Hit Man (1972) User Reviews

Extremely tough movie burdened by cruel murders and seedy roles

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 23 September 2008]

This brutal , austere crime-thriller focuses cheerless Tyrone in the title role (a tough , amoral African-American Bernie Casey) , he's a hit-man who returns home to investigate his brother's death by some mobsters . Two-fisted Tyrone in order to revenge his brother , vows vengeance and spontaneously meets sleazy characters in the middle of sinister bands war and running afoul into underworld . Tyrone Tackett keeps the things moving along until ending vendetta , as he aims to please .

This routine film features thrills , raw energy , adult subject matter with abundant nudism and lots of violence . Plenty of intrigue , funky music , kinky sex , noisy action and grisly killings until finale vengeance . Cool secondary cast filled with African-American actors such as Pam Grier , Roger E Mosley and appears unbilled Paul Gleason . Based on a novel titled 'Get Carter' by Ted Lewis from 1970 original movie and of far superior directed by Michael Hodges and starred by Michael Caine and Britt Ekland . Remade again (2000) by Stephen Kay with Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke . This Blaxploitiation movie was regularly directed by George Armitage . He's a good director with a few movies and expert on action and intrigue genre , such as ¨Miami Blues¨ (with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh), ¨Grosse Point Blank¨ (with John Cusack and Minnie Driver) and ¨Big Bounce¨ (Charlie Sheen, Owen Wilson). Rating : Acceptable and passable ; being rated R for nudism and strong violence .

Blaxploitation version of Get Carter

[snicewanger · 7/10 · 15 June 2014]

I first saw this movie at a Blaxploitation Film Festival in 1992. Bhetty Whaldron and Roger Mosley {The Mack was also shown} were among the guest stars. Mosley admitted in the post film commentary the everybody knew that it was a black version of Get Carter. It came under fire at the time of it's release for it's racial stereotypes, but it was a big hit at the drive ins and neighborhood theaters across the country. Bernie Casey was better know at the time for his NFL career but would come to be regarded as a handsome and talented leading man and of course the incredibly beautiful Pam Grier was on her way to becoming a cult movie legend.This is a real guilty pleasure film and is a real time capsule piece to see how black men and women were coming to be regarded in 1970's cinema.

Hit Man was enjoyable for the kind of black action flicks made in the early '70s

[tavm · 7/10 · 1 June 2015]

Largely because I read Pam Grier was in this, I was curious about seeing Hit Man so when I found it at my local library, I snapped it up! She plays a porn film actress who eventually gets on lead Bernie Casey's bad side because of something involving a relative of his she did something bad to. Casey is looking for info on why his brother was found dead but the people he runs into tell him nothing but lies. Plenty of sex and nudity (Yes, Ms. Grier is one of those who unclothe themselves) and some violence sprinkled throughout. I must admit I couldn't keep track on why certain sequences were happening but for the most part, I didn't care. So on that note, Hit Man is worth a look for anyone very interested in these blaxploitation pics from the early '70s.

Funky!

[glennwalsh44 · 18 April 2003]

As a big fan of 'Get Carter,' I watched this on cable TV for a laugh and wasn't disappointed. It is a funky blaxploitation movie to rival 'Shaft' and a pretty fair remake of 'Carter,' much better than the Stallone nonsense of a couple of years back. It was fun matching scenes from the original especially the 'phone sex, which just killed me. Very funny and pretty cool!

I keep my springs well-oiled

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 9 January 2014]

Blaxploitation remake of Get Carter about a man (Bernie Casey) investigating the death of his brother. Ample doses of sex, violence, and humor. Colorful language and stereotypical characters might turn easily offended viewers off. Bernie Casey makes for a solid blaxploitation protagonist: tough, cool, and magic with the ladies. Pam Grier is sexy as always and appears in all her glory. The character she plays is scummy and meets a particularly gruesome end. Lisa Moore is amusing as the motel manager with the hots for Casey and has some great lines. Marilyn Joi has a couple of brief but memorable scenes as the aptly-named Rita Biggs. Early role for Paul Gleason as a policeman/hit-man. A good movie that, like the best of the genre, rises above its gritty subject matter and manages to entertain not depress.

