This is a really really terrific blaxploitation movie made in 1975. It's a really low down and dirty, gritty drama, just the way they should be. The acting is way above par, great story, great direction, and the whole movie looks good. It holds your interest for the entire movie. It has some of the best, most realistic fight sequences I have ever seen, plus, it has Pam Grier in it!
The movie's star is Fred Williamson, who really turns in a great performance. Pam Grier plays a supporting role and it's some of her best acting. The other starring actor is a guy named Thalmus Rasulala, who is terrific.
The story line goes something like this:
Duke (played by Fred Williamson) comes to a town to bury his brother who died. His brother owned a bar called The Alabama. This particular town is a mini, sleazy, version of Vegas (the actual city used for the filming seems to be Kansas City, Mossouri,) a town that attracts low rent tourists because of its gambling and prostitution. It's going to take a while for Duke to settle his brother's estate, so he hangs around town and reopens his brother's bar. After two of the town's cops come in and expect a percentage of the proceeds from the bar's receipts, he realizes that the entire town is run by a corrupt, white, police force. He won't stand for it, so he calls in his big city friend Roy (Thalmus Rasulala) to come to town with some thugs to kick some ***. The crew comes to town and they make short work of the brutal white police force. Duke is quite grateful for the help.
However, when his friend Roy realizes how much money the police were extorting from the town, he realizes that he fell into a gold mine. Instead of going back to the big city that the thugs came from, they install themselves as the new police force in town and extort even more money and are more brutal than the white police force that they eliminated. This doesn't make Duke happy, especially when his friend Roy's thugs start harassing his friends and his new girlfriend (Pam Grier). Finally, Duke gets the fed up with it, and has to turn on his friend Roy and put an end to it.
There's only one of him and a bunch of thugs to conquer, so he steals a tank and crashes through the police station where the thugs are camped out. He eliminates the thugs single-handedly and then "dukes" it out with his friend Roy in a spectacular fight sequence. And, yes, Pam Grier gets nude once.
Highly recommended.
The movie's star is Fred Williamson, who really turns in a great performance. Pam Grier plays a supporting role and it's some of her best acting. The other starring actor is a guy named Thalmus Rasulala, who is terrific.
The story line goes something like this:
Duke (played by Fred Williamson) comes to a town to bury his brother who died. His brother owned a bar called The Alabama. This particular town is a mini, sleazy, version of Vegas (the actual city used for the filming seems to be Kansas City, Mossouri,) a town that attracts low rent tourists because of its gambling and prostitution. It's going to take a while for Duke to settle his brother's estate, so he hangs around town and reopens his brother's bar. After two of the town's cops come in and expect a percentage of the proceeds from the bar's receipts, he realizes that the entire town is run by a corrupt, white, police force. He won't stand for it, so he calls in his big city friend Roy (Thalmus Rasulala) to come to town with some thugs to kick some ***. The crew comes to town and they make short work of the brutal white police force. Duke is quite grateful for the help.
However, when his friend Roy realizes how much money the police were extorting from the town, he realizes that he fell into a gold mine. Instead of going back to the big city that the thugs came from, they install themselves as the new police force in town and extort even more money and are more brutal than the white police force that they eliminated. This doesn't make Duke happy, especially when his friend Roy's thugs start harassing his friends and his new girlfriend (Pam Grier). Finally, Duke gets the fed up with it, and has to turn on his friend Roy and put an end to it.
There's only one of him and a bunch of thugs to conquer, so he steals a tank and crashes through the police station where the thugs are camped out. He eliminates the thugs single-handedly and then "dukes" it out with his friend Roy in a spectacular fight sequence. And, yes, Pam Grier gets nude once.
Highly recommended.