Schlock producer Samuel Z. Arkoff asked for (and got) a rush job from writer/director Larry Cohen on this jarringly executed sequel to his own BLACK CAESAR. Made so quickly, HELL was in theaters while CAESAR still played second-run. Now with even more Blaxploitation action, you might imagine Cohen had developed enough technique to handle the fights, chases & shoot-outs so generously peppered in here. Imagine on. Picking up from CAESAR, NYC crime lord Fred Williamson survives hits from a crooked D.A.; reestablishes his territory with help from Pop (Julius Harris, the best thing in here); finds tru-love, wife & fast growing son before moving to Beverly Hills to ‘go straight’ just as Pop takes over the biz and (seemingly) turns against him. With little sense and even less explanation, the story moves from one violent action to the next without connective tissue or narrative logic. Fine for fans, but pretty flaccid moviemaking in spite of much sound & fury. And while you can't expect miracles in the way of action chops from Cohen on a third film, even the simplest reverse angle defeats him. Check out the post-coital set ups for Williamson & his bedmate. They might be speaking to some imaginary third person rather than each other. Worth a look for the MovieLab color process work (well reproduced on the Olive Films DVD) and for some stylish period details in clothes, cars & racial attitudes. But for that, almost any Blaxploitation pic from the period would serve equally well.
DOUBLE-BILL: Gordon Park’s lodestar Blaxploitation pic SHAFT/’71 looks positively Neo-Realistic in comparison.
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