You were his main thing after his old lady walked out on him

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 27 December 2012]

****SPOILERS**** Better then you would have expected Blaxploitation version of "Get Carter" made a year after the original Michael Cain release has Okland ex-con and mob enforcer Tyrone Tackett travel to L.A to find out the reason behind his brother Cornell's mysterious death. The straight laced and tea toting Cornell was killed by crashing his car over a guardrail and smashing into the Pacific Ocean below where he drowned. At the autopsy Cornell was found to be drenched from head to toe with over a paint of cheap whiskey at the time of his death!

Heading straight to Candi Lilly's whorehouse in suburban L.A Tackett isn't interested in having a good time there but to track Cornell's latest squeeze hooker Ivelle Way who was last seen with him before he was killed. As Tackett puts the squeeze on Irvell he find out that Cornell's out of control teenage daughter Rochell may have been the reason behind his tragic death or as Tackett suspects murder. As Tackett goes into the underbelly or belly of the beast, the LA porno industry, he uncovers his niece's's sorry life as a kid on the streets who was exploited by local pimps and porn peddlers that eventually later lead her murder. That despite all of Tacketts's efforts to get her on the straight and narrow road to both drug and prostitution rehabilitation.

The usually mild mannered and soft spoken Bernie Casey is really convincing here as the no holds barred take no prisoners butt kicking dude Tyrone Tackett: A guy that you or anyone else wouldn't want to mess with. Casey is incredibly far more effective as well as convincing then his better known fellow ex-football Blaxpoitation actors Jim Brown & Fred Williamson in his action scenes. As well as him being, he sure got the build for it, far more overpowering when dealing with the bad guys in the movie! In that Casey never seems to be even as much as threatened by those he dukes or shoot it out with who never stand a chance against him. It takes a while but Tackett finally gets to the truth to who had Rochell murdered and by pretending he doesn't know he tricks him into meeting him outside L.A. That's to get paid off in order to keep the heat off of his boss who's had Rochell murdered. And the person, or in between, who's to pay Tackett off is the very hit-man who did in Rochell L.A mob boss Nano Zito's chauffeur & enforcer Shag Merriweather!

***SPOILERS*** Blood splattering final with Tackett tricking L.A porno king Theotis Oliver's gang into icing Mafia Don's Nano Zito, who Oliver worked for, and his men after an all day and night sex and drunken orgy at his playboy like mansion. With the Zito mob canceled out Tackett finish off Oliver who had Rochell murdered, to keep her from talking, and his boys with only hit-man Shag, who had no idea that his boss Oliver was history, left alive! Whom a by now totally out of control bull in a China shop Tyrone Tackett saved for the very last!

This Sure Is Funky Fun Momma

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 10 September 2003]

A blaxploitation version of GET CARTER ! Maybe I should hate this movie and maybe I do , however it is a very entertaining film in a slightly offensive and highly patronizing way . Did you know director/screenwriter George Armitage is white ? It probably shows as Tyrone Tackett ( At least he`s not called Jefferson or Washington ) arrives at his brother`s funeral wearing a purple catsuit and a floppy hat ( ! ) . Oh and mourners at a black person`s funeral console the bereaved with lines like " Yo , your brother was a real funky dude " ( !! ) and all black people address each other as " Momma " " Cat " and " Bro " ( !!! ) , you really do get the impression that Mr Armitage has never met a black person in real life

Despite all this I wish to repeat this is a highly entertaining movie because of its extremely dated stereotypes and at no time did I feel myself comparing it to the original British gangster classic , unlike the recent Sly Stallone remake

Uggghhh! The dialogue. But worth a watch... once.

[TheRenegadeTaoist · 6/10 · 9 September 2011]

This film shows how taking even a solidly founded film and remaking it with low end rambling dialogue can mutilate what had some promise. Shot almost scene for scene from GET CARTER -based on the 1969 novel Jack's Return Home (which has resonated through multitudes of other film plots successfully). This movie flounders in a horribly almost plot-less screenplay. I dread what the outcome would have been had GET CARTER not been the master mold. In this genre remake the hero is not clear as to his history and drive and floats from place to place. No matter how much spicing up with racy visuals it still falls short.

