Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold

 Howdy Rotten Readers! Well I felt we could stay away from Horror and that means we're gonna dive into some more Blaxploitation. We will be heading back to the 6'2" heroine with a mean mule kick and dead eye aim. This is Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. 

 

You're very tall, Rupaul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our amazonian agent Cleo Jones (Tamara Dobson of Cleopatra Jones of Fuzz, Cleopatra Jones, Murder at the World Series, Jason of Star Command, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, Chained Heat and Amazons) gets a call from her superiors about a couple of her fellow agents, the Johnson brothers, Matthew (Albert Popwell of The Peace Killers, Dirty Harry, Night Gallery, Fuzz, Search, Cleopatra Jones, Magnum Force, The Single Girls, The Enforcer, Steel Cowboy and Sudden Impact) and Melvin (Caro Kenyatta of Night Gallery, Trader Horn, Cleopatra Jones, The Young Nurses, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold and Uncle Joe Shannon), from the first film have been captured by a notorious casino owner known as the Dragon Lady (Stella Stevens of Say One for Me, The Nutty Professor, The Silencers, The Poseidon Adventure, Adventures Beyond Belief, Down the Drain, Santa Barbara, The Terror Within II, Eye of the Stranger, South Beach, Little Devils: The Birth, Hard Drive, Molly & Gina and Illicit Dreams), a militant lesbian with world conquering objectives. Again another lesbian drug queen-pin. Yeah even Doctor Doom can't top that.

 

We get you Happy Ending, no sweat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Jones finds the boys were shanghaied in Hong Kong and she'll need local information. Ultimately she's looking for a guide and not a partner but she's getting both with Mi Ling (Ni Tien of Shui wei cai, My Darling Slaves, The Rat Catcher, Forbidden Tales of Two Cities, All in the Family, Wu qi bu you, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, Black Magic 2, Crocodile, Little Dragon Maiden and Edge of Darkness) also known as Tanny, Ling has the goods on the Dragon Lady in knowing her Macaoian casino is also importing heroin and distribution to the masses.

Cleo and Tanny whoop some serious ass in the infamous Walled City, working side by side like true partners cleaning out a den of scum and villainy.  No they're not in Mos Eisley. The best part of this is a bike gang joins them in their struggles in order to crash through the casino.

Most of the story unfolds like a Bond movie, minus Cleopatra isn't seducing women left and right. The violence levels as well as sex isn't anywhere near a Pam Grier flick. Dobson refused to do any nudity and overall the film feels like a spy drama than it did blaxploitation. As for as action and fighting is concerned, this movie ratchets up the drama. Solid gunfights and plenty of chase sequences. That even surpasses the original film. Stevens actually had some training with a sword. Take that Christopher Lambert!

 

 It's Cleo. Ms. Jones, if yer nasty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We have enough martial arts in this flick to give it a Hong Kong Cinema vibe as well. The Shaw Brothers were heavily involved with our movie as they were WB's Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks go-to guys. To say it is a trifle confusing is like saying Ghengsis Khan was a bit adventurous.

Between bikes flying around as much as the lead being spewed, Cleo reminds the kids they aren't Evel Knievel. Maybe a bit of Steve McQueen via The Great Escape buuuut, more of the tossing a baseball at a wall rather than the bike stunts.

 

I still love that her previous handler Crawford (Dan Frazer of Take the Money and Run, Tick, Tick Tick, Fuzz, Cleopatra Jones and Deconstructing Harry) mattered so little (in spite of helping her in the first movie) that they don't even go into detail while he wasn't handling her case files anymore. Instead I got the best laugh when Mr. Roper (character actor Norman Fell of The Good Life, Love, American Style, The Heist, McCloud, Three's Company, Needles and Pins, Rabbit Test and The End)as Stanley Hagel. If he was any less hip, his pants would be around his ankles.

I was a little bummed that Mrs. Johnson (Esther Rolle of Nothing But a Man, The Bold Ones: The Senator, Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!, Cleopatra Jones, Maude, Summer of My German Soldier, The Incredible Hulk and Good Times) wasn't a reprise. I mean her boys have been abducted for crying out loud!

The god awful silver eyeshadow Cleo wears has been dabbed on by Dobson rather than a proper makeup artist. No idea why that happened but it did. The film and its precursor was released on DVD by 2010. WB released it on an inferior version (looked like a conversion from VHS to DVD) in 2004. 

 

Hey man, this ain't L.A. Knock that off.

 

 

 

 

 

 Like many sequels they are deemed inferior to the predecessors. This film has enough going for it but I do understand why this didn't have the draw as the original did. Fast paced it may be, but the story felt a bit too close to the original and really lacked a cohesive story path of its own.

