Let's Go To The Movies # 4 Fri. 12 Oct 1973

 Crisp Midwest fall Oct. evening with only a couple of weeks 'till Halloween ! Lots of re-releases this week as the drive-in season winds down in Detroit, Michigan. 

The magnificent Tamera Dobson in CLEOPATRA JONES ("She's 6 feet 2" of Dynamite!") is getting a re-release with COME BACK, CHARLESTON BLUE (the sequel to COTTON COMES TO HARLEM) as the second feature at The Plaza downtown on Woodward Ave. and three drive-ins. 

"2 Houses of Hell-together for a night of HORROR!" Hallmark Releasing has a re-release double feature of S.F. Brownrigg's DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (originally released as THE FORGOTTEN but retitled for the "Don't" marketing craze) and Wes Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT from 1972 which is still out there on the grindhouse circuit (and would continue to be for years). 

Released back in Aug. GORDON"S WAR starring Paul Winfield and directed by Ossie Davis. "They said it would take an army to get the mob out of Harlem. This is the army! This is Gordon's war!" is on a late show at the Palms downtown and the Mercury out on the west side. 

Ossie Davis discovered that he could not competently film the action sequences in the film so Bruce Kessler (SIMON, KING OF WITCHES and ANGELS FROM HELL) was brought in and directed all the violence and action. 

From earlier in 1973 is WALKING TALL ("the "in" movie of 1973") starring Joe Don Baker and his big whup-ass stick. Oddly they seem to be trying to sell it as a love story and/or family drama this time around. 

Russ Meyer's BLACK SNAKE (here re-titled SWEET SUZY) is playing with Paul Rapp's THE CURIOUS FEMALE which was originally going to be titled LOVE COMPUTER STYLE and had its world premiere in Detroit back in 1970.

BLACK SNAKE was Russ Meyer's return to self-financed film production and attempt at the Blaxploitation market after his stint at 20th Century which had resulted in BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLL and THE SEVEN MINUTES. BLACK SNAKE had a troubled production including the last minute drop out of it lead actress and was a box office failure which led it to being released under several different titles. 

Here we got the horrifically bad ARNOLD'S WRECKING COMPANY which was filmed in 1971 but not released until 1973 and is a "comedy" about a nerdy high school student who starts dealing pot and runs afoul of police and gangsters. 

The mondo film AFRICA UNCENSORED from 1972 is running downtown with the much more watchable and entertaining BLACULA (also from 1972). AFRICA UNCENSORED was directed by Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni and Guido Guerrasio who did a whole series of African mondo films that mostly focused (as to be expected) on sexual fertility rites along with animal killings. 

Some major studio releases include a sneak preview of THE WAY WE WERE at the Americana and Eastland, the kind-of-forgotten today OKLAHOMA CRUDE w/ George C. Scott and Faye Dunaway and a western I've never heard of with Glenn Ford. 

Terrific double feature of ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE ("He's a good cop..on a big bike...on a bad road") and the great THE OUTSIDE MAN (which is way overdue for a Blu-ray release) is playing multiple theatres around the Motor City. 

At the Grand Circus downtown is some King-Fu action with FEARLESS FIGHTERS (aka NINJA KILLERS) from 1971 and going way back to 1967 (!!) is KISS AND KILL on the bottom half of the bill which is a Hong Kong remake of the Euro-spy PASSPORT TO HELL: SECRET AGENT 3S3.

Lots of XXX around including a nice big ad for the Krim I and II showing THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES and BEHIND THE BREEN DOOR and SPIKEY'S MAGIC WAND at the 6 Mile and Art I which is hawking stars Harry Reems and Georgina Spelvin from the classics (and perpetually running) THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES and DEEP THROAT. 

TRUCK TURNER 1974

Black, Bold and Bloody Mean! 

"Anybody ask you what happened, tell 'em you've been hit by a truck...Mac "Truck" Turner!" 

In recent years blaxploitation has been parodied and riffed on so much that the entire genre has sadly become an almost huge joke upon itself and lost in the shuffle is the fact that there are excellent films here along with more artistry at work in them then you might imagine. TRUCK TURNER was released just as the genre was peaking with THREE THE HARD WAY, FOXY BROWN, ABBY, and TNT JACKSON among many others all being released the same year. 

After the massive success of his soundtrack for 1971's SHAFT, it seemed only natural for the composer Isaac Hayes would make the transition to acting, and his role in TRUCK TURNER was immediately preceded by the quirky but excellent TOUGH GUYS which paired him with Lino Ventura (and is overdue for a legit release). And of course, Hayes supplied the soundtrack to both films with his work on TRUCK TURNER soundtrack is great and stands right up there with his work on SHAFT.