Not trying to short change any film, I watched it a second time and nothing changed, no nuance to be found (no fault of Bernie Casey). This is a typical low grade band wagon production from MGM of the time. With dialogue like "That just ain't in his head. I'm the freak of the family", when pondering whether his brother's death could have actually been a suicide you have a long haul to the end of this one.

Better use of the "out for revenge" plots of this era and genre have been seen in Welcome Home Brother Charles and Gordon's War.

"I don't dig funeral's man." Funny action Blaxploitation flick.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 18 July 2007]

Hit Man starts as Tyrone Tackett (Bernie Casey) lands in L.A. for his brother Cornell's funeral, while there he also intends to find out who killed him. At first everyone tells him the same story that Cornell committed suicide but as he digs deeper he ruffles the local gangsters feathers, he uncovers a seedy world of porn & it all leads back to mob boss Nono Zito (Don Diamond). Then Cornell's daughter Rochelle (Candy All (!)) is murdered & that makes Tyrone even madder, he intends to settle the score & avenge his brother's & niece's murders...

Written & directed by George Armitage this seems to be know as some sort of Blaxploitation remake of Get Carter (1974), while I admit I've never seen Get Carter I find that difficult to believe especially since Hit Man was actually based on a novel called 'Jack's Return Home' by Ted Lewis, anyway Hit Man is good for a few laughs but little else. For the first hour or so it's fairly slow going with Tyrone going around town asking about his brother, then when he finds out the action kicks in along with some sleazy porno sub plot although it's a little to late to save it. The thing I like about Hit Man is the dialogue, it's absolutely hilarious & one of the best has to be at Cornell's funeral when someone goes up to Tyrone & says 'Cornell was one fine dude', there are countless racial slurs & terms & just downright plain laugh out loud funny Blaxploitation dialogue. Hit Man is a film with so many quotable lines it puts Quentin Tarantino to shame. Unfortunately the racist, funny, un-PC foul mouthed dialogue is the only thing Hit Man has going for it because otherwise it's a dull slow moving lifeless action flick without any action.

Director Armitage does alright, it looks suitably nice enough although that was probably down to cinematographer Andrew Davis who went on to be a big budget Hollyoood action film director himself with flicks including Above the Law (1998), Under Siege (1992), The Fugitive (1993), Chain Reaction (1996), A Perfect Murder (1998) & the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Collateral Damage (2002). The action scenes are mostly just shoot outs, the blood used at the end looks like bright red paint. I have to mention the fashions here as well, they are a hoot to look at as Tyrone goes around wearing a silly hat at a 45 degree angle on his head! Some of those collars are so big the people wearing the shirts might take off if there was a strong gust of wind & the colours are so garish this could only have been made in the 70's. The hair-dos are pretty funny at times as well. Sure this all adds to the fun & camp value but, well there's just not much of a film to go with it if you know what I mean. Animal lovers should beware as there is a scene set during an illegal dog fight, two pit-bulls are set against each other in a fight to the death & I know how some people get upset by cruelty to animals even if it is faked like here.

Technically the film is fine, it's reasonably well made with decent production values, I'm not sure where that Lion that kills Gozelda (Pam Grier) comes from though? I didn't know Lions roamed free throughout L.A.? The acting is suitably over-the-top with Casey making a cool hero.

Hit Man is an alright film if only for it's unintentionally funny dialogue & 70's fashions, it's watchable on a silly level but I doubt I'll ever want to watch it again.

About as good as a blaxploitation film gets

[willandcharlenebrown · 7/10 · 16 April 2021]

Love this flick! Not bad at all. They easily could have taken the guy out early but chose not to and suffered the consequences haha. Oh and Pam........... hot hot hot hot.

hit man

[mossgrymk · 4/10 · 19 November 2022]

I had a bad feeling about this one going in when Pam Grier basically told Ben Mankewiecz, in the TCM intro, that it sucked. But I decided to go ahead and watch it because I like the work of its writer/director, George Armitage, (whom Ben immediately dissed by stating that this was "really a Roger Corman film", an erroneous statement which really ticked me off).

Bad decision. 'Cause this thing is pretty awful. At least the thirty some odd minutes that I could take. Just an uninspired remake of "Get Carter", transposed to LA, which captures very little of the sleazy, bleak atmosphere of the original and absolutely none of its menace. And comparing Bernie Casey to Michael Caine is like...well, similes fail me.

