Original Gangstas

Starring:Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Paul Winfield, Isabel Sanford, Oscar Brown Jr., Richard Roundtree, Ron O'Neal, Christopher B. Duncan, Eddie Bo Smith Jr., Dru Down, Shyheim Franklin, Robert Forster, Charles Napier, Wings Hauser, Frank Pesce, Godfrey, Tim Rhoze, Seraiah Carol, Dawn Stern
Director: Larry Cohen
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Larry Cohen scratched out some of the most memorably offbeat exploitation films of the 1970s, including two of the most energetic blaxploitation action classics: Black Caesar and its sequel, Hell Up in Harlem, which made a star of Fred Williamson. In 1996 they reunited for this tribute to the good old days and producer-star Williamson brought along a few of his fellow 1970s blaxplo icons: Jim Brown (Slaughter), Pam Grier (Foxy Brown), Richard Roundtree (Shaft), and Ron O'Neal (Superfly). They play old friends and former members of a neighborhood gang in economically depressed Gary, Indiana, who reunite when a new generation of gangbangers using their old street name, the Rebels, turns the city into a war zone. It's great fun to see the old faces back on the screen--Williamson is still buff and tough, and Brown and Grier have become more charismatic with age--but they're let down by a slack script and lazy direction despite an almost nonstop barrage of gunfights and back-alley brawls. Even with revved-up 1990s firepower, the film never really captures the explosive energy of the films that made their reputations. You're better off seeing the originals. Paul Winfield and Isabel Sanford also star, and Cohen casts cult faves Charles Napier, Wings Hauser, and Robert Forster in supporting roles. --Sean Axmaker

Description

The biggest and baddest stars of Soul Cinema, Fred Williamson (Black Caesar), Jim Brown (Slaughter), Pam Grier (Foxy Brown), Ron O'Neal (Superfly) and Richard Roundtree (Shaft) return to the genre that made them famous in this "big, brassy, overblown, pyrotechnic valentine" (Entertainment Today)! Also featuring Isabel Sanford ("The Jeffersons") as Bookman's mother, this all-new, all-action tale of slick, ten-fisted retribution "delivers as generous a measure of sensational entertainment as any of the Shaft or Superfly pictures of a generation ago" (Long Beach Press-Telegram). Williamson is Bookman, a former hood who made it to the big time with his smooth football moves. But when the gang he founded back in his hometown starts shooting up the wrong peopleincluding his fatherhe returns to the old turf, rounds up some of his own posse and begins an all-out street war to return the neighborhood to its rightful state of justice!

Customer Reviews:

A Good Idea but a Weak Storyline.......2007-03-31

I really wanted this movie to be great. I really felt that it had the potential. And you know, it started out pretty good. But the longer the movie goes the weaker it got. It was almost like they started with half a script and when theu got to the end of that they just winged the rest.

The premise of the film is that a gang called the rebels had pretty much taken over the streets of this urban Indiania neighborhood. They are extremely bad and horrifically violent and refuse to let anyone get in their way. One citizen see's one of the gang kill a high school basketball star and calls the cops. The gang retailiates by trashing his store, beating him up, shooting him, and leaving him for dead. Enter John Bookman.

Bookman (Fred Williamson) is the son of the shop owner, an ex-NFL football star, and, it turns out, the original leader of the rebels some 30 years ago. He returns home to find a war zone. After failing to start a dialog with the gang with the help of the local preacher (Paul Winfield) he turns to his old comrads-in-arms to try and take back the streets.

Joined by his best friend from the gang days (Jim Brown), who has his own demons to over come (the son he never knew had just been killed by the gang) they begin to orchestrate a neighborhood revolt. Joining them is Brown's old girlfriend and the mother of his son (Pam Grier), and a couple of ex-gang members (Richard Roundtree, Ron O'Neal).

Here is where the problems begin for this movie. After this great set-up it starts to deteriorate into just pure violence. A previous reviewer says this movie has a "deep message." What's the message, that you have to become as vicious and brutal as the gang you're trying to stop? We see people being executed with a bullet to the brain, burned, having their necks snapped, knifed, beaten with baseball bats, and just gunned down in a all-out hail of gunfire. As the heroes continue their onslaught we see that in the end, they really are no less violent and brutal as the gang. In the final scenes we find Williamson & Brown in a fight with the two current gang leaders while a rival gang looks on. Once they dispose of the hoodlums finally the police, missing completely during the firefight, show up. What started out good ended silly. What a shame.

I would recommend this only to those who are either into Blaxploitation movies or if you have about 100 minutes to kill. Not bad but just could have been SO much better

Origanal Gangstas.......2006-02-02

This movie took me back to my younger days. It was packed with action, with a deep message. I really injoyed the movie and I watch it all the time.

mark twain sam australia WA Perth.......2006-01-13

I personally think that this is one of or if not the best film that Fred Williamson has done. I liked the fight scenes that were very well put together and each fight scene had a bit of realism to it.

Williamson is John Bookman, a former hood who made it to the big time with his smooth football skills. But when the gang that he had created/founded back in his hometown starts shooting at members of his family - including his father - he returns to his old turf, meets with his old partners in crime and walks into an all-out street war to clean up his neighborhood to its rightful state of justice! Now it is old school versus new school in this action packed kick-ass flick.

The veteran cast from Blaxploitation makes this worth watching.......2005-10-21

A veteran cast make this update of the blaxploitation genre worth watching. Fred Williamson (Black Caeser), Jim Brown (Slaughter), Pam Grier (Coffy/Foxy Brown), Richard Roundtree (Shaft) and Ron O' Neal (Superfly) join forces to combat the newer, younger version of the same gang they formed twenty years prior.

GREAT!.......2004-12-14

I'M A FAN OF THE HAMMER AND THIS ONE IS A BLAST! ORIGINAL GANGSTAS IS TOO MUCH FUN! LOVED EVERY SECOND OF THIS!

Average customer rating:

A Good Idea but a Weak Storyline
Origanal Gangstas
mark twain sam australia WA Perth
The veteran cast from Blaxploitation makes this worth watching
GREAT!

Original Gangstas [Region 2]
Starring: Fred Williamson , Jim Brown , Pam Grier , Paul Winfield , and Isabel Sanford
Director: Larry Cohen
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video