HELL UP IN HARLEM (1973)
Director: Larry Cohen
MGM

Larry Cohen's BLACK CAESAR was a big hit for AIP, so the studio requested an immediate sequel. Made and released the same year as its predecessor, HELL UP IN HARLEM brings back the character of Tommy Gibbs, the "Godfather of Harlem," played by the charismatic Fred Williamson. In the American release of BLACK CAESAR, Gibbs dies at the end after being shot and then assaulted by a young gang. Gibbs lives only in the home video version and the foreign theatrical version, so it must have been a little perplexing to American theater audiences to see him back. But he was back, and although the plot is muddled and confused, the film never fails to entertain with its nonstop action and relentless violence.

Anyway, logic is thrown out the window as Gibbs' papa (Julius Harris, the hook-armed villain from LIVE AND LET DIE) gets his son's gang to frantically storm a hospital and force them to tend to the injured gangster. Papa Gibbs also obtains the book of ledgers containing a list of corrupt officials--a carry-over plot device from the previous film. Also back in smaller roles are Gloria Hendry as Helen who is completely neglected by Gibbs for betraying him (she's now a hooker), and D'Urville Martin as the pint-sized pimp turned Reverend, Rufus.

Formerly a modest cook, Papa Gibbs now gets heavily involved with his son's affairs and quickly turns into a pimp-suited heavy with his own theme song ("Big Papa") and controls things while Gibbs takes off for LA. Zach (Tony King), one of Gibbs' clan, becomes more hungry for power killing his old man in a street fight. Gibbs then slowly make his way back into New York and wages a one-man war against Zach, an unethical D.A. (Gerald Gordon), and all his other enemies.

In the first film, Gibbs had a limp causes by a traumatic childhood experience. We now forget about that, as he's running like a maniac, chasing Zach from a New York airport to one in LA (on separate flights!), arriving just in time to wup his ass on the luggage conveyer belt. He also climbs the Sony Tower in Times Square to be a sniper, stabs a Coney Island beachgoer with an umbrella (complete with animated blood!), and shoots a guy with a pistol concealed by a paper bag, leaving the poor bastard on his back with a frankfurter sticking out of his mouth!

MGM has released HELL UP IN HARLEM as part of its continuing "Soul Cinema Collection," and it's presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen theatrical aspect ratio, with anamorphic enhancement. Aside from some grain and dirt now and again, the image looks good, and the colors are solid, if not overly strong. The mono audio has the expected dialog and sound effects limitations, but Edwin Starr's funky soundtrack songs sound boisterous. (The packaging claims that the music has been edited for home video, but like other AIP titles that previously fell to this fate, MGM seems to have restored everything to proper order).

A surprise extra (not hyped in MGM's advance promotion of the DVD) is a commentary by director Cohen, who did the same for MGM's BLACK CAESAR disc earlier this year. Cohen has a natural zest for this kind of thing, and he provides a solid, well-detailed overview of the production. It starts with his revealing how he had to use a double for Williamson in the opening NY scenes (not obvious until now), as Fred was filming THAT MAN BOLT for Universal on the East Coast at the same time (Cohen was filming IT'S ALIVE for Warner at the same time as well). There's also tons of behind-the-scene tidbits about how he shot most of the film on various locations without getting permits! Nobody does guerrilla filming better than Larry, and you'll see lots of it here.

There's also a French audio track, as well as optional French and Spanish subtitles. Two trailers are included--a long one, and a shorter "teaser" trailer. (George R. Reis)

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