Throw in too little Pam G, along with paint by the numbers dialogue and gratuitous animal cruelty (the dog fight scene which is where I pulled the plug) and you can see that this film is as far from Armitage's later"Miami Blues" and "Grosse Point Blank" as, say, Los Angeles is from bloody Newcastle. Give it a C minus.

cartoonish, fun "Get Carter"

[lee_eisenberg · 9/10 · 3 October 2014]

George Armitage's "Hit Man" is a blaxploitation version of Ted Lewis's novel "Jack's Return Home", more famously filmed as "Get Carter" starring Michael Caine. It's got what we expect in one of these movies: afros, wide-collared shirts, and lots of smooth talk. There's nothing particularly serious about the plot; it's all about the fun stuff. Bernie Casey as the main character is a cool dude, while Pam Grier isn't as tough as in most of her roles. But the movie delivers what it promises. It turns out that Armitage also directed "Grosse Pointe Blank". Tyrone aims to please (to reference the movie's tagline), and he succeeds.

I might eventually read "Jack's Return Home", but it could be decades, considering how long it takes me to get through books.

Not one of the best movies ever, but some great scenes

[reverendtom · 7/10 · 6 December 2006]

This definitely isn't one of the best blaxploitation movies ever, but it has a few extremely great and funny characters and sequences. This film, too, seems to be one of the biggest inspirations for the classic spoof "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka". It starts off with a bang, the first half hour or so is amazing, and it gets a little slow towards the end. SPOILER: PAM GRIER IS NAKED A BUNCH IN THIS FILM!!!! If you, like me, find her to be one of the hottest women who ever walked the earth, you are in luck, as she gets nekkid a few times. (she plays a porn star). Bernie Casey is great, but they show his butt too many times in the film. The best character has to be his vulgar, car dealer friend. So, overall, not the greatest, but a rare treat for lovers of 70s schlock action films.

Don't Hit this, Get Carter instead.

[ccomley · 2/10 · 12 December 2004]

I'm not sure "remake" is the word - I've seen remakes of films which are *radically* different (e.g. McTiernan's ghastly attempt to improve on Jewison's Rollerball) and remakes which take the same basic concept but explore it in different ways (e.g. McTiernan's excellent reinterpretation of Jewison's The Thomas Crowne Affair) but this looks like the original script just fell through a computer program which replaced the dialogue with "hip blaxploitation" type dialogue, simplified a couple of the finer points of the plot for the hard of thinking, and then ran it out with little attempt at finesse. This is scene for scene, plot for plot, location for location, the same as Get Carter, right down to the final chase on big mining equipment near the beach, with a single exception - the last ten seconds of the film - and the change here makes no sense

(here's where the spoiler hits, folks, stop reading now if you don't want to know)

In the original, the hit-man shoots Carter on the beach. Here, the shooter unaccountably decides to leave our hero alive on hearing that the gang boss is dead. This leaves the watcher thinking "hey, our hero got away with it". But he didn't, how can he? He, like Carter, has left a trail of bodies across the county with no attempt to hide evidence or conceal his involvement. However much the plot justifies him doing this, he's still going down for murder. The hit-man's bullet is the cleanest exit.

On a lesser note, the sound track I found strange, music typical to the age and style of the film, but uncannily reminiscent of Steve Austin's "running faster than the bad guy's car" theme from Six Million Dollar Man. Esp in the scene where our hero is running away from the bad guys' car.

I'm also baffled by the shooting scenes - the "stage blood" is the worst I've ever seen, so bad I have to wonder if it's intended to be some sort of "stylised" representation. Marvelous stuff though - doesn't turn the water in the jacuzzi cloudy-pink even after the gunman turns the pumps on.

Basically, I just can't see the point. If you want to watch a crisp, tight thriller with this plot, watch Get Carter (i mean the 1971 version with Michael Caine) and be happy.

