In East L.A., Vietnam vet Scott Gunn leads a militant African-American Black Action Group team on a heist at an Italian mob's bookmaking operation. In addition to money, the group steals some of the illegal records. Scott seeks help from his nightclub owner brother Gunn (Jim Brown). Mobster Russ Capelli (Martin Landau) uses any violent means to retrieve their lost books.
It's a blaxploitation film. It has greasy white villains. It's black power. There is a bit of action but the movie is slow. It strives to be a serious crime drama. After just recently watched the Dolemite biopic, this is the exact opposite of blaxploitation. It's the thing that the hated producers point to as something that Dolemite could never be. Jim Brown is the black superhero. One can't ignore that he's rather stiff as an actor. His size gives him screen presence and natural charisma but he is limited. It's not as cool as Shaft and it's not funny like Dolemite.
It's a blaxploitation film. It has greasy white villains. It's black power. There is a bit of action but the movie is slow. It strives to be a serious crime drama. After just recently watched the Dolemite biopic, this is the exact opposite of blaxploitation. It's the thing that the hated producers point to as something that Dolemite could never be. Jim Brown is the black superhero. One can't ignore that he's rather stiff as an actor. His size gives him screen presence and natural charisma but he is limited. It's not as cool as Shaft and it's not funny like Dolemite.