Review of Black Caesar

Black Caesar (1973)
7/10
Black Caesar provides some low budget excitement courtesy of writer/director Larry Cohen
3 July 2011
After years of being curious about this film, especially when I first heard James Brown's "Down and Out in New York City" as a kid, I finally just watched Black Caesar on Hulu. Fred Williamson plays a gangster who really seems to resent white people especially a cop (Art Lund) who brutally beat him as a child when that cop found his mob payment was a little short and blamed the kid for taking the rest. That cop would continue to deal with Williamson's character as an adult and...well, I really don't feel like telling the rest of the story but if you're familiar with many of these mob stories then you'll probably be able to predict what happens like I did most of the time. Despite that, I was pretty entertained most of the time and was riveted to see supporting turns by Gloria Hendry, Philip Roye, D'Urville Martin, Minnie Gentry, Julius Harris, and William Wellman Jr. whose father, director William Wellman Sr., had made one of the most famous classic gangster pictures of all: The Public Enemy with James Cagney. Subtle, writer/director Larry Cohen is not but he sure knows how make a low budget movie entertaining. Oh, and I liked how he had one scene play under the marquee of ultimate mob movie: The Godfather.
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed