Boxer Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone (a fine and likable performance by Leon Isaac Kennedy) gets sent to jail on a trumped-up murder charge. Too Sweet joins the prison boxing team in order to secure an early parole. However, Too Sweet runs afoul of fierce top con Jesse Amos (well played by Donovan Womack) and his deranged flunky Half Dead Johnson (a memorably crazed and over the top portrayal by Badja Djola). Writer/director Jamaa Fanaka delivers a funky, funny, and flavorsome depiction of the harsh reality of life behind bars: deprived of women, surrounded by nothing but men (Fanaka's frank and honest treatment of homosexuality in the big house is especially admirable and impressive), yearning for freedom, and bereft of hope. The fight scenes are extremely brutal and exciting, with the high stakes match between Too Sweet and Amos rating as a surefire savage and gripping highlight. The movie's wickedly off the wall sense of humor qualifies as another major asset (the rowdy lady inmate audience members from a neighboring all-female prison are positively hilarious!). The inmates are a colorful and entertaining bunch. The acting is pretty raw, yet sincere and effective, with stand-out contributions by Floyd Chatman as Too Sweet's wise, tough elderly trainer Hezzikia "Seldom Seen" Jackson, Thommy Pollard as the proud Eugene T. Lawson, Hazel Spears as sassy'n'sultry hooker Linda, Chuck Mitchell as the no-nonsense Lieutenant Arnsworth, and Gloria Delaney as the lusty Peaches. Marty Ollstein's gritty cinematography gives the picture an appropriately grainy and unpolished look and makes inspired use of hand-held camera during the rough'n'tumble boxing matches. The groovy score by William Anderson and Frankie Gaye also does the right-on pulsating trick. As an added saucy plus, we even get a few incredibly raunchy sex scenes set in the prison bathroom (!). A solid and satisfying outing.
Review of Penitentiary
