Gordon's War, Revisited

I watched this movie last night; it was reviewed here 15 (!) years ago but this new review was posted on Letterboxd a little earlier: 

An obscure blaxploitation picture I was happy to revisit for the first time in 15 years. It’s still a shame that the film never made it past the DVD era & the only way to track it down is now incredibly rare showings on the Fox Movie Channel or a YouTube rip; that’s how last night’s viewing came about. Awhile back, someone I know online mentioned the movie elsewhere-about time I finish that discussion.

Paul Winfield (the main reason I first checked this out) is a soldier returning from the Vietnam War; his girl OD’ed from heroin, and he is quite upset that Harlem has been ruined by pimps & drug dealers. He meets a trio of buddies who were also former soldiers and they systematically come down hard on those scumbags via a series of steps with military precision. That’s as complicated as the plot becomes—sometimes you don’t need complex, thought-provoking cinema; instead, the visceral thrill of brutal revenge on sleazy criminals is all you need to be satisfied. A background of The Bad New York City of Old is only icing on the cake. 

Only some genre efforts were directed by someone Black; this was the case here w/ famed actor Ossie Davis. He only had a few directing credits but between this and Cotton Comes to Harlem (even better) he could have had a fine career in this role as well. War always intrigues between the strategy of our heroes, the genre trappings-funky score, clothing, slang, OOT personalities, etc.-a nice vehicle chase and a great moment involving an aerosol can.

While a better physical media release will hopefully occur one day, not every obscure movie even has the luxury of a YouTube upload which looks rather good for a 480p stream. Winfield is the highlight acting-wise but the rest of the cast was fine. There’s even Grace Jones for a scene, although her role was of the stereotypical sort. Even a more “serious” blaxploitation like this can still be a blast.