Unique blaxploitation version of Get Carter deserves praise

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 23 April 2023]

(1972) Hit Man ACTION MYSTERY THRILLER

Again, this is yet another "unique" compelling version of the 1971 movie called "Get Carter" based on the novel by Ted Lewis called "Jack's Return Home", but anyone can tell by watching this that it's a remake. Hit man, Tyrone Tackett (Bernie Casey) had just come back from Oakland to Los Angeles to be a part of his brother's funeral. According to some, Tyrone's brother died from too much alcohol, leaving with him is his only daughter behind. But as the movie is progressing, it's much more serious than that, resorting Tyrone to go against the mob and seek the people responsible for his brother's demise and the people who employed him. If viewers are unable to adapt to low budget "Blaxploitation cinema" then this film isn't for you, since, besides it being low budget, it also has many cheesy dialogue and violent action scenes. And if viewers haven't noticed, every girl Tyrone comes to contact with, whether she's black or white have at least one nude scene, including Pam Grier herself who is a natural standout. Also memorable is the fact that it's not really a scene-for-scene copied version of "Get Carter", therefore making this version to be unpredictable, calling this version the "Blaxploitation version of Get Carter".

Blaxploitation classic, violent and unpleasant but great entertainment for fans of the genre. Can you dig it?

[jamesrupert2014 · 7/10 · 21 October 2022]

Oakland hard-case Tyrone Tackett (Bernie Casey) heads to LA to investigate the death of his brother and gets mixed up with honkeys, gangsters, gangstas, 'hos, pimps, and the porn industry. The story is based on the novel 'Jack Returns Home', which had been filmed the previous year as 'Get Carter' with Michael Caine (one of the most 'cold-blooded' films I have seen). The jive-urban-funk-hip-brother-Black Power vibe is great but so permeating that the film almost comes off as a parody of the genre. For an exploitation flic, the cast, which includes Pam Grier as a statuesque but repellant porn-star, is quite good and the fashions are outstanding (Tyrone's 'fro is large, his hat awesomely rakish, his plaid pants fly, and his lapels are like the wings of a condor). The blood-letting is over the top (but not particularly real-looking), the nudity abundant, and as a bonus, there are no horribly choreographed martial-arts fights. Although both ethnically and chronologically far removed from the film's original target audience, I thoroughly enjoyed it (but I have a weakness for vintage blaxsploitation, of which TCM seems to have plenty). Solid, brother!

Sort of like watching "Black Dynamite" if you remove all the action and laughs.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 21 October 2022]

"Black Dynamite" is a wonderful action-filled comedy parody of blaxploitation films of the 1970s. ..and I strongly recommend it. In many ways, the plot to "Hit Man" is similar but since it's not a comedy, there are no laughs. But what is unforgivable is that there really isn't much in the way of action and the film is amazingly dull. Even with the nudity (and there is a LOT of gratuitous nudity), the film is much duller than it should have been and it seems to take forever for the hero to spring into action!

Bernie Casey plays Tyrone Tackett, a tough guy who is from Oakland but arrives in Los Angeles looking for answers concerning his brother's murder. But it's amazing how slow this all is and you keep expecting this anti-hero to spring into action and deliver some much needed butt-kicking. In the meantime, again and again, Tyrone appears just about to go ape on gangsters...but doesn't! In particular, two jerks keep threatening him and attacking him...but he doesn't deliver justice. Of course, he eventually does SOMETHING...but it just seems to take forever...and by then I was incredibly bored. I know Bernie Casey can be a fine actor in films...but here it's as if he's on downers...lots and lots of downers.

The bottom line is that there are many wonderful blaxploitation films which clearly deliver on the action, such as "Truck Turner", "Shaft", or "Black Caesar"....so why watch this one?

By the way, there is a lot to offend people in the film...not just the nudity but the violence, language and a semi-realistic dog fight make this a movie which is a tough sell to many.

T!tty Man

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 7/10 · 20 October 2022]

Blaxploitation version of Get Carter is a lot of fun.

Bernie Casey is super cool as the lead character. Roger Mosley (RIP "TC") is his main antagonist. And everywhere you look there are hot women.

The plot, such as it is, revolves around Casey coming to L. A. from Oakland to sort out who killed his brother. He's bent on revenge but he manages to find a lot of time for the ladies, one of whom is none other than Pam Grier.

