Art Lund, Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry

Shot on the streets of New York, writer-director Larry Cohen captures the bustle and color of the city in this violent, low-budget crime film. Ambitious Tommy Gibbs (a swaggering, self-confident Fred...( read more  read more... ) Williamson) has risen from shoeshine boy to Harlem crime lord, but he wants a bigger piece of the pot. With a racist, high-ranking cop (Art Lund) in his pocket, he begins his expansion with a bloody takeover bid but finds himself betrayed from within and the target of both the cops and the mob. Cohen invests this fast-paced tale (partially inspired by the 1930 gangster classic Little Caesar with a touch of Scarface) with colorful characters (notably a hustling religious leader played by D'Urville Martin), high energy, and a scruffy style. Black Caesar is one of the most entertaining movies to come from the 1970s explosion of low-budget black cast genre pictures, more commonly known as "blaxploitation" films. --Sean Axmaker

Flixster Users

60% liked it

2,336 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

10 critics

R, 92 min.

Directed by: Larry Cohen

Release Date: February 7, 1973

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DVD Release Date: January 9, 2001

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Stats: 109 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (109)


  • October 16, 2009
    This film is great. Immortalised by Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube on "Burn Hollywood, Burn" from the Fear Of A Black Planet LP, as soon as I heard Driving Miss Daisy being rejected for Black Caesar (listen to the track, you'll understand) I knew that I had to see this...( read more) film. After all, if it's good for three of my favourite rap artists then it's good enough for me, right?

    So I saw a copy in Bedford while I was doing my teacher training course, and me and my mate Jai went back to the place we were staying at and watched it. I was spellbound - it is one of the best Black aimed films that I own! (I don't like the term 'Blaxploitation'. Have you noticed that there doesn't seem to be an official 'Whitesploitation' genre?)

    OOH ARR BOOOYEEEE, SPOILERS BEEEEELOW.

    Anyway, for those that are interested in a review of the film rather than my personal beliefs, the film concerns Tommy Gibbs, a Black gangster who gets a job for the local Mob after a nifty killing in a barber shop. (This comes after an excellent beginning that sees him assist in the murder of a gangster in the middle of a crowded street.) It charts his rise and fall... much in the manner of Scarface (either version). As Larry Cohen says in his DVD commentary, it's more of a Black version of the old 1940s gangster films than it is a straight up exploitation piece like Slaughter or Black Gunn. I won't go into much detail as I urge you all to watch it, but I might add a couple of trivial points: you should watch it back to back with the sequel - Hell Up In Harlem. If you do, though, bear in mind that the print that survives has a substantially different ending. I say no more.

    Watch this film - it is truly a classic.
  • September 14, 2006
    One of the best of this genre.
  • January 4, 2008
    Fred Williamson is one of the best actors of the Blaxploitation era, and his performance here is on par with his other work.

    As a spin-off film, taking previously made plots and story hooks, and incorporating all-black casts for marketability, the film is a success, drawing nice...( read more)ly on mob and crime films of the era. As anything but Blaxploitation, the film adds nothing new to the easily-executed crime genre. Standard and forgettable when taken out of its niche.
  • June 26, 2009
    Great film of the 70s .. great perfomance from Fred Williamson. Best soundtract ever made .. by James Brown of course
  • February 12, 2009
    A really well-conceived tale of the rise of Tommy from shoe-shine boy to crime lord and how it effects those around himi.

    It's been done with bigger budgets and bigger name actors, but Larry Cohen's low budget down and dirty New York really has a charm all its own.

    Recommended.
  • December 7, 2008
    Very Good Movie. A Ghetto Classic ! Perhaps Fred Williamson's best. Unlike most films of the blackploitation era, this one has a great storyline and real ending.
  • March 27, 2008
    cody would love this! best bit, is the qoute... "if only you knew how to fight joe, you could of owed this city and everybody in it."
  • January 10, 2008
    Blaxploitation classic as Fred The Hammer Williamson (starting as a shine boy to bad-mother) battles for mob territory and against ruthless cracker Art Lund. Followed by Hell up in Harlem but doesn't transpire seamlessly
  • August 7, 2007
    Utterly useless. Looks even less professional than Hercules in New York and that's saying something. Why this was deemed worthy of a DVD release remains a mystery.
  • July 5, 2007
    Really fun blaxpoitation flick.

Critic Reviews


January 19, 2006
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Suffused with socio-political resentment and enlivened by James Brown's classic soul-funk soundtrack. full review

View more Black Caesar reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • suprabuddha
    July 25, 2008
    The best of the so called "blaxploitation" films stands the test of time as it foreshadows the style used by Quentin Tarrentino in the much vaunted Resevoir Dogs.

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