinny lead guy beats up a bunch of toughs, he actually even refers to himself as the title role as he says "Tell him the guy from Harlem sent you!" The camera rarely moves and often it just films long shots as if you are watching a play. A very bad play. And yep, incredibly, unbelievably, there are two scenes that are actually done TWICE each, repeated one after the other. You actually see the actors stumble through the same set of lines twice. Did they just have money for two re-shoots? And one double-scene would be bad enough - but two?? It's incredible.
ENDING SPOILER! The big finale ends and everyone can go home. But wait, not so fast! The very big, mean and muscular bad guy challenges our skinny Mr. Smooth to a fight. And he accepts! And our skinny hero from Harlem WINS! And then it seems our Guy from Harlem, who sleeps with any female who crosses his path, is going to get married! To a girl he just met! And the whole flick is that logical. The bottom line is, if you like bad movies, this is a film that truly must be seen.
And they are all true. No one is exaggerating. "The Guy from Harlem" IS every bit as bad as people here at the IMDb say it is. I have no idea why this classic isn't spoken about when people talk about the worst films ever made, just a bad break I guess.
This is basically a feature-length home movie from 1977. The acting - if you want to call it that - is beyond horrendous. Lines are stuttered and the "actors" are unbelievably wooden and fake. NO ONE acts natural. But they give it their all which is part of the fun! The lead actor who plays the title role is a smooth-talking suave Shaft wanna-be private eye, who gets involved with solving a few related cases that also involve saving a few pretty girls in succession. Of course, even though he is warned not to hit on the girls, Mr. Smooth lays his smooth moves the second he is alone with each of them. No ebonics for him - he speaks extremely eloquently as he charms the girls he is saving out of their clothes. He is so smooth he even hides them out at the apartment of some other girl he knows.
The fight scenes must be seen to be believed. They are the most fake fight scenes you have ever seen. At one point after the very skinny lead guy beats up a bunch of toughs, he actually even refers to himself as the title role as he says "Tell him the guy from Harlem sent you!" The camera rarely moves and often it just films long shots as if you are watching a play. A very bad play. And yep, incredibly, unbelievably, there are two scenes that are actually done TWICE each, repeated one after the other. You actually see the actors stumble through the same set of lines twice. Did they just have money for two re-shoots? And one double-scene would be bad enough - but two?? It's incredible.
ENDING SPOILER! The big finale ends and everyone can go home. But wait, not so fast! The very big, mean and muscular bad guy challenges our skinny Mr. Smooth to a fight. And he accepts! And our skinny hero from Harlem WINS! And then it seems our Guy from Harlem, who sleeps with any female who crosses his path, is going to get married! To a girl he just met! And the whole flick is that logical. The bottom line is, if you like bad movies, this is a film that truly must be seen.