Back in Blaxploitation: Hit Man

Hey folks welcome back for Day 3 of Back in Blaxploitation. Had a desktop error that was driving me crackers so I walked away from it before I got a medium-sized fire ax and gave it a reprogramming it would not forget. Today's film is about a hit-man out in Oakland that comes back to Southern California to pay respects for his dead brother. His late brother has an estranged daughter, his brother's death may have been linked to ties with the organization or mob if you will and a slathering of pornography as well. No I am not watching Get Carter but good guess. This is Hit Man.

You better run pizza boy!!!

Devised in 1972, written and directed by George Armitage (Vigilante Force, Hot Rod, Miami Blues, Gross Pointe Blank) tells the tale of one of the baddest muthas out there. Tyrone Tackett (Bernie Casey of Cornbread, Earl and Me, Love Is Not Enough, Harris and Company, Sharky's Machine, Never Say Never Again, Revenge of the Nerds, Spies Like Us, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and Hammer, Slammer & Slade) starts looking into his brother's business arrangements and sees all kinds of prositution, drug trafficking and linked to the pornography industry. Wait, Ron Jeremy is the Godfather?? That could work.

Move, title card!!

Moving right along, Tackett looks up his brother's former business partner Sherwood Epps (Sam Laws of Truck Turner, White Line Fever, The Fury, The Lord of the Rings and Project X) to get a lay of the land if you will. Not foxier a lay than Gozelda (Pam Grier of Women in Cages, The Big Bird Cage, Black Mama White Mama, Coffy, Scream Blacula Scream, Foxy Brown, Bucktown, Miami Vice and Escape from L.A.) the diva of the industry and pretty easy on the eyes for Tackett. All Tackett's nosing around is getting a few folks in the mob pissed at an outsider meddling in their affairs. Tackett is not above taking out the trash.

While this feels like an exact duplicate of Get Carter, there are several differences. One, Get Carter was a study in a man prone to emotions he preferred bottled up and away and he was also prone to severe violence when he deemed it necessary. With Hit Man, Casey almost seems devoid of grief and just wants to lash out at the mob, maybe it is a defense or coping mechanism. I can't truly say. Two, there are enough N bombs to make white viewers very very uncomfortable. Yes, you have been warned. And finally three, there is a vast collection of nudity to easily rival Get Carter, jiggly girls galore and our boy Tackett is definitely getting his share, your share and my share all in one flick. James Bond called him to say, "Well done, old chap."

This movie is more fun and less broody than Get Carter. There's a scene of two guys got drunk and walk through a car wash sputtering and cursing. That being said, the blood and gore has gone up several notches, this film earned its R rating and thankfully they managed to get under an X. Also a dog fight scene is underway with pit bulls so any dog lovers out there, yeah it looks really enough with timed cut scenes that you will probably want to skip the flick. Overall, the film has a good cast, plenty of corruption and behind the scenes conspiracy to offer up a solid film. Some of the content is rough to view but exploitation movies are an acquired taste for many and yes guys, Pam flashes the camera more than a few times. You can just hear those jackals in the background thinking Coffy and Foxy Brown.

Die you muthas!!!