Maybe the audience wasn't digging the scene as there was a dip in blaxploitation by 1976. So The Mechanic and Dirty Harry series were more viewed? Cleo is not quite the anti-hero there so this could be the reason behind that standing. Overall I felt it could have benefited from a third movie to round out the series but due to the lack of ticket sales, WB just didn't see a third film was likely.

 

Fine, Mr. Roper. I'll smack Jack.

 

Shaft's Big Score

Hey folks I have returned. Yeah it has been awhile since these reviews were back to back but I am just managing time better. Wibbly Wobbly aside, today I wanted to delve back into Blaxploitation and clear up a misnomer. One being today's film is the direct sequel to the private dick that's a sex machine and NOT Shaft in Africa. Yeah I know I have heard otherwise. Look at your chronology sucka or Hell just get on IMDB that surprisingly has this one under wraps. So yes we are getting a dose of Richard Roundtree being a bad mother once again. This is Shaft's Big Score.

He's undercover.

Not to be confused with Score's Big Shaft. Yeah not proud of writing porn but it pays the bills. Is he kidding? Figure it out yourselves. Nutty idea you could always ask when you put in film requests. 

 Shaft (Richard Roundtree of Portrait of a Hitman, Game for Vultures, City Heat, Maniac Cop, Night Visitor, Crack House, Roc, Se7en, Rescue 77, Shaft and Soul Food) is back in the streets, doing his thang when he gets wind of a racketing gig out of a friend Cal (Robert Kya-Hill of Shaft's Big Score, Death Wish, Lou Grant, Good times, Ryan's Hope and Sue) business being a funeral parlor. Trying to reach our protagonist on the horn (My guess he's all tuckered out from whatever girls he was with that night) and tell Shaft his plight. It's definitely more than a boggle.

Worried about his sister Arna (Rosalind Miles of Shaft's Big Score, The Black Six, Girls for Rent, The Manhandlers, Attack on Terror: The FBI vs.the Ku Klux Klan and Friday Foster) he asks Shaft to keep her safe and meet him at his office. With a serious bomb explosion, the Captain of the precinct, Brolin(Julius Harris of Live and Let Die, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, King Kong, Split Decisions, Darkman, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence and The Gifted) is grilling Shaft while his buddy Cal has been char broiled. Not cool, brah.

This is for getting more booty than us!

Once again directed by the late great Gordon Parks (Flavio, The World of Piri Thomas, The Learning Tree, Shaft, The Super Cops, Leadbelly and Moments Without Proper Names) so we are in good hands. A quick moment to talk about this amazing man, Parks was a photographer and reporter for Life Magazine in 1948-1949, is godfather to Quibilah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X , co-founder of Essence Magazine and alongside Melvin Van Peebles (Sweet Sweetback's Baadassssss Song, Don't Play Us Cheap, Gang in Blue, Tales of Erotica and Bellyful) are the founding fathers of Blaxploitation. Yeah babies, that is heavy.

Back to the movie under the MGM title, we are making away through Harlem, Laguardia and New York Manhattan proper as this mystery is just getting started. Hey am I wrong wanting Fred Williamson and Richard Roundtree to either team-up or have to duke it out? Shaft is trying to work out what brought this down on his buddy and solve his murder but more than a few bumps are in the road. Including mob boss Bumpy (Moses Gunn of Wild Rovers, Shaft’s Big Score!, The Cowboys, Rollerball, Good Times and Vega$) rears his head out of the sand as it would appear $200,000 is unaccounted for and Bumpy wants a payday. The funeral proceeds on schedule, Shaft and Arna get back to the house finding it tossed looking for the missing dough.

Those pigs call me booty?

To make matters worse, a rival crime boss, Gus Mascola (Joseph Mascolo of Hot Spur, Shaft's Big Score, Jaws 2, Bronk, Gangster Wars, Sharky's Machine, The Gangster Chronicles. Santa Barbara, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful and Days of Our Lives) was in bed with Asby's partner Johnny Kelly (Wally Taylor of Roots, When a Stranger Calls, Palmertown, U.S.A., Circle of Power, Rocky III, Seduced and Night of the Creeps) tells da boss the 200 gees is in the wind. With the property being in Harlem this can only lead to a gang war.

Even after the death of his partner, Kelly is running numbers on sports gambling and it's business as usual. His runners are out and about. So classy is our boy Kelly slaps his girl Rita (Kathy Imrie of Shaft's Big Score, Let's Go for Broke, Night Heat, Street Legal, Street Law, Shadow Creature, Soul Food and Doc) for speaking while he's scheming and sweating out dealing with the Italians.