Casey was a pretty good actor considering he was an ex-NFL player - and he hit all the right notes during the big ''reveal" scene. So did Grier, for that matter.

I don't know whether the director was more competent than most or the budget was higher than usual, but the performances and scenery are wel above average for the genre. I'm surprised this movie isn't more highly regarded.

Disappointing.

[gridoon · 5/10 · 19 March 2002]

Unpleasant revenge melodrama rehashes the storyline of "Get Carter" (only the very last scene is different), but does it with no drive, no zest and no originality. Abundant violence (though the red stuff they use for blood looks NOTHING like blood) and nudity (Pam Grier...yeah....but it's awkward seeing a fine actor like Bernie Casey being promoted as a male sex symbol) should please blaxploitation fans, but it's still a too-routine movie. (**)

Decent entertainment.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 11 September 2014]

This blaxploitation styled second filming of Ted Lewis's novel "Jack's Return Home" - filmed just the previous year as the crime classic "Get Carter" - is an acceptable diversion. It has a good cast playing a variety of seedy characters, and a lot of hip dialogue. It's anchored by the cooler than cool Bernie Casey, the former football player who segued into a respectable career as an actor. It's all familiar enough for those who've seen "Get Carter", although it comes up with some different settings for the action, such as a wildlife preserve and a dog fighting ring.

Casey plays a character named Tyrone Tackett, a tough as nails dude who travels from Oakland to L.A. to investigate the death of his brother Cornell. To do this, he must navigate the criminal underworld, including the adult entertainment business, making the acquaintance of people such as porn star Gozelda (a typically radiant Pam Grier).

"Hit Man" isn't anything special, but it's reasonably fun, with a script written by the movies' director, George Armitage. Produced by Roger Cormans' brother Gene (who was always more of a hands-on producer than his more famous sibling), its soundtrack (music by H.B. Barnum) is as engaging as anything else done for the blaxploitation genre. The cinematography is by future director Andrew Davis, who shot four features for Corman. There is some pretty potent violence near the end as well as a serving of female nudity.

Casey, who has a solid presence on screen, is well supported by Ms. Grier, Sam Laws as used car salesman Sherwood Epps, Candy All as Tyrones' niece Rochelle, Don Diamond as white mobster Nano Zito, Ed Cambridge as porno theatre entrepreneur Theotis Oliver, Roger E. Mosley as muscle man Huey, and Marilyn Joi as the aptly named Rita Biggs. Paul Gleason, a fixture in Armitages' filmography during this time, appears uncredited as a crooked cop.

Casey's Tackett does exhibit some of the same ruthlessness as Michael Caines' Jack Carter, and is overall enjoyable to watch.

Six out of 10.

Get Casey...

[matthewmercy · 3/10 · 25 March 2014]

The first of two remakes of Mike Hodges' seminal 1971 British gangster movie Get Carter, Hit Man (1972) followed very close on the heels of the original; maximising payback on their own property, MGM put another film version of Ted Lewis' original novel into production just a year later, reworking the plot in a B-movie, Blaxploitation format. This adaptation features Bernie Casey in the Michael Caine role of an out-of-town mob enforcer (here called Tyrone Tackett) who travels to another city (in this case Los Angeles replaces Newcastle upon Tyne) to look into the circumstances of his brother's death, and becomes embroiled in a world of drugs, blackmail, and pornography.

Admittedly superior to the Sylvester Stallone abomination that followed in 2000, this still isn't a very good film. Directed by the sometime Hollywood workhorse George Armitage (Grosse Pointe Blank), it is certainly more explicit than the far superior original, with several very bloody scenes of violence (most notably the climactic invasion of the villain's mansion, originally a police raid but which here becomes a machine-gun massacre orchestrated by a rival group of thugs, and the ketchup sure does fly), whilst the sexual aspects are similarly amplified (though it must be stated that, in the porn star / hooker role, a frequently unclothed Pam Grier cuts an infinitely sexier figure than the pill-popping bike played by Geraldine Moffatt). Like most Blaxploitation films, it's quite chronically dated too, with Casey's 'power pimp' wardrobe particularly outrageous, and it is easy to see why it has been accused of excessive stereotyping by some critics. There are a couple of interesting pieces of innovation on the original's storyline (adding a note of ambiguity to the ending is a nice touch, and watch out for Die Hard's Paul Gleason as the assassin), whilst others just seem gratuitous (the method of Grier's exit seems to have been done purely for visceral effect); however, the theme song ("Hit Man, Hit Man, whatcha' gonna do 'bout the situation?") is absolutely dire, the tone is uncertain, the dog-fighting footage toward the start of the film is absolutely reprehensible, and the film's 'black power' pretensions finally irritate. For committed Blaxploitation aficionados only.

