Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

nzibari-42-383922 First things first, I have to acknowledge that this movie was a very modest production, even in comparison to other blaxploitation movies. Watching this movie might make you appreciate how much effort goes into shooting and editing them into a watchable movie since so much goes wrong in this one. Really bad sets, lighting problems, audio going between too loud and too soft, and much more are all over this movie. One thing working in its favor is that unlike some other low-budget blaxploitation movies, you don't see the boom mic slip into shots as much. Though that may be because that the crew didn't use one for many shots. Anyways, the story is pretty straight forward. Al Connors/The Guy (played by Loye Hawkins) is a private detective in Miami whose only distinguishing feature is being from Harlem. In the movie we really don't see anything extraordinary he does, and even the fights he gets into aren't anything to show his prowess. There are two different cases The Guy handles in the movie. The cases don't seem to relate to each other and it almost appears as if we got two different plots merged into one. The movie starts with a woman being harassed by a mook or something. Then it abruptly cuts to The Guy driving around town with a really funky intro as he drives to his office. Unfortunately the rest of the movie doesn't hold up to the intro's funk. The first case has The Guy get requested by some G-Men to run protection for a visiting African princess, which I suppose is to establish that The Guy is so badass that even the government goes to him for help. Anyways, he foils a kidnapping attempt (or was it assassination?) while she was getting a massage, and scores with the princess. Unfortunately it's no where near as exciting as that may sound and their intimate scene comes off as bizarre more than anything.The second case has The Guy receive a crime boss who informs The Guy that his daughter has been kidnapped (the one who was shown at the beginning), and he needs The Guy to rescue her. So I guess half-way through the movie they decided to go full Shaft here. Also, the crime boss actor is yelling his lines the whole time which adds some unintentional humor.Anyways, without getting too bogged down on details The Guy uses his sleuth powers in a gym to find out some hick gang is holding the mob boss's daughter in a cabin. There are some sequences leading up to this involving The Guy using his martial arts skills to defeat the mooks as he gets to the cabin. The fights are done so poorly but I can't do it justice with words, it's something you need to see. After some more nonsense after rescuing the crime boss's daughter (who like the princess he manages to seduce as well), The Guy has a meeting with the mook gang, which includes the man he met in the gym. After their ambush on The Guy goes bad thanks to help from the crime boss's men, The Guy and Gym guy have a lame duel which the crime boss's men and the one of the remaining hicks watch. The Guy demonstrates his martial arts prowess again by knocking the Gym Guy down and then choking him to death. The remaining hick tries to make a run for it then and kicks one of the crime boss's men, and he's rewarded by being shot down in the back as he runs away. So I guess all's well that ends well for The Guy.Some honorary mentions... -The Guy's secretary, who somehow managed to have more character than The Guy with her sass when getting hit on by the crime boss's mooks -The Guy's (former?) girlfriend whose apartment he crashes in to seduce the princess and the crime boss's daughter I've rated this movie low but don't think that there's nothing worth watching here. This is one of those that's great to watch with friends to make fun of and just go with the flow of crappiness here. There are some dull stretches in the movie but not enough to completely ruin things.

Rainey Dawn I got this movie in the Drive-in 50-pack collection. It's a filler film that is complete garbage. It's a blaxploitation film about a kidnapping but more like soft-core porn-garbage. I agree with another reviewer that the film should have been left for the porn-racket instead of trying to pass this off as an action crime-drama.Z-rating all the way. Bad acting, pitiful story, and nudity. A crappy excuse to put boobs and soft-core porn in to a blaxploitation film.This is worse than the bottom of the barrel, the film is buried deep under where the barrel is sitting.THIS is the world's worst film, if it isn't then it's in the top 10 ten list. Why Mill Creek decided to put this rubbish in the Drive-in 50-pack is beyond me. This is not the kind of film that should be circulated but should be burned the garbage pile.1/10

stevenfallonnyc I've never heard of "The Guy From Harlem" until I saw it listed here at the IMDb. I like blaxploitation so upon seeing the title and year it was made, checked out some reviews here. Needless to say, I had to watch this thing immediately after reading these reviews.And they are all true. No one is exaggerating. "The Guy from Harlem" IS every bit as bad as people here at the IMDb say it is. I have no idea why this classic isn't spoken about when people talk about the worst films ever made, just a bad break I guess.This is basically a feature-length home movie from 1977. The acting - if you want to call it that - is beyond horrendous. Lines are stuttered and the "actors" are unbelievably wooden and fake. NO ONE acts natural. But they give it their all which is part of the fun! The lead actor who plays the title role is a smooth-talking suave Shaft wanna-be private eye, who gets involved with solving a few related cases that also involve saving a few pretty girls in succession. Of course, even though he is warned not to hit on the girls, Mr. Smooth lays his smooth moves the second he is alone with each of them. No ebonics for him - he speaks extremely eloquently as he charms the girls he is saving out of their clothes. He is so smooth he even hides them out at the apartment of some other girl he knows.The fight scenes must be seen to be believed. They are the most fake fight scenes you have ever seen. At one point after the very skinny lead guy beats up a bunch of toughs, he actually even refers to himself as the title role as he says "Tell him the guy from Harlem sent you!" The camera rarely moves and often it just films long shots as if you are watching a play. A very bad play. And yep, incredibly, unbelievably, there are two scenes that are actually done TWICE each, repeated one after the other. You actually see the actors stumble through the same set of lines twice. Did they just have money for two re-shoots? And one double-scene would be bad enough - but two?? It's incredible.ENDING SPOILER! The big finale ends and everyone can go home. But wait, not so fast! The very big, mean and muscular bad guy challenges our skinny Mr. Smooth to a fight. And he accepts! And our skinny hero from Harlem WINS! And then it seems our Guy from Harlem, who sleeps with any female who crosses his path, is going to get married! To a girl he just met! And the whole flick is that logical. The bottom line is, if you like bad movies, this is a film that truly must be seen.

rfanning I saw this movie almost 30 years ago, shortly after I participated in the filming of it. I don't remember much, but I remember thinking it was pretty good considering it was done with amateurs and almost no budget! But everything is relative, and given the choice today, I would have to say that the only reason I would watch it again is because my name is in the credits. The real life scenes that occurred during the filming of it were definitely more interesting than the movie itself. I did enjoy some of the soundtrack which was written and performed by professionals, a local Miami band called "Brand New". PS The leading lady may not win an Oscar, but she could definitely win an award for her voice!