Gordon's War (1973)

Director:

Ossie Davis

Writers:

Howard Friedlander (writer)
Ed Spielman (writer)

Release Date:

16 May 1974 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

Four Vietnam Vets go to war against the drug dealers and pimps of Harlem.

Plot Keywords:

Blaxploitation

Cast

Paul Winfield	...	Gordon Hudson
Carl Lee	...	Bee Bishop
David Downing	...	Otis Russell
Tony King	...	Roy Green
Gilbert Lewis	...	Spanish Harry
Carl Gordon	...	Luther the Pimp
Nathan C. Heard	...	Big Pink
Grace Jones	...	Mary
Jackie Page	...	Bedroom Girl
Chuck Bergansky	...	Caucasian killer (as Charles Bergansky)
Adam Wade	...	Hustler
Hansford Rowe	...	Dog Salesman
Warren Taurien	...	Goose
Ralph Wilcox	...	Black hit man
David Connell	...	Hotel Proprieter

Runtime:

90 min | Germany:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1973) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Palomar Pictures

Goofs:

Factual errors: Gordon's U.S. Army uniform has no name tag, no combat patch on his right shoulder, and his beret is tilted to the wrong side.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Toute une vie (1974)

Soundtrack:

Come on and Dream Some Paradise

Black Action At Its Finest!

As I sit hear listening to "Love Bug" by Tower of Power, I can't help but reflect on the similarly funky and action-packed score for this severely overlooked 70s action gem. I lost the album, which featured an angry Paul Winfield smashing a drug syringe (his shoe magnified to appear as big as one of those guns shoved into the foreground of any number of post-1990 crime thriller placards) but the band who "funked" the music to this movie was leagues ahead of Isaac Hayes. I say forego "Shaft" or even the 1,000,000 Fred Williamson offerings, and find this sucker...if you can. It's got extraordinary, "French Connection"-style locations, great performances, mean-spirited but cathartic violence, and action scenes (one including an escaping car with its rear axle tied down) ending with a crazy, high-speed motorcycle chase along the N.Y.C. docks that make watching some boring-ass Jim Brown "Slaughter" film or Billy Dee Williams in "Hit" appear as exciting as watching "Mrs. Doubtfire" with a room full of old people. I consider this and "Across 110th Street" as two of the genre's best. And don't forget, the best music to serenade a black Vietnam vet carrying a machine-gun yet.