As might be inferred from its name, this is a comedy, or was meant to be. Unfortunately it isn't that funny, even for those of us who have some familiarity with the nuances of urban black life in the America of this time, if only from similar films."Cotton Comes To Harlem" is also a thriller, and it would have made better viewing if this aspect had been played up, which would have entailed playing down the comic book violence. The bottom line is that $87,000 is stolen in a blatant robbery, and law enforcement including two black detectives turn Harlem upside down in pursuit of it. That sum was worth considerably more then than in today's money, but not so much this was the Great Train Robbery of New York State. The cotton reference is not an allusion to de old plantation but to the stolen money somehow ending up in a bale of cotton.One of the detectives is played by Godfrey Cambridge who just six years later was dead from a heart attack at just 43. This film does not make a good epitaph for him or for anyone else.

Although Shaft/Sweet Sweetback are usually credited as the blaxploitation movies that kickstarted the funky genre, Cotton Comes to Harlem from one year earlier deserves that honour. A suitably entertaining action/comedy romp that has a great first half hour which it never quite manages to equal again. Of note is that the villain is a black corrupt preacher type and not whitey. Ossie Davis combines some great lines with cool music, some nice location shots of Harlem that add an air of guerilla authenticity, a freewheeling car chase, a junkyard shootout and good ole fisticuffs. It's never boring but some scenes are better than others, as if two different movies (one good, one average) are duking it out and the result is a draw.

This is one of the funniest movies of the early 1970's. The story, the acting as well as the characters helped to make this a great film. In many ways this film was a preview of things to come due to the fact that the very next year with the premier of Shaft, the era of the "blaxploitation" film would begin. Also, you have to wonder if the team who created the Lethal Weapon series were somewhat inspired by this due to the fact that characters of Gravedigger and Coffin are somewhat reminiscent of Briggs and Murtaugh from that series. However, the thing that really made this fun was the brief appearance of Redd Foxx playing a character that was not dissimilar from the character that would earn him his biggest fame, Fred Sanford. This is definitely a lost classic.

I agree with those that say this was an entertaining movie. Of the blaxploitation films, this was the more classier. Fine acting from Cambridge, Lockhart, and others. Ossie Davis direction very good.