Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Ossie Davis
Starring: Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, Calvin Lockhart, Judy Pace, Redd Foxx
From: United Artists
Right before this movie left Prime, I decided to check it out & also return to the world of blaxploitation for the first time in way too long. I’ll try to see at least one more in the genre during the month of June but in the meantime here are my thoughts on this early effort… something that should have been watched by me much sooner if only because two of the main characters (who are pretty awesome, BTW) are named Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson.
Believe it or not, they are two Black New York City police officers who get involved with a Macguffin of a bale of cotton (!) and also involved in this tale is a self-professed Reverend known as O’Malley who is raising money for a Back to Africa movement but the duo believe he is a swindler, a phony ripping off poor communities. The fact that he rides around in a Rolls Royce and more than once is seen wearing a CAPE… yep that is enough reason for me to be wary. Jones and Johnson do their own thing, often ignoring their white superiors. Besides the action, political commentary and yes, the good old badass funky music that I dig, this also has plenty of laughs as the comedy typically succeeds.
This is a great look at a Harlem of the past; there is plenty of local flavor to go along with all the memorable characters--roles big or small. There are chuckles, some action scenes, intrigue, double-crosses, “the Syndicate”, a group of militant Blacks, Redd Foxx for a few scenes, and more. This was the first of a few movies that actor Ossie Davis directed in the 70’s before abandoning that line or work. Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques stood out as the awesome duo of Gravedigger and Coffin Ed, respectively-along with Calvin Lockhart as O’Malley. Now, the law enforcement duo did return in 1972’s Come Back, Charleston Blue; while Cambridge and St. Jacques reprised their roles, I hear the movie isn’t as good, perhaps because Davis was not the director of that. In any case Charleston Blue can only be watched online via VHS rip-maybe one day it will finally receive an HD release.
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