For reasons hidden somewhere in my subconscious, I enjoyed this ultra-low budget blaxploitation tale of a black private detective on the trail of a missing banker with a stash of stolen money, which basically serves as a vanity outing for director, producer, and star Fred Williamson. Every second of the screen time is devoted to Williamson's unstoppable P.I., a man who can take a rock to the skull with only a couple of scratches, and a man who keeps coming back after being beaten down again and again. In many ways, with the glamorisation of his character and the endless macho posturing, Williamson reminds me of Steven Seagal, except that his heroes are a little more flawed and a little bit more human.
The plot is nothing special, so worthless that it barely registers. There are the requisite number of good guys, bad guys, innocent victims, and a surprisingly number of topless women who inevitably drool over our ex-football star hero. The script is at a comic-book level, laced with profanity and severely lacking in wit or intelligence; yet despite this Williamson's character is impossible to dislike. Whether it's the old-fashioned swagger or his sheer confidence in doing his job, Jesse Crowder is a man to be reckoned with and Williamson is the actor to fit the bill perfectly. The bad guys - led by the imposing Stack Pierce - are bad and the girls are sometimes pretty, and the various action sequences are cheap but hard-hitting. I especially like the shot of Williamson skidding and nearly falling off his motorbike which has just been left in the film! There is nothing at all memorable about this movie and nothing to make it stand out from the crowd. The story has been done a million times before and since and the action is never that exciting. Yet something - and I can't quite pin my finger on it - keeps it watchable and, yes, entertaining to a degree.
The plot is nothing special, so worthless that it barely registers. There are the requisite number of good guys, bad guys, innocent victims, and a surprisingly number of topless women who inevitably drool over our ex-football star hero. The script is at a comic-book level, laced with profanity and severely lacking in wit or intelligence; yet despite this Williamson's character is impossible to dislike. Whether it's the old-fashioned swagger or his sheer confidence in doing his job, Jesse Crowder is a man to be reckoned with and Williamson is the actor to fit the bill perfectly. The bad guys - led by the imposing Stack Pierce - are bad and the girls are sometimes pretty, and the various action sequences are cheap but hard-hitting. I especially like the shot of Williamson skidding and nearly falling off his motorbike which has just been left in the film! There is nothing at all memorable about this movie and nothing to make it stand out from the crowd. The story has been done a million times before and since and the action is never that exciting. Yet something - and I can't quite pin my finger on it - keeps it watchable and, yes, entertaining to a degree.
