An African American gangster takes over Mafia territory in Harlem. Genre: Feature Film Urban Action Rating: R Release Date: 9-JAN-2001 Media Type: DVD
Shot on the streets of New York, writer-director Larry Cohen captures the bustle and color of the city in this violent, low-budget crime film. Ambitious Tommy Gibbs (a swaggering, self-confident Fred Williamson) has risen from shoeshine boy to Harlem crime lord, but he wants a bigger piece of the pot. With a racist, high-ranking cop (Art Lund) in his pocket, he begins his expansion with a bloody takeover bid but finds himself betrayed from within and the target of both the cops and the mob. Cohen invests this fast-paced tale (partially inspired by the 1930 gangster classic Little Caesar with a touch of Scarface) with colorful characters (notably a hustling religious leader played by D'Urville Martin), high energy, and a scruffy style. Black Caesar is one of the most entertaining movies to come from the 1970s explosion of low-budget black cast genre pictures, more commonly known as "blaxploitation" films. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
I Love Black Caesar!!!:
Larry Cohen's name is well known to cult horror fans, but he's dabbled in different genres from time to time, and with his second film he went for a Blaxploitation flick. Actually it was more of a studio decision. Cohen was asked to do one of these films because they told him, "you are really good at directing those black actors". Which is a funny statement considering Cohen had made only one other film at the time which only had one black actor in it(Yaphet Kotto), and as Cohen has said himself, "directing... more info
So You Try Hard or You Die Hard:
This was a truly excellent movie, a gangster flick drawing heavily from the blaxploitation genre. Fred Williamson plays Tommy Gibbs, a young tough who works his way from shoeshine/mob messenger boy to crime boss. He uses the Italian mob and the corrupt cop who beat him severely as a teenager to gain a foothold and then turns the tables on all of them. None of it seems to matter, though, as he still can't satisfy the women in his life, no matter what he can give them. As his world begins to crumble around... more info
The Hammer at his best!:
Fred Williamson definitely exemplified "cool" in this film. Taken on the meanest and baddest folks in organized crime. He definitely "paid the cost to be the boss". James Brown layed it down on the soundtrack. A true 70's classic for the ages.
Tommy Gibbs Is One Bad Mobster:
Taking its cues from a pair of classic mobster movies - Little Caesar (1930) and Scarface: The Shame of the Nation (1932) - Black Caesar aptly shows the blur between organized crime and crime fighting, with the impact reverberating through society. Fred "The Hammer" Williamson magnificently portrays Tommy Gibbs, who - as a child - is facing straight down life's dead end street in a cold, uncaring city after being crippled by a racist cop; that is until he channels his ambition into the hustle for... more info
