“Black Gunn” Movie Review

    As I previously mentioned in my review for “The Take”, Mill Creek Entertainment was kind enough to provide me a review copy of a double feature Blu-ray set which came with “The Take” and “Black Gunn”.  I watched “The Take” first because I needed my Billy Dee Williams fix but I have to admit the cast of “Black Gunn” also left me intrigued.  I am not a huge sports fan but even I know who Jim Brown was and to see him star in a movie peeked my curiosity.

    “Black Gunn” opens with a robbery of a shady operation by a militant group of African Americans led by Scott Gunn.  Scott hides out at his brother’s place as things begin to heat up when it’s discovered they robbed from the mafia and they are looking to get back what they lost.

    The two leads of the film are Jim Brown and Martin Landau.  Jim Brown is surprisingly smooth and comfortable as the lead.  Brown plays a nightclub owner and brother to Scott who he provides safe haven to.  Landau is great as always as Russ Capelli, a used car salesman with ties to the mafia.

    The movie was filled with plenty of iconic character actors from the 70s and 80s. It was cool seeing Bruce Glover in the movie being a fan of the original “Walking Tall” films.  I actually didn’t know Bruce Glover was Crispin Glover’s father until I researched this film.  Bernie Casey of “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” also makes an appearance as does “Star Trek” guest star William Campbell.  Original “Battlestar Galactica” co-star Herbert Jefferson Jr. also co-stars as Jim Brown’s on screen brother Scott.

    “Black Gunn” is far more of a clear cut blaxploitation film than “The Take” was.  Race plays a huge factor in the film and helps drive the plot.  It’s an interesting look into the past and feels far more gritty than modern films.  While “The Take” was very story driven, “Black Gunn” is more character driven and Jim Brown proved to have the charisma necessary to carry the film.

    I was a bit surprised at how slow the pace of the movie was.  It’s not that the movie felt overly long, but I guess with a title like “Black Gunn”, I expected a little more action spread out through the film.  Ultimately, this ends up making it the kind of movie you can put on in the background when you are doing something else and not miss much (I think we have all done this).

    “Black Gunn” serves as a bit of a missed opportunity in a lot of respects.  With an impressive cast and decent premise, the film just needed more action and less padding. Still, the movie is worth a watch for film buffs as it serves as an amazing showcase for many character actors in their prime.

Grade: D+

Buy “The Take” and “Black Gunn” on a Double Feature Blu-ray Today!

“The Take” (1974) Movie Review

    After watching the trailer for “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker”, I was beyond excited and one of the best moments of the trailer showcases the return of franchise favorite Lando Calrissian as played by the ever so suave Billy Dee Williams.  Luckily for me, the kind folks at Mill Creek Entertainment were kind enough to provide me a review copy of the Blu-ray set that includes “Black Gunn” and “The Take”.  I decided to watch “The Take” first because I needed my Billy Dee Williams fix.

    The film follows a police officer named Terry Sneed as he joins a local police force in New Mexico to clean up their criminal underworld.  The only problem with that is that Sneed is already getting paid off and is out for himself.  Sneed, despite accepting a payout, still decides to go after the racketeer his department is after.

    As stated before, the film stars a pre “Star Wars” Billy Dee Williams in the lead role of Terry Sneed.  I met Billy Dee Williams several years ago at the Motor City Comic Con and his appearance led to one of my favorite stories involving my dad.  Williams was very nice and I was happy to get his autograph.  The film also featured Eddie Albert as the head of the police force Sneed transfers to.  It was nice seeing Albert in a commanding role although it was hard for me not to see him as Oliver Douglas in “Green Acres” because I loved that show and watched it all the time when I was a kid.  Vic Morrow plays the ‘villain’ of the film which is interesting because I was just telling my girlfriend about him around a month ago.  We were talking about actors that died before a film was completed and I told her about Vic Morrow’s tragic death on the set of “Twilight Zone: The Movie”.  That was a little eerie.

    So, what was my take on “The Take”?  (See what I did there?). Joking aside, the very first thing that struck me about the film was the quality.  For being a relatively obscure film, it actually was comparable to the likes of films like “Chinatown” and “The French Connection” in it’s style.  Now, “The Take” isn’t quite as masterfully done as those two classics, but it wasn’t too far behind those movies.  “The Take” has some pacing issues but so did “The French Connection” and Billy Dee Williams gives a pretty solid performance as well so the acting isn’t the sole reason.  Still, something about the movie felt ‘off’ for it’s time and it took me a little while to put my finger on it.

    “The Take” is one of the few 70s era films to feature an African American lead where his race wasn’t an issue.  Seriously, that may sound like a no brainer now, but this was the era of “Shaft” and “Dolemite”.  I would almost argue that “The Take” should be remembered more now for being so far ahead of it’s time.  With blaxploitation films finding success at the box office, could it be that audiences just felt a disconnect with this film?  Am I reading too much into this?  I loved the fact that this film didn’t rely on racial issues but was it too much of a game changer?  The more I studied the film, the more things started to make sense.  Learning can be fun as it turns out. Lol

    The film is based on G.F. Newman’s novel “Sir, You Bastard”.  As the title may allude, Newman is an English author and in his book, Sneed is not an American police officer but a Scotland Yard inspector.  That explained a lot to me about why the film didn’t focus on racial issues.  The fact that the film was a British and American production made even more sense since Europe tends to be more accepting to people of color, especially in the 1970s.

    My biggest complaint about the movie is that the film came to a sudden stop.  The main story was resolved but I thought there would be more to the ending then there was.  I guess part of the reason for the abrupt ending might come from the fact that the Sneed story was told over a trilogy of books.  So this film is basically the first act of a three act story.

    Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this film.  The editing and car chases remind me of something straight from “Bullitt” (though it is hard to top that film’s car chase).  I really admire the film for having an African American lead in the 70s and not relying on racial overtones.  The closest to a blaxploitation movie this film gets is it’s brass heavy jazz infused score.  The film reminds me of something I watched on network television (probably UPN) on the weekend back in the day.  So it was also a nice sense of nostalgia for me to see this.

Grade: B-

Buy “The Take” and “Black Gunn” on a Double Feature Blu-ray Today!