The Slams

The Slams (1973)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Jonathan Kaplan

Starring: Jim Brown, Judy Pace, Roland Bob Harris, Frank De Kova, Dick Miller

From: MGM

Here is a movie I literally had never heard of before but saw that it was playing real late this past Friday night on TCM so I decided to record it as the plot sounded interesting and the lead was Jim Brown, which is a good sign already for me. Now, I’ve talked about some of his movies before, both good (Slaughter*) and not so good (The Slip**; if I ever get to see it again I may have to review it again just so I can give a more extensive take on why I didn’t think the movie was as good as others have said. With that sort of cast it should have been awesome and yet it wasn’t at all). Like The Slip this is almost impossible to find as I don’t think it ever got a VHS release, let alone DVD, as amazing as it sounds in this day and age.

* http://blairreviewsmovies.blogspot.com/2011/05/slaughter.html

** http://blairreviewsmovies.blogspot.com/2009/08/split.html

The plot, I’ll lift from the IMDb, as it’s concise and explains things rather well: “After a heist Curtis Hook (Jim Brown) is caught by the police. In jail various people want to know where he stashed the loot. But the places where he stashed the loot ($1.500.000) will be demolished so he has to get out of jail to get to the dough.” That is indeed what happens, but let me elaborate a bit.

The movie starts off and you see the heist take place. It involves going to an oil field and the way that the gang wipes out the people guarding the money (and the heroin, which was part of the deal that Jim Brown did not know about) involves the exhaust pipe of a 60’s Ford Econoline and cyanide! Rather inventive, I say. The fit hits the shan and only Brown remains alive, but he ends up in jail, i.e. The Slams. That’s a term I’ve never heard of before to describe the slammer. He meets up with various characters there, all of whom know that he knows where the cash is located. The usual clichés are shown, from cliques to corrupt prison wardens, from racism to prisoners who get special treatment.

I’ll say that the first 10 or so minutes and the final 20 are rather entertaining. I won’t spoil what happens at the end, but for me the middle hour isn’t as strong. It feels like at times that the wheels are spinning in that there’s stalling in order to fill up time. Still, overall the movie is decent and fine. I just don’t think it’s worth spending a whole lot of effort to try and track down given how aside from it appearing on TCM it’s pretty much impossible to find.

Oh, and you get to see Ted Cassidy (i.e. Lurch from the original Addams Family TV show of the 60’s) without makeup. He’s an interesting-looking dude. I’m not poking fun at him, though. Sure, he passed away in ’79 but I still mean no disrespect. Plus, I’m sure he was a gentle giant, all six feet nine of him.

One last thing: HA at TCM rating the movie TV-14. There’s plenty of racial slurs and some homophobic ones too. You see some violence, along with some F bombs and MF bombs too. Oh, and the one scene with several ladies topless. I think the full movie wasn’t watched before it was rated.

I’ll be back Friday night (i.e. maybe Saturday morning) with a new review.