Black Gunn (1972)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Fun blaxploitation film has Jim Brown playing Gunn, a club owner who has to seek revenge against the Mafia after they kill his younger brother. Gunn teams up with his brother's "Black Power" group and they try and locate the man (Martin Landau) responsible for the death. If you're a fan of blaxploitation then this here is going to offer enough to keep you entertained from start to finish. The story itself was pretty standard for this type of film but it's good enough to keep the film moving and Brown turns in a nice performance in the lead. I think the lead actor was always the most important thing to a film like this and Brown doesn't disappoint as he can kick enough ass to keep a smile on your face and deliver enough lines to make you laugh. Brown does get a more dramatic moment when he discovers his brother's dead body but this scene really doesn't work too well especially when he's crying with no tears. Bruce Glover adds a lot of fun as one of the racist Mafia guys and many will remember him from his roles in CHINATOWN and BIG BAD MAMA II (what a double feature that would be). Landau, years before his Oscar, does a decent job in his few scenes as the top dog. Vida Blue, who won the Cy Young award a year before making this, appears briefly as does other sports stars like Mike Thomas and Mike Bass. As normal for a film like this, there's all sorts of hysterical racist dialogue being screamed out with most of it dealing with watermelon but that just adds to the fun when Brown finally breaks them down. We also get all sorts of bloody violence with your expected shoot out at the end but the highlight remains the cool, laid back Brown doing his thing.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Fun blaxploitation film has Jim Brown playing Gunn, a club owner who has to seek revenge against the Mafia after they kill his younger brother. Gunn teams up with his brother's "Black Power" group and they try and locate the man (Martin Landau) responsible for the death. If you're a fan of blaxploitation then this here is going to offer enough to keep you entertained from start to finish. The story itself was pretty standard for this type of film but it's good enough to keep the film moving and Brown turns in a nice performance in the lead. I think the lead actor was always the most important thing to a film like this and Brown doesn't disappoint as he can kick enough ass to keep a smile on your face and deliver enough lines to make you laugh. Brown does get a more dramatic moment when he discovers his brother's dead body but this scene really doesn't work too well especially when he's crying with no tears. Bruce Glover adds a lot of fun as one of the racist Mafia guys and many will remember him from his roles in CHINATOWN and BIG BAD MAMA II (what a double feature that would be). Landau, years before his Oscar, does a decent job in his few scenes as the top dog. Vida Blue, who won the Cy Young award a year before making this, appears briefly as does other sports stars like Mike Thomas and Mike Bass. As normal for a film like this, there's all sorts of hysterical racist dialogue being screamed out with most of it dealing with watermelon but that just adds to the fun when Brown finally breaks them down. We also get all sorts of bloody violence with your expected shoot out at the end but the highlight remains the cool, laid back Brown doing his thing.