No sooner he has a sit down with Mascola, Kelly is already thinking of bringing the action to Bumpy. Maybe the hope is the rub each other (Not that erotic way, ya pervs) and then the landscape is clear for Kelly to cruise on through. Yeah fellas there is plenty of T & A to go with this action packed film. Oh ladies, they were gonna ask. It was inevitable.

Can Shaft get out of this one? Will Bumpy get his just due? Will Kelly be hanging from a lamp post?

With a budget of 1.9 million, the mechanics of the cinematography have vastly improved, getting the same screenplay writer Ernest Tidyman back and the sheer larger scale of this flick felt like a Bond movie. Hell even the original posters gave that vibe. We got helicopter chases, car chases, gunfights and even a good boat chase.  Issac Hayes does not come back for his iconic Shaft theme as apparently he and Gordon had a falling out.

Finally saw a High Standard Model 10 bullpup 12 gauge. Something I haven't seen since Jame Caan's Thief and Miami Vice. 12 gauge, five round capacity and it's semi-automatic. Awesome cannon.

So yes this is a good solid sequel. Not truly a stand alone film as it does rely heavily on the predecessor but still a good follow-up, decent lines and Shaft being a total bad ass.

Bad mutha with a boomstick!

Black Shampoo

And we are back, ladies and gents. Hope you are enjoying President's Day, getting some decent savings on furniture, automobiles and apparently pizza sales. Today's moving pictures hails from Blaxploitation of what appears to be the sleazier side of it. Yes this is no Shaft or Black Belt Jones but more of a near porn variety if the opening theme music is to be believed. Back from Greydon Clark's basement (Angels' Revenge, Hi-Riders, Joysticks, Final Justice, The Uninvited, The Forbidden Dance and Mad Dog Coll) hails the tagline: "He's Bad... He's Mean... He's a Lovin' Machine. This is Black Shampoo a.k.a. Sex at the Salon.

This naked make out aids in the hair drying?

From the man that brought Satan's Cheerleaders, this cheesy sleazy exploitation of Mr. Johnathan (John Daniels of Tender Loving Care, The Candy Tangerine Man, Bare Knuckles, Mean Dog Blues and Flesh-Eating Mothers) runs a salon and apparently is a gigolo. Guess he styles the hair then messes in up in a sweaty, moaning fashion. Are they paying extra for the sex? Honestly I don't know. Dude looks like a genetic experiment of James Earl Jones crossed with Lou Ferrigno. Couple that with most of his filmography titles sound like gay porn titles, minus Flesh-Eating Mothers of course.

Our opus opens with saxophone, bass and enough wah wah pedal I am checking around that I didn't conjure the ghost of John Holmes.  No sooner does Mr. Johnathan finish scrubbing this pent up white girl's hair, it is alluded she starts blowing him. Yeah, I'm sure it was plot related somehow.  No we do not see that scene. Thankfully.   Oh goody, gay stereotypes like Artie (Skip E. Lowe of Crazy Mama, Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, Bare Knuckles, Bitter Heritage and Prime Suspect)and Richard (Gary Allen of Joshua and Black Shampoo)and they're giggly and fabulous. Grrr...

Mongo like candy.

Secretary Brenda (Tanya Boyd of Isl, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, Roots, GoodTimes, The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood, Sanford Loving, Lulu and Days of Our Lives) knows the ins and outs of the business but she's not one to gossip. Kind of Effie to Johnathan's Sam Spade if you will.

With an emergency "hair appointment" at the request of Mrs. Simpson (Heather Leigh of Sexual Ecstasy of the Macumba, Mafia Girls, Black Shampoo, Special Delivery and Hot Nasties) Johnathan may have taken in more than he bargained for. As he heads out, some mafia goons head into the salon and have a chat with Brenda. One would conclude her former employer Mr. Wilson (Joseph Carlo of Satan's Cheerleaders and Black Shampoo) wasn't too happy of her taking off. And that damn kid Dennis is always knocking baseballs through his window too.

After a bit of gay bashing (they tossed Artie and Richard around), head thug tells Brenda she better call 'da boss or people will really get hurt.

Johnathan is being hit on profusely by teens. Seriously the double entendres are so blatant, they're actually painful. "Oh that's a big tool. I bet you're really handy with it." Stay classy, movie.

Mrs. Simpson's gonna teach these girls a lesson. By grinding on Mr. Johnathan. Hmm, this might be a softcore porn flick.   Brenda tells Johnathan she has to go, so he takes out to dinner.  Brenda baby, don't fall for that. Mr. Johnathan's probably got more STDs than James Kirk or at least near to it.

