Hell Up In Harlem poster & wallpaper

D'Urville Martin, Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry

Fred Williamson returns as Tommy Gibbs, the self-styled Godfather of Harlem in Larry Cohen's quickly made sequel to the low-budget Black Caesar. The film opens with a different perspective on t...( read more  read more... )he finale from the earlier film, this time with Gibbs surviving an assassination attempt with the help of his estranged father (Julius Harris), who becomes Tommy's new chief lieutenant in his rebuilt organization. Tommy takes his revenge on those who set him up but faces a new threat from within as the corrupt DA partners with an ambitious gang member to take Tommy down. It's not going to be as easy as they think. Shooting on NYC streets and locations, Cohen punches up the slim rise-and-fall/revenge story line with gritty action, a driving pace, and edgy, always-on-the-move, hand-held camera work. The production feels rushed at times and the performances don't have the energy of the previous film, but Cohen doesn't give you much time to think about it with his speeding plot and machine-gun editing, moved along nicely with help from Edwin Starr's funky score. --Sean Axmaker

Flixster Users

52% liked it

1,445 ratings

R, 94 min.

Directed by: Larry Cohen

Release Date: January 1, 1973

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: October 16, 2001

Get It:

Stats: 62 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

Hell Up In Harlem
Upload a Photo |

View All Hell Up In Harlem Photos (1)

Your Rating


clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (62)

  • stopitgoaway
    October 16, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    I loved Larry Cohen and Fred Williamson's previous collaboration 'Black Caesar', one of the toughest and most enjoyable movies of the early 70s blaxploitation boom. That movie was a great success and in the rush to cash in with a sequel something was lost. Cohen was shooting his ...( read more)killer baby classic 'It's Alive' at the same time Williamson was making 'That Man Bolt', yet they still attempted to make 'Hell Up In Harlem' simultaneously! Cohen's script is weaker this time around and the emphasis is on fights (fists and guns) over character development and story. The movie is more of an action film than a crime drama and therefore much less interesting to me. Williamson is still a powerhouse, but the movie as a whole fails to satisfy. Gloria Hendry ('Black Belt Jones') and D'Urville Martin ('Dolemite') both return from the first movie but aren't required to do all that much. You could even call their roles cameos and not be far wrong. Julius Harris ('Superfly') also returns as Williamson's father, but this time round he has a much larger role, and almost carries the first third of the movie all by himself. The film directly follows on from 'Black Caesar' with Tommy Gibbs (Williamson) recovering from a near fatal gunshot wound. He relies upon his Pop to keep things together, and this enables Harris to blossom from a middle aged straight citizen into a cool dressing killing machine almost overnight! This is one of the most entertaining things about the whole movie, but not enough to stop it from being a disappointment. Even the score this time round is inferior, with no James Brown content. I think this movie was too rushed and suffers for it. It has its moments but isn't a patch on 'Black Caesar'. I've noticed that quite a few blaxploitation classics fail to deliver with their sequels (I'm especially thinking of 'Foxy Brown', Jack Hill's weak follow up to his sensational 'Coffy'). I wonder why that was? Greed perhaps, or lack of faith in the material, I don't know. Anyway, 'Hell Up In Harlem' is okay, but it could have been, SHOULD have been a lot better! 'Black Caesar' is still brilliant though, don't miss that one.
  • megtribe
    October 7, 2009
    megtribe
    Black Caeser was great fun and I think I enjoyed it a bit more than Hell Up In Harlem to be honest but I still found this flick to be watchable and entertaining. I love the music by Edwin Starr and I am also usually inclined to judge a blaxploitation film on the music score in it...( read more) (still enjoy Curtis Mayfield more than Edwin Starr I must say) but this film was a great followup and I love any shots of New York City during the seventies.
  • beher221
    July 11, 2009
    beher221
    I love this movie. I have the DVD, the VHS, it's on my TIVO. I love it, this movie and it's Predecessor (Black Caesar) are so good that when I first watched the movies I called myself Tommy Gibbs(lol). BUY THIS MOVIE!
  • funky4corners
    June 26, 2009
    funky4corners
    Crackin follow up to Black Ceasar. Great music from Edwin Star
  • blunt100801
    August 6, 2008
    blunt100801
    Classic blaxploitation movie, early Fred Williamson at its' very best
  • barelygotout
    April 1, 2008
    barelygotout
    Why did I record this?
  • TRIIP
    March 19, 2007
    TRIIP
    There's Still Hell Up In Harlem!
    He is so sexy!

View All Hell Up In Harlem Reviews

Critic Reviews

No recent reviews.

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Hell Up In Harlem" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Hell Up In Harlem : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Hell Up In Harlem. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Hell Up In Harlem to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?