Writer-director Larry Cohen's clever and entertaining paean to traditional gangster films (a la LITTLE CAESAR) updates the genre to contemporary Harlem and was a major hit with urban audiences.
After breaking into crime in his youth as an errand-boy for white criminals (and having his leg broken by a corrupt, racist cop who thinks he's been shortchanged), shoeshine boy Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) grows up with aspirations to be a gangster. Carrying out a sample hit for the mob, he
wheedles his way into the organization, protecting himself by stealing a set of ledgers with the names of all the crooked politicians on the payroll, including the cop who crippled h...
Released:
1973
Rated:
R
Length:
93 mins