Brenda hasn't called quick enough for Mr. Big there so hired goons go trash the salon to kooky circus like music. Yeah, I was delighted too. Ugh, bring back the mindless booty call scenes now.

Got my roscoe trained on ya, see?

Eventually Johnathan is tired of his place of business thrashed and Brenda being scared so Johnathan is on the case. He's almost Shaft... kinda. Maybe. His cruising music must have been stuck on the interpretive jazz station.

Brenda goes back to Mr. Wilson and he humbly apologizes for the shop getting torn up and says to submit damage bills to him. Yeah that's the least you can do, sucka. No, that line wasn't in the film. Should have been. His thugs raz Johnathan, he pimp slaps one down, one gets it in the planter's and thug number three remembered he has a gun. Wow, brains on a knuckle dragger. Well to console his broken heart, Johnathan goes and plows a client like the back 40.

Brenda gets the goods on Mr. Wilson and goes to Johnathan for protection. HAIR DRESSER! Not a P.I., not a cop, ex-cop, ex-military!!! Not that I would know. We get literally no backstory with this dude aside from he does hair and the owners of said hair. I have a new name for his place, "The Primp, Crimp and Pump!"

With a big showdown with the thugs, Johnathan show them a thing or two. WITH A CHAINSAW??!!! WTF??!!!

Okay let's talk about the issues I have with this film. A few N bombs and gay bashing aside, the women are written like brain dead bimbos that only Johnathan can satisfy, the thugs are barely believable as humans and frankly the double entendres got damn childish.

The technical problems? Blocking scenes is real tough, camera won't focus from foreground to background, clothes, towels constantly moving around from scene to scene so continuity is in the toilet and at some point during a shower sex scene, the fricking sound dies out, soundtrack and all. The editing looks like it was done by a diarrhetic howler monkey. It's shit!

Finally recognized another actor as "New Receptionist" (Jacqulin Cole of Satan's Sadists, The Female Bunch, Angel's Revenge, Wacko and Joysticks). Not exactly filling with joy but I suppose it was a minor mental exercise. This is gory, goofy and girly bouncing of epic proportion.

For who I would recommend this to? Um college kids wanting a good drinking game. Naked jiggly girl? Drink. Not every film of this genre can be Three the Hard Way or Shaft but at least this wasn't Dolemite.

Weirdest Craigslist orgy ever.

Movies with the word Slaughter in it: Slaughter

Welcome back for the week my gentle and loving readers.   SoOoooo... I did not get any ideas, comments or suggestions for what to write this week.  Honestly it is okay to offer some film, TV or video game ideas.   With that in mind, I randomly chose the word slaughter as the crux of what I would be viewing.  As luck would have it, rather than some jiggly girl in lingerie with big breasts running up the stairs rather than out the door, I got a blaxploitation of action packed goodness starring the one, the only Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns fullback from 1957-1965, only man to be inducted to the sports Halls of Fame for College Football, Pro Football and Lacrosse) This is Slaughter.

Girl, you already got your alimony check.  Now git!

Jim is Slaughter, former Captain in the Green Berets, war hero and all around bad ass. With his dad being deep in the mob, a car bomb goes off killing both his dad and mom as they returned from an evening show. Nosey reporter Kim (Marlene Clark of Enter the Dragon, Ganja & Hess, The Beast Must Die, Switchblade Sisters, Sanford and Son and Highway to Heaven) senses a scoop and badgers our hero whom wants nothing to do with her. Hitting up one of dad's contacts he is off for revenge to nail the muthas that killed his folks. Taking out a handful of these dirtbags, Slaughter has been picked up for unloading a Colt .45 (pistol not the malt liquor) on an airstrip.

That may be a factory recall.

Expect a few N bombs folks because...um, it's the seventies?  The chief inspector of US Treasury (Cameron Mitchell of Carousel, Blood and Black Lace, The Beachcomber, The High Chaparral, Space Mutiny,Memorial Valley Massacre and Easy Kill) says he can waive the murder one and assault with a deadly weapon charges if... Slaughter heads down to South America (Mexico City) and take the rest of these scumbags out.

The mobsters that almost lost their lives decide to lay low, live off the ill-gotten gains for a while and not draw attention. That doesn't sit well with number 2 in the organization Dominic (Rip Torn of Montserrat, Slaughter, Blind Ambition, The Beastmaster, City Heat, RoboCop 3, Men in Black and Men in Black 2) who wants Slaughter dead, the organization to expand and take over L.A. Slaughter just made it to "South America" only to find out that reporter girl Kim is actually part of the US Treasury department as a field agent and the chief assigned her to watch Slaughter's back...possibly his front too.

