"Black Caesar" was one of the most successful black themed entries during the blaxploitation era of the 1970s, successful enough to produce a sequel. Seen today, it's both interesting and entertaining, though it does have some problems. Writer/director Larry Cohen was obviously working with a low budget, which does give some sequences a skimpy feeling. Also, the movie often moves all over the place, with key characters suddenly appearing (or disappearing for long stretches), and scenes seemingly missing here and there. Fortunately, the movie is still watchable. The performances are good, with Fred Williamson taking command in all of his scenes. Interestingly, whether you are white or black (or some other race), more likely than not you'll be surprised that Cohen doesn't make Williamson's character terribly likable or sympathetic. Despite this, chances are you'll keep watching because you'll be curious about what this character's ultimate fate will be. While the movie may not be the best blaxploitation effort made, it is a very watchable one despite its crude touches.

Writer & director Larry Cohen chronicles the rise of an urban, African-American youth to the position of a New York City crime boss. This is a prime example of a Blaxploitation crime thriller with our hero Fred Williamson comes up the ranks from being a lowly shoeshine boy to a top metropolitan mobster. This 1973 actioneer contains nudity, profanity, blood, and violence. Several individuals die in this R-rated epic. Williamson is good as the protagonist who pulls himself up by his own boot straps and becomes the number one crime boss in New York City. Cohen doesn't let our hero off the hooks. Gloria Hendry, John Larch, D'Urville Martin and Julius Harris co-star. Cohen's mobster movie clocks in at 94 minutes without a shred of too much or too little. John Larch makes a convincing corrupt NYPD cop.

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.

Movie starts out in 1953 where we see young black Tommy Gibbs doing jobs for the mob. He starts developing his own little gang. As he gets older (and becomes Fred Williamson) he works his way into the white mob--even though they don't want "ni**ers" (as they say throughout the film). Then he steals some damaging ledgers and uses it to run crime in the city, help black people and keep the evil white people at bay. But the white guys in the mob aren't about to give up...Perhaps I'm not the best person to review a Larry Cohen movie--he's the producer, writer and director of this. I've never liked any of his movies and he makes really bad low budget films (unlike Roger Corman who makes good ones). This one is full of goofs--I love it when you hear a baby crying on the soundtrack but you can clearly see that the baby isn't making a sound! This is full of bad dialogue and has a very predictable script. This is the type of gangster film Hollywood was making in the 1930s--it's just done with black characters now. The movie also contains plenty of swearing and some pretty graphic bloody violence. Also I can't think of any film I've ever seen that has such a negative view of women--they're either vicious witches, use sex to get what they want or are slapped around left and right. It doesn't help at all that Gloria Hendry (the main victim) gives a terrible performance.To be truthful I was struggling to stay awake. The bursts of violence helped and Williamson is tall, handsome and pretty good in the title role. But the technical goofs (there are plenty) and the by the numbers story got annoying. Poorly made on a low budget. Check out "Foxy Brown", "Coffy" or "Blacula" for a good blaxploitation film.