After being brutally beaten by a corrupt cop, a black youth on the fringes of organised crime grows up to become a mob hitman, and then the undisputed crime boss of Harlem. The story is interesting and Fred Williamson is good as tough, smart gangster Tommy Gibbs but film is somewhat superficial. Little is seen of Gibbs' criminal empire other than a handful of cronies, and as the 'Godfather of Harlem', Gibbs never radiates the sense power or menace implied by his title. Director Cohen is not particularly adept at action scenes and none of the various fights are very intense or 'realistic' (despite the use of blood packs and squibs) and, perhaps reflecting the budget, the editing is not that good (again in the fight scenes or in the street scenes where bystanders are often obviously looking at the cameras). The ending is great (but was soon undermined by the release of a sequel). Like a lot of contemporaneous 'blaxploitation' films, the soundtrack is excellent and the urban slang, style, and fashion great retro-fun. Not bad, but not a genre classic like 1973's 'Superfly' or 1975's 'Boss N-word' (which also starred Williamson).
Review of Black Caesar