Yup, she's never going back.

Dominic wants Slaughter's head on a pike given his boss insists Dominic's girl Ann (Stella Stevens of The Nutty Professor, General Hospital, The Poseidon Adventure, Chained Heat and Santa Barbara) to pork information out of Slaughter but ends up falling for our boy.

Will Slaughter live up to his name? Will Rip Torn live up to his? Why did Kim have so few lines?

South America was all over Mexico City so I don't know why the organization couldn't have been located in Mexico. Still love that we see Slaughter's folks in a car that explodes, covered in flames that shoot up 20 feet in the air, the next scene Slaughter is waiting on the ER doctor for news. Doc tells him that his father didn't make it and I am thinking, "Well yeah, dude got well done." Went up like one of That Guy From Harlem's NY strips.  Just needed a bottle of crappy J&B scotch to go with dad after that.

Driving Mr. Brown: The TV Movie.

Exploitation Encore: Lady Cocoa

Hiya folks, I'm back. Where did I go? Working on my novel and didn't want to ruin the flow. Yeah I do write more than just reviews of films, TV and video games. Well I checked rottenreelzreviews@gmail.com and got absolutely...zero responses on what I should be writing. It's there folks. Give it a message or two. You can also reach me at Rotten Reelz Reviews on Facebook or hey a nutty idea would be to leave a message on the blog Rotten Reelz Reviews at blogspot.com. This week's theme a fall back to exploitation. Worry not my readers, I shan't be delving into nunsploitation (and yes that is a sub sub-genre of exploitation evolving nuns sexually or with violence) but we will keep the venue fairly board and open. Today's flick involves prison, ratting on mobsters and some racketeering. This is Lady Cocoa.

So damn bored.

Starring role of Coco is played by the First Lady of Las Vegas, Lola Falana (A Man Called Adam, Quando dico che ti amo, Black Tigress, The Mod Squad, The New Bill Cosby Show, The Streets of San Francisco, The Klansman, The Love Boat and Mad About You) who amazingly is not singing, "Whatever Lola wants, Lola Gets" but is playing Coco, a young woman rotting in prison for a year and a half for contempt of court and non-cooperation with the Feds as they are moving in on her mobster boyfriend Eddie (James A Watson Jr of Returning Home, Police Woman, Wonder Woman, Goldengirl, Quincy M.E., Airplane II: The Sequel, and The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.)

Psst, the old guy stinks.  B.O. big time.

Coco finally cops to flipping on Eddie so long as her conditions are met. She wants out of prison for a night on the town before having to testify in court the next morning...so have a bender in Reno gambling, drinking and dancing the night away before testifying in a courtroom. Yup, sounds reasonable to me. So what does the DA do to keep their nitwit tattletale alive? Does the girl get surrounded by 30 some odd bodyguards?? Nay, she gets Old Guy that is 3 months from retirement Ramsey (Alex Dreier of The Boston Strangler, Chandler, Sweet, Sweet Rachel and Murdock's Gang) a rookie from pounding the pavement beat cop turned detective...Doug (San Francisco 49ers Wide Receiver Gene Washington) Yeah not the equivalence of SWAT or hell if I was the DA I would have hired a team of mercs to keep this twit alive but instead, two whole cops.

Polyester and suede is the name of the game as it is almost everywhere in Reno. Have not seen that much vinyl outside of a record store. (Yup I am old or something something) Coco tries putting the moves on Doug almost instantly as they have to share a hotel room for expenses...of course if the DA was that worried about cost, the would-be couple would have to bunk with Old Guy who snores like a log-saw jammed in an oak tree.

Is Coco on the up and up? Will "Doug" fall for her charms? Can Old Guy make it to retirement?

Prior to Lady Cocoa, Gene Washington did star in Black Gunn with Joe Brown and The Black Six with then and here Pittsburgh Steelers Defensive Tackle "Mean Joe"Greene. Alas similar to The Black Six, Joe got no lines at all. Mind you a 6 foot 4 260 lb beast of a man doesn't need to say much and just glare.

Better not let them know I'm counting cards.

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!!!

Back in Blaxploitation: Velvet Smooth

What's happenin' cats and kittens...welcome to Day 2 of Back in Blaxploitation and today we are gabbing about a super sleuth that all is gathering around for. No, I ain't talkin' about Shaft. Can you dig it? I mean the kitten that purrs so but carries claws when she needs it. Only one bit of sweetness to get to the bottom of this obvious kettle of fish. This is Velvet Smooth.

