Slaughter

Slaughter (1972)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Jack Starrett

Starring: Jim Brown, Stella Stevens, Rip Torn, Cameron Mitchell, Don Gordon

From: AIP

So, apologies for this going up a little later than I had planned, but I had to take care of something else first. It was minor, but it still had to be done. Now, the past few days have been even busier than anticipated when it comes to watching movies, as I’ve watched quite a few the past few days. Most of them I think I’ll talk about in one big post where I say a few brief things about each one, but I picked this one out to talk about as there’s some enough material for me to talk about. First off, it’s nice to watch another blaxploitation film as I haven’t seen as many as I’d like to.

Now, this one is a little different, as much of it takes place in Mexico (where it in fact was filmed) but it’s still a very entertaining entry into that genre due to the amount of exciting action it has and frequent humor, both intentional and unintentional. First off, I have to mention that if you’ve seen Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds film and remember the awesome guitar riff that introduced the montage to Hugo Stiglitz, you should know that it wasn’t a modern guitar riff but rather one that began the title song for this film, done by the great Billy Preston. It also made for great opening credits for the movie. Besides the great guitar opening, the entire song is pretty awesome in that funky 70’s way.

The first 10 or 15 minutes are pretty wild, with the parents of former Green Beret Slaughter (Brown; but of course he’d have a character surname like that) getting blown up via a car bomb, Slaughter going to his apartment, shoots up the bathroom after hearing someone in there, only to discover it’s a girl who at the time claimed was a groupie. He calls her a bitch and throws her out naked! Then, he finds some of the people involved for killing his parents and he engages in a car vs. personal airplane contest. He gets in trouble with the Feds (led by Mitchell) and he ends up working for them in order to help them get “The Syndicate” in Mexico.

Yes, that was all in the beginning of the movie.

After that, things calm down, but he is (reluctantly) partnered up with Harry (Gordon) as they try to get to the bottom of the Mob’s usage of… a computer. Of course, at that time, a giant machine, but still progressive for ’72. But that’s secondary to his interaction with two characters, Dominic (Torn; he proves that even back this far, he still had bad hair) and his reluctant lady pal, Ann (Stevens; much to my surprise, she looked rather nice in a bikini back in this time period). From there, you have a lot of fist fights, gunplay, intrigue, and even a nice car chase. It’s all great entertainment and it’s never boring. I am glad I was able to see it on MGMHD on Sunday. If you enjoy this genre and haven’t seen this, I would say it’s a must to track down.

I haven’t seen its sequel, Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, but I understand it’s lesser than this. Still, I’d like to see it, as the villain is… Ed McMahon. Yes, THAT Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s sidekick, who I understand plays a “tail-chasing crack hustler”, and I *have* to see the host of Star Search and pitchman for American Family Publishers playing a lecherous drug dealer!

I’ll be back Wednesday night and I’ll hopefully be more punctual.