Written by Oscar Williams (BLACK BELT JONES) along with Michael Allin (ENTER THE DRAGON) and uncredited help from Leigh Chapman (DIRTY MARY AND CRAZY LARRY), it was originally conceived by American International as a project for a Caucasian actor (Robert Mitchum and Ernest Borgnine were among those considered). It was re-written right before production as a blaxploitation vehicle which according to the informative commentary on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray by director Jonathan Kaplan caught him by surprise. Kaplan also relates that when Isaac Hayes was first shown the script, he objected to the title character's misogyny and the use of the word "bitch" with the result that they took the character in a different direction than most blaxploitation male leads and in turn brought a rather sweet love story into the plot. 

The opening credits start off in the shiny & new office building Los Angeles and then moves to blighted urban streets with endless rows of bail bondman storefronts and were introduced to the title character who on a bit of reverse-SHAFT, lives in a squalid apartment littered with food containers and empty beer bottles.  Hayes is ex-football player-now bounty hunter Mac "Truck" Turner who along with his partner Jerry (Allen Weeks - who was the recipient of the "picking your feet in Poughkeepsie" interrogation by Gene Hackman in THE FRENCH CONNECTION) are hired by a slimy lawyer (the great Dick Miller in a wonderful pink sports jacket) to track down Leroy "Gator" Johnson (Paul Harris ACROSS 110TH STREET) a notorious pimp who skipped bail leaving Truck's friend & bondsman Nate Dinwiddie (Sam Laws HIT MAN). Tracking Gator down, Truck & Jerry participate in a high-speed car chase while pursuing the pimp in a spectacularly staged sequence. 

After Truck kills Gator in a shootout, Gator's "business partner" Dorinda (in an off-the-rails performance from STAR TREK's Nichelle Nichols) vows revenge on Turner thereby setting in motion the main plot of the film. Dorinda who operates her girls out of a swanky Beverly Hills house (with a huge picture of her late partner adoring the living room) gathers a cadre of her fellow pimps (one of whom wears a variety of terrific western shirt/matching eye-patch combos) and offers half a cut of her business to whoever kills Turner. The standout among the would-be assassins is the cold, calculating & very quietly menacing Harvard Blue (Yaphett Kotto).

Nichols as Dorinda is a true force of nature here - not so much chewing scenery but devouring it whole and then spitting it back out. She seems to be gleefully glad to shed her Star Trek image and her long uninterrupted monologues are the highlight of the film as she spews bile at anyone that comes within her sight.  Throwing out lines such as "We call her Turnpike, cuz you gotta pay to get on and pay to get off!" she brings a grin to your face whenever she is on-screen.

The film alternates between bloody squib-filled shoot-outs (Hayes's Turner carries a .44 Magnum in a nod to DIRTY HARRY) and light-hearted moments (there is some genuinely funny stuff here). Although Hayes's acting range is limited, he brings a great presence & charisma to the screen whether being shirtless while coolly dispatching would-be assassins (along with a complete lack of police presence) or sharing some tender (and sometimes funny) moments with his girlfriend Annie (a nicre performance from Annazette Chase THE MACK). Although Week's performance as Turner's partner Jerry has come under criticism from some, I think he is quite good here and his scenes with Hayes show some real chemistry between the two (along with some light comedy) and makes me wish there were a sequel with the pair and Chase's Annie. 

Jonathan Kaplan had started out with Roger Corman on NIGHT CALL NURSES and THE STUDENT TEACHERS (which is my favorite of the "student" and "nurses" cycle) and THE SLAMS with Jim Brown. He worked his way up the food chain later directing WHITE LINE FEVER, HEART LIKE A WHEEL, and MR. BILLION (which deserves a nice Blu-ray) among others then a busy career in TV. In TRUCK TURNER he stages some great action sequences including a prolonged and bloody shootout in a hospital with patients on gurneys being pushed over, an operating room being invaded with exploding blood bags, and a nifty death POV sequence.    

HIT MAN 1972

"He aims to please"

     Based upon Ted Lewis's 1970 novel Jack's Return Home which was the basis for the superb GET CARTER from 1971 starring Michael Caine, director/writer George Armitage's HIT MAN moves the action from the grim industrial north of England to the seedy underbelly of 1970's Los Angeles and the porn movie industry while mixing in some film noir elements. An underappreciated and early entry in the 70's Blaxploitation wave, it has a charismatic lead turn by ex-NFL player Bernie Casey as an out-of-town and out-for-revenge mobster and best of all the ultimate 70's ass-kicking goddess Pam Grier (here billed as Pamela Grier) as a tough as nails porn star here immediate post-Filipino/ women-in prison stage of her career.