Ron Jeremy is Leatherface in: A Cut Above the Rest.

Our private eye with her foxy sidekicks is on the case, Velvet (Johnnie Hill of Velvet Smooth) gets a sit down with the man, King Lathrop (Owen Watson of Black Force, Velvet Smooth and Bon annivesaire Juilette) as someone is muscling him out of his territory. The possibility is so mind boggling to Lathrop that he has to hire the best P.I. In the business and Velvet fits the bill. With her help of friends Ria (Elsie Roman of Black Force, Velvet Smooth and Gang Wars) a lawyer and rough and tough Frankie (Rene Van Clief of Dolemite and Velvet Smooth) the scumbags better beware!

Frankie works undercover to ferret out the man causing Lathrop so much hell that they are convinced it may be an inside job by one of Lathrop's own men. Did I mention all these ladies are supposed to be adept in martial arts. Kung Faux from the looks of that and no I did not error on my spelling because the fight scenes look so damn hokey, I guess they were convinced the girls would get hurt and blah blah blah but more than half of these fight scenes are shot at long distance so you barely see what is really happening and the other half...well you really weren't missing the astounding choreography of a fourth grader's attention to detail. Why not make the girls bar room brawlers instead or a bit of street fight but I guess opting to fit them with bonking frying pans and attitude was skipped thankfully but not by much.

She cut a bitch!  Mostly, with those nails.

The general vibe says not to trust anyone, then why did the kingpin hire Velvet at all and what is really going on? Love the street gangs' Leatherface meets Hannibal masks as well. Clashes a bit with their funky threads but that happens from time to time. And ladies, lay off the kick and punches to the nuts already!! Girl power aside, the twig and berry fatalities were getting insane!

A few nitpicks now. Holy crap I have not seen the boom mic that many times outside of Dolemite. Get the boom mic top billing! Running Back two-time Emerson Boozer for the NY Jets (1966-1975) was kind of a point of interest but you get the overall reason why his career in acting didn't go sky rocketing. Didn't have the chops, baby. The sound effects foley artist fell asleep as half of the slaps, punches and kicks don't match up with the action followed by a drum crash seemingly to accompany every other punch to skin.

Not the worst blaxploitation thus far but certainly not the better talented to be working on this project. Still it beats Dolemite everytime.

Operation: Grabass is under way!

Back in Blaxploitation: Sugar Hill

Welcome one and all to Day 1 of Back in Blaxploitation. CAN YOU DIG IT??!!! Sorry channeling The Warriors for a second and I'm good. What do you get when the mob takes out your boyfriend for refusing to pay protection? Why turn to the Dark Arts of course! Yes nothing speaks of revenge raising large collections of the dead. This is Sugar Hill a.k.a. Zombi, Black Voodoo and The Zombies of Sugar Hill.

Mmm, is that olive oil you are using for your hair?

American International Pictures brings us the story of Diana (Marki Bey of The Landlord, Class of '74, Hangup and Starksy and Hutch) after the loss of her boyfriend at the hands mobster Morgan (Robert Quarry of Agent for H.A.R.M., Count Yorga, Vampire, WUSA, The Return of Count Yorga, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Deathmaster, The Midnight Man and Madhouse) whose money has bought protection from the cops and lawyers. Racked with guilt and loss, Diana speaks to an aged Voodoo priestess Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully of The Liberation of L.B. Jones, WUSA, Brother John, A Dream for Christmas, All in the Family and The Jeffersons) to put Sugar in charge of zombies, she refuses.

Getting more and more enraged, Sugar seeks out a voodoo lord of the dead, Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, THX 1138, Herbie Rides Again, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Blue Iguana, Journey of Honor and Quest of the Delta Knights) and only the cost of her immortal soul and she will have full control of a zombie horde. She starts wiping out Morgan's men and no one on the street has a clue who is slaughtering them left and right.

Yes, I am white and evil.  How do you do?

The zombies however are the traditional standing in they are subservient thralls versus the George A. Romero flesh eating ghouls but they must have become damn ninjas as they sneak around in the darkness these beings were bodies preserved of slaves brought to the United States from Guinea.

Will Sugar get her revenge? Being soulless will she feel some sort of joy? Will Baron Samedi work birthday parties??

A few points of interest on the film now. The eyes of zombie horde is a great effect cutting the eyes out in the frames and shining light through it making it this other worldly effect and very similar to the Lectroids in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8^th Dimension. The Voodoo Museum and Research History building was shockingly enough the Heights Branch of the Houston Public Library. Thought for certain, Texas would be an authority on Voodoo practitioners.