Cool blaxploitation revenge outing

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 7 August 2014]

Tough and determined ex-con Tyrone Tackett (a strong and commanding performance by Bernie Casey) infiltrates a sordid Los Angeles criminal underworld so he can exact revenge on the folks who killed his brother. Writer/director George Armitage relates the gripping story at a swift pace, maintains a hard-hitting gritty tone throughout, further spruces things up with inspired touches of dark humor, and presents a vivid depiction of a seamy milieu replete with choice seedy locations and a delightfully degenerate rogues' gallery of colorful lowlife characters. Moreover, Armitage makes a potent and provocative point on how revenge can strip a man of his humanity and reduce him to the level of a scary and savage monster. The fine acting from an on the money cast keeps this movie humming: the ever-foxy Pam Grier as brash porn starlet Gozelda, Lisa Moore as saucy motel proprietor Laural Garfoot, Bhetty Waldron as shifty prostitute Irvelle Way, Sam Laws as amiable used car salesman Sherwood Epps, Candy All as the bitter Rochelle, Don Diamond as slimy mobster Nano Zito, and Ed Cambridge as the irascible Theatis Oliver. Popping up in nifty bits are Marilyn Joi, John Daniels, and Paul Gleason (as a corrupt cop). The abundant tasty gratuitous female nudity provides lots of extra sizzle. H.B. Barnum's funky-chilling score hits the groovy jazzy spot. The sharp cinematography by Andrew Davis rates as another plus. Well worth a watch.

Less than the sum of its parts but still worth watching

[sanderant · 7/10 · 30 June 2007]

It appears Roger Corman's brother Gene had an idea, black films are hot, you can get actors on the cheap and use plots from old crime movies. The results were this movie and a remake of the Asphalt Jungle called Cool Breeze. Now Get Carter wasn't known for having a great plot, more of a character study, so there's not much of a story here. Trying to follow it will only make your head hurt so just look at the scenery, dig the groove and don't worry about the details like the black ninja death squad. If your familiar with Get Carter you can practically see Armitage going through the original dialog "blacking it up". While I'm usually Bernie Casey fan, he's only with the program half the time here, but I'd put the blame on director/writer Armitage as a number of scenes are poorly written, some bordering on ridiculous. That said Casey, who's usually more of a straight man, has some good turns a stone killer. Despite the second billing, "Pamela" Grier only has a small role here, but if your a fan of her looking to see all of her, in her prime, you won't be disappointed. Overall the movie's no hidden gem like Detroit 9000, but if you're a fan of the era/genre like I am, it's well worth watching. It is has decent production values, there's a lot of on location shooting in LA, and enough interesting scenes and characters to make up for the movie's numerous failings. All you have to do is compare this to the Stallone remake to realize how far the low end has fallen, Hit Man hearkens back to an era when even bad films had some value. Maybe Fox will see it's in their interest to release it some day in the interim would be customers will have send our money elsewhere.

Amusing dialog aides predictable plot.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 20 February 2024]

Fun for its nostalgia as far as 70's styles and attitudes, lots of colorful suits on the men and lots of colorful blouses being taken off of the women, particularly Pam Grier. Bernie Casey finds out that his brother's been murdered (to make it appear a suicide), and when he stops by the scene of the car careening over the embankment, gets a cold response about the supposed suicide by the white road construction worker. "That was my brother" he responds, emotions held in, but obviously upset.

I could have done without the gruesome pit bull fighting scene where one is left bleeding and convulsing before it supposedly dies. Casey has some warm scenes with niece Candy All and tense moments with Edmund Cambridge in trying to find out who was responsible. The film has plenty of action and funny wisecracks, but isn't anything different than many revenge based films of the era, and pretty basic blaxploitation.