Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Cissy Évelyne It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

tavm After years of being curious about this film, especially when I first heard James Brown's "Down and Out in New York City" as a kid, I finally just watched Black Caesar on Hulu. Fred Williamson plays a gangster who really seems to resent white people especially a cop (Art Lund) who brutally beat him as a child when that cop found his mob payment was a little short and blamed the kid for taking the rest. That cop would continue to deal with Williamson's character as an adult and...well, I really don't feel like telling the rest of the story but if you're familiar with many of these mob stories then you'll probably be able to predict what happens like I did most of the time. Despite that, I was pretty entertained most of the time and was riveted to see supporting turns by Gloria Hendry, Philip Roye, D'Urville Martin, Minnie Gentry, Julius Harris, and William Wellman Jr. whose father, director William Wellman Sr., had made one of the most famous classic gangster pictures of all: The Public Enemy with James Cagney. Subtle, writer/director Larry Cohen is not but he sure knows how make a low budget movie entertaining. Oh, and I liked how he had one scene play under the marquee of ultimate mob movie: The Godfather.

rokcomx I've only seen a few vintage "blaxploitation" films, so tonight I'm watching Black Caesar (1973), of interest to me because it was written, directed and produced by ol' Larry Cohen, just a couple years before his inexplicable masterpiece God Told Me To, with the outer space Jesus and the vagina on his chest...that Larry, madman with a camera...Right from the start, the music is top notch! Mainly James Brown, but there's also a cool female-fronted song a girl performs while Fred Williamson shoots up a room fulla white folks. Williamson is probably the only good actor in the whole film, but who can read Larry Cohen's dialogue, in any movie, and come off sounding real. All his movies have such cartoony dialogue, but that's part of the charm of his stuff (other than Q and a coupla others just too awful to recall). Most of the characters in Black Caesar are hollow and soul-less anyway, so the junior high acting doesn't distract. Williamson is good enough to make up for the others -I really didn't know what to expect going into it, so it was pretty astonishing to see Williamson smear shoe polish on a guy and make him sing "Mammy"!! A Larry Cohen moment I'll certainly never forget ---Despite all the grindhouse schlock - all of which I love! - there's a solid little story. The scenes with Williamson breaking his mom's heart and then facing off with his neglectful dad shows Cohen was going for more than machine guns and chase scenes. And, again, the music - wow! Even the most incidental bits of background music are smokin', and perfectly suited to the frequent NYC exteriors.So now I've seen three or four blaxploitation flicks, and part of one other, Scream Blackula Scream, which was so bad that it caused me actual pain, so I shut it off...(for some reason, I can't handle anything with VooDoo, it freaks me out with all the animal mutilation and stuff, hence me never seeing Angel Heart, Serpent and the Rainbow, etc).So far, Black Ceasar is the best I've seen of this genre ---

Michael_Elliott Black Caesar (1973) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Classic blaxploitation film has Fred Williamson taking on all the crime bosses trying to make it to the top. However, as we all know, once you're at the top there's only one place left to go. I've heard a lot about this blaxploitation film over the years so I was happy to finally get to see it but in the end there's nothing too original here to keep it highly entertaining throughout. I think the biggest problem is that we've seen this type of gangster story countless times before and this one even borrows from some classic gangster films like Scarface and Angels with Dirty Faces. Those homages are fun but the film starts to wear out in the final half hour, although things do pick up for the exciting ending. Williamson turns in a fine performance in the title role and he really was one of the classics of the genre. His tough talk and cool style fit the genre perfectly and director Cohen really knew how to use him. There's all the typical stuff from this genre including the racist whites, cool talk and this one even features a terrific opening song from James Brown. The best scene in the movie is the one where Williamson confronts his father who left him as a child.

Poseidon-3 When Edward G. Robinson filed "Little Caesar" in 1933, he could never have imagined that fifty-two years later it would be reconfigured as Blaxploitation and become a cult classic in its own right. Williamson stars as a former shoeshine boy who strives to get ahead by shoehorning his way into the formerly all-white organized crime ring. He bullies one of the figureheads into giving him a chance and then uses that chance to springboard into a leadership position of his own, always stomping out anyone in his way and always with an eye on paying back the dirty cop (Lund) who mistreated him as a youth and gave him a limp with which to remember him by. He reaches unheard of heights financially, but, like so many before him, loses the most important things like the respect of his friends and the love of his woman (Hendry.) Williamson has quite a presence as the title character, his tall, athletic build cutting an imposing figure while his sly and slick personality covers the business end of things nicely. Hendry runs hot and cold. Her quieter moments are solid, but anytime she's called upon for heated emotion it all goes way over the top and is histrionic in the extreme. Lund is an exceedingly effective villain. His ruddy face is just begging to be pummeled as he expels nasty remarks and racial epithets. Martin and Roye play Williamson's childhood buddies who aid him as an adult and Harris and Gentry appear as his estranged parents. Wellman, a long way from "Lafayette Escadrille", plays Williamson's shady attorney while former Miss USA Hansen plays his curvy wife. It's a rough and tumble, at times heavily violent, film with lots of politically incorrect language and a dollop or two of brief nudity, which is all to be expected in this genre. What makes it fascinating, despite its obviously low budget, is the filming technique of director Cohen who shot the film in mostly authentic locations with no permits or intensive planning. Thus, when chases occur in the streets or a character wanders bloodily past onlookers, the reactions of the crowd are real! The film is set in various times from the 50's to the 60's, but there isn't a shred of period detail to be found anywhere. There's also some mighty choppy editing at times with scenes lasting mere moments or seemingly coming out of nowhere. It winds up mattering little, however, with all the audacious goings-on. Fans of the genre ought to really enjoy this one, which takes little time to breathe in between shootings, maimings, fisticuffs, chases and any other form of action. There's a great score as well with songs provided by no less than James Brown. Despite the downbeat ending, a sequel was in theaters within a year's time called "Hell Up in Harlem".