American International Pictures lost both Robert Quarry and Vincent Price in 1974 as they wanted to pursue other work and felt the lackluster of the previous works.

Excuse me, I was looking for the John Carpenter set.

Back in Blaxploitation!

Howdy folks! Sorry I have been tardy since Christmas Eve. Shawn and I had a blast recording our DC Comics episode and you can find that on Youtube now under Rotten Reelz Reviews. That being said between the bad weather, sinus headaches and just no desire to write, I had to kick myself into gear to get started. Again apologies for this late in the week. I feel better and we will get started on some fan favorite: Blaxploitation.

Reach for the sky, jive ass turkey!

For those that somehow are unfamiliar with the term exploitation, an exploitation movie is usually a low-quality film without an "A" list backing and uses sex, violence and romance as the selling point behaving in a popular trend, niche or taboo subject matter. Blaxploitation is a film made with black actors more or less for black audiences and often has the theme of an urban view via stereotype. Normally they are overcoming authority "The Man" through clever planning and extreme violence.

Now common love of these films fell under Jack Hill's Coffy or Foxy Brown, Gordon Parks' Shaft and even love for William Crain's Blacula. As for the last one that is probably due to William Marshall's performance. Chilly and yeah I love several of these flicks and yes there are quite a few that are a bit on the crappy side as well. With in any genre there are bound to be some bad movies so keep that in mind when viewing them.

Sometimes you get stuck watching something as horrible as Dolemite but hey there are fans for that movie. Everyone has their own tastes and I for one want to see if there are some more out there that I will find enjoyable.

This week is Back in Blaxploitation and no sucka, you ain't got a choice in the matter.

Jim Kelly's packing...got a gun too!

Fusion of Film: Scream Blacula Scream

And greetings to you, gentle readers for Day 4 of Fusion of Film. Well we have had some thrills, chills and in general screwy flicks... So how about a sequel? Oh c'mon... Okay to relieve some of your anxiety it is not a latter A Nightmare on Elm Street because, well I don't want to put us all through that crap. I mean you are just reading it, I have to watch the piece of crap. No, this time I am reviewing a sequel to a blaxploitation horror film. Yeah imagine trying to say that five times real fast. American International Pictures brings us the continuation of Prince Mamuwalde, voodoo and some seventies funk. This is Scream Blacula Scream.

No hickeys!!!

The aging Voodoo priestess of L.A.? Is dying and Mama Loa picks her adopted daughter and apprentice Lisa Fortier (Pam Grier of The Big Doll House, Women in Cages, The Big Bird Cage, Black Mama White Mama, The Arena, Coffy, Foxy Brown and Jackie Brown) as the next Voodoo priestess and her son and blood relative Willie (Richard Lawson of Streets of Fire, Poltergeist, All My Children, Wag the Dog, Angry Boys, Royal Family Thanksgiving and Royal Family Christmas) who vows revenge, gives a false front of everything is cool, baby and hustles outta there. What a toolbox. Willie goes to a former Bokor (practicioner of black magic and zombification)of the group and buys the bones of Mamuwalde from the last film when he burned in the sunlight. The Bokor warns him of the power he is trying to enslave and he take heed but our boy again is a total tool so what could happen? Willie brings back Mamuwalde (William Marshall of Star Trek, Skullduggery, Zig Zag, Blacula, Abby, Rosetti and Ryan, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Maverick and Dinosaur Valley Girls), screws up his circle of protection and Mamuwalde puts the bite on him making him a servant of darkness. Back to life or undead, Mamuwalde walks the streets and ends up at a party former officer Justin Carter (Don Mitchell of I Dream of Jeannie, Ironside, Short Walk to Daylight, Ironside TV series, Wonder Woman, Perfume and The Return of Ironside) is an amateur archaeologist and collector of African antiquities when the prince finds a stirring, an attraction to Lisa... well given it is Pam Grier the prince may have seen Foxy Brown.

What do you mean tips are mandatory??!!!

A string of bizarre murders happen and Carter with an interest in the occult proceeds to have a look around with no one on the force really busting his chops that he is an ex-cop looking into existing homicides. Lisa's friend Gloria (Janee Michelle of The Love-Ins, The Mephisto Waltz, Scream Blacula Scream, The House on Skull Mountain and In the Heat of the Night) dies at the party has returned from "BEYOND THE GRAVE" and tries feeding on Lisa but is stopped by Mamuwalde in time. He begs Lisa to lift the vampire curse from him so he can be a normal man once more. Carter gets his former lieutenant on board with him and they prep stakes medium rare...um I mean they sharpen some wood to be driven into bodies.

