Review of Black Caesar

Introduction

Black Caesar (the title would appear to be a spin on the 1930s gangster film Little Caesar) is a 1970s gangster film, but set in the 1950s and 1960s. It tells the story of Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) and his rise from shoeshine boy running errands for mobsters, to gangland boss.

Fred "The Hammer" Williamson might be unknown to many, but he will be featuring in the new Starsky & Hutch film which is due out this year. Maybe he was also the inspiration for Vinnie Jones, as Williamson was a footballer, albeit playing American Football, who then took up acting.

Video

A 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, which hovers around average and below average. There`s quite a lot of grain at times, and a lot of print damage is visible during certain scenes. There are some patches that feature good detail and some nice garish 1970s colours (even though it`s 1953 and 1965 in the film).

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which is the original mono replayed over both channels. It`s clear and audible, and you can hear yet another rather stereotyped 1970s soundtrack (even though the film is played out in the previous 2 decades). This one is notable for the inclusion of the work of Mr James Brown though, and you`ll definitely recognise at least one song from Sky Sports` cricket coverage!

There are also dubbed French and German soundtracks, which are pretty average.

Features

Region 2 gets yet another two fingered salute from the DVD industry. Gone is the commentary track from the R1 disc, this time featuring writer, director and producer Larry Cohen talking about the production, filming and plenty more besides. Instead we get a trailer. Thanks a lot again MGM.

Conclusion

This film has been hailed by some as a classic, but I`m certainly not joining those ranks. It`s a reasonable gangster tale, but there are so many better ones out there. The thing that probably irked me most was a scene featuring a man who gets shot, but still manages to cross most of New York killing people and exacting revenge, despite heavy blood loss and serious internal injuries. I couldn`t suspend my disbelief that far I`m afraid.

There are some quite impressive scenes and a funky soundtrack (which I`m still humming) but the film buried beneath all of that is just found wanting once too often. If you like