The Black Godfather (1974) (Blu-ray Review)
DIRECTED BY: John Evans
STARRING: Damu King, Diane Sommerfield, Don Chastain
RATED: UR/Region: O/1:85/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1 (BDr)
AVAILABLE FROM Leomark Studios
There are plenty of blaxploitation movies where the title pretty much tells you everything you need to know. The Black Godfather is certainly not interested in keeping us guessing.
Directed by John Evans in 1974, this one follows J.J., a rising crime boss who’s busy consolidating his power in the neighborhood while trying to push a heroin cartel out of the area. Naturally, the cartel isn’t particularly interested in giving up its lucrative little business, so what follows is the usual combination of threats, violence, crooked cops, revenge, and enough people talking about how dangerous the coming street war is that you start wondering when the damn street war is actually going to show up.
And that’s probably the biggest problem with The Black Godfather.
This movie really likes to talk about action.
It’s constantly telling us that things are about to explode, that somebody is going to get killed, that the neighborhood is heading toward an all-out war… and then everybody sits down and has another conversation about it.
It’s like watching a trailer for a much more exciting movie.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a decent story buried underneath all the talking. J.J. isn’t your typical drug kingpin because he’s actually trying to keep heroin out of his neighborhood, which creates the interesting question of whether he’s really trying to help the community or simply wants to be the guy controlling everything himself. That’s a pretty good wrinkle for a movie like this, even if the screenplay doesn’t explore it nearly as deeply as it could have.
Rod Perry is solid as J.J., and there’s a good supporting cast around him, including Jimmy Witherspoon, Damu King, Duncan McLeod, and Don Chastain. Chastain’s Tony Burton makes for a suitably slimy villain, while McLeod’s crooked cop is probably one of the more interesting characters because he’s perfectly happy playing both sides as long as somebody keeps putting money in his pocket.
And then you’ve got the title.
The Black Godfather.
Subtle? No.
Does it make you immediately expect a guy in a nice suit to sit behind a desk while people come in asking him for favors?
Absolutely.
The movie was clearly riding the blaxploitation wave of the early ’70s, but Evans seems to have wanted to make something a little more substantive than a nonstop shoot-’em-up. That’s admirable, but unfortunately he sometimes forgets that if you call your movie The Black Godfather, people are probably showing up hoping to see some motherfuckers get shot.
And eventually, they do.
Just… please be patient.
The film has some decent action when it finally gets around to it, and the performances are actually better than you might expect from a movie that occasionally feels like it’s trying to turn an exploitation picture into a community meeting. Even contemporary criticism noted that Evans was attempting something less violent and more substantive than the usual black action picture, though the slow pacing kept it from really breaking out of the pack.
That’s The Black Godfather in a nutshell: good intentions, decent cast, interesting ideas, but somebody forgot to put the pedal down.
It’s certainly not a bad movie. It’s just not nearly as exciting as its title promises. If you’re going into it expecting another balls-to-the-wall blaxploitation classic, you might spend a good portion of the runtime checking the clock and wondering if somebody misplaced the action scenes.
But if you’re into ’70s crime movies and enjoy digging through the less celebrated corners of the blaxploitation era, there’s enough here to make it worthwhile. The movie has personality, some solid characters, a funky early-’70s atmosphere, and just enough action to remind you that yes, this is indeed supposed to be a crime movie and not a very long neighborhood association meeting.
The Black Godfather may not be the baddest gangster movie in town, but at least J.J. has his priorities straight.
Get rid of the heroin dealers.
Take over the neighborhood.
And, apparently, schedule several lengthy meetings to discuss how you’re going to do it.
Because nothing says “crime boss” quite like having a very detailed conversation about the upcoming ass-kicking before actually getting around to the ass-kicking.