Can Lisa end Mamuwalde's curse? Will he have to atone for his vampiric crimes? Can the undead serve a life sentence?

A few thoughts on the film.

So no mention of Tina or Dr. Gordon Thomas from the first film. Apparently they just up and left L.A.or maybe they went on a honeymoon as this is only a week after the first movie.

I did enjoy the film goof of Mamuwalde knowing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata that was composed in 1801 when Mamuwalde was imprisoned in his coffin around 1774 so pretty sure he never heard it, let alone had an instructor to teach him to play. No I am not a historian but my younger brother was a pianist so kinda became familiar with composers.

While there were none of the original cast from the first film, this movie's mood, setting and atmosphere holds it own and you still feel bad for Mamuwalde as he is truly cursed by Dracula all those centuries ago. Its tone is a bit softer and yes it is a bit on the cheesy but most exploitation films were lacking a huge budget to work with. All in all, not a bad movie nor was it a bad sequel.

A.K.A. Coffy A.K.A. Foxy Brown.

Grindhouse Flicks: Dolemite

Welcome back folks to Day 2 of Grindhouse Flicks. We tackle some blaxploitation this time around and well... it isn't what you would call genius but I am certain there is some entertainment value in there... somewhere. We follow the feats and talent of a fellow trying to make his way as an urban hero who has dealt with corrupt cops, pimps and street thugs. This is Dolemite.

Huggy Bear ain't got sh*t on me!

Our "hero" is a pimp that was set up by a rival pimp name of Willie Greene (D'Urville Martin of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Rosemary's Baby, Boss, Disco 9000 and Black Samurai) and two cops in his pocket that plant enough kilos of drugs, stolen furs and guns in the man's trunk it screams set-up but the frame holds and our boy Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore of Dolemite, The Human Tornado, Disco Godfather, Shaolin Dolemite, Prank and Big Money Hustlas) is up the pokey thanks to the smokeys.

Looking down the barrel of 20 years, Dolemite get called out from his cell to visit the warden. Our first bit of dialogue from our protagonist is "What does that rat soup eating motherf**ker want now?" Charming, I know. The warden tells him that the evidence that Dolemite's madam Queen B (Lady Reed of Dolemite, The Human Tornado, Petey Wheatstraw and Disco Godfather) put together clearly shows that Dolemite is the victim in all of this and this being the 70s and no need to research how laws operate, the warden is letting him out to seek vengeance on the cops and Willie Greene. Yeah, you read that right. Apparently not only is Dolemite pardoned but allowed to operate a sting operation of his own.

Run hoes!! I cover you!!

No sooner is Dolemite out of his prison garb and in his own threads a couple of Willie Greene's boys try to smoke him and he turns the tables on them and guns them down. Out for less than an hour and two homicides. Queen B has had all the hoes in the stable learn Karate or Taekownfaux because the fight choreography is so shoddy you can clearly see the kicks and punches are missing.

Dolemite's biggest problem is the cop Mitchell (No, not Joe Don Baker!) and he is out to make sure " The Man" is constantly on Dolemite's neck, keeping him in his place and every other racist white stereotypical crap he can pull. Dolemite's main source of info on the street keeps him in the loop and is trying to place Mitchell (John Kerry of The Fall Guy, Running Hot, Murder, She Wrote, Pink Lightning and Paid to Kill) and Willie Greene in the same place. Catch them in the act and then take care of them. Our snitch "Creeper" (Vainus Rackstraw of Dolemite) is not Rondo Hatton but a jive talking, hamburger loving, leering perv that got deemed worthy of his own theme music. His information is always good and well worth the price to pay.

Can Dolemite bring down Willie Greene, Mitchell and stick it to the Mayor for allowing the frame to go down? Will his own choreography look cheesier than the girls? How many pimp outfits does one man need?

A few bits of interest on the film. I saw the damn boom mic so many times in this flick it deserves top billing. Rudy Ray Moore's comedy apparently had an impact on the following people: Quentin Tarantino, Snoop Dogg and Eddie Murphy. Eddie, keep that crap on the down low.

The New York Times found the phenomena of this film's cult following dubbing it the Citizen Kane of Blaxploitation. Instead of Shaft, Coffy, Foxy Brown, The Fix and about a dozen other titles I can think of more worthy.

Snoop was so moved and molded by Rudy Ray Moore that he asked him to star in his video Murder Was the Case as Dolemite. Rudy up to the day he died has carried this character in his act as it has been beneficial and emotionally rewarding.

Yeah he had to buy and pay for everyone of them... Poor sod.