    Oakland based ex-con/mobster Tyrone Tackett (Casey) arrives in Los Angeles for his brother's funeral after an alleged suicide and to check on his niece Rochelle (Candy All THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS). Finding the wild living Rochelle not receptive to his offer to live with him, Tyrone hooks up with his brother's business partner/ used car salesman Sherwood Epps (Sam Laws TRUCK TURNER) and begins poking into his brother's death. The trail quickly leads into the L.A. crime underworld and porno movie industry.  Meeting up with a succession of low-lives and gangsters (including Paul Gleason from THE BREAKFAST CLUB & Roger Mosley from MAGNUM P.I.) all of whom basically tell him to stop asking questions and go back home, he begins to uncover unpleasant lifestyle choices related to his niece and dead brother. 

    Taking Ted Lewis's story of honor and revenge and moving into the world of 70's Blaxploitation and urban crime seems like it would be a natural and although Armitage claimed he never saw the Caine film, his script (which the basic story was given to him by producer Gene Corman - Roger's brother) follows it with the originals downbeat ending changed. Armitage's script meanders a bit through the first while as Tackett arrives in L.A. and begins questioning his brother's friends and business associates as there even some odd humor that seems weirdly out of place including a scene where Tackett and Epps get drunk and Tackett begins talking in a high feminine voice  and a bit with Epps as he tries to film a TV commercial and mistakenly saying "mother-fucker"

     Things pick up quite a bit during the film's second half as Tackett hooks up with porn actress Grier (wonderfully named Gozelda & sporting a tremendous natural Afro) and begin his bloody vendetta. Although there are some scenes in gangsters' mansions most of the film takes place in a gritty world of low rent motels, ill-light porn theatres, brothels, and dinghy streets. For the most part, this is not the beach and palm tree L.A, all of which is beautifully captured by cinematographer and future director Bruce Davis (THE FUGITIVE). Armitage, who had started out with the Roger Corman school of film production (PRIVATE DUTY NURSES), makes great use of actual Los Angeles locations including the Watts Towers and a wild animal park that is used a couple of times, while maybe seeming odd, does figure into the climax and leads to one character's demise. 

     Although obviously staged there's a winch inducing sequence showing a dogfight which maybe can be augured shows the mindless violence in the which characters reside and be taken in the context of the era's film making & ratings, but still it's something the film could have done without as it has nothing to do with the plot. Like a lot of Blaxploitation films HIT MAN shows the higher up figures in the crime world to be white (and mostly of Italian descent it would seem) who are dealt out a bloody comeuppance during the finale

     During its later half HIT MAN lives up to his 70's R rating with bright red bloody shoot-outs (including a machine gun invasion of a gangster mansion) and nudity with most of the female cast seeming to drop their clothes in every scene. It's also worth noting some comparisons to Paul Schrader's HARDCORE from 1979 as Tackett becomes immersed in the world of porn and finds out his nieces' involvement in that world with Grier becoming his guide (as is Season Hubley for George C. Scott in HARDCORE) and his discovery of the truth while viewing a porn film with brings out slow simmering anger in him.  

     Casey is quite good here, bringing an air of dignity and family honor to the role with his graying Afro even while decked out in full 70' regalia if even though we initially see his action as noble, it's soon relieved that he is just as evil as the men he's pursuing with only his revenge lending his character some credence for the violence that he engages in. He would alternate in major studio film supporting roles like THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, T.V. and Blaxploitation titles like BLACK GUNN and DR. BLACK MR. HYDE. He passed away in 2017.

    Although she'd been sweatin' it up in the Philippines for a couple of years, this is the film where you can really see Pam come into her own and while not the tough take charge female protagonist we would see later in films such as COFFY, you can see an icon in the making here.

     Marilyn Joi (billed her as Tracy Ann-King) makes an early appearance here and would go on to appear in bunches of 70's classics including THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES, BLACK SAMURAI, THE CANDY TANGERINE MAN, ILSA HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS and CHEERLEADERS WILD WEEKEND.  

      Released as part of the Warner Archive program, it's a great looking DVD with those gaudy 70's colors popping out and combined with a nice gritty feel that really brings out the seediness of the film's locations. Davis's cinematography makes for one of the best-looking films in this genre and hopefully, we can get a Blu-ray someday.  

All the above screen caps are from the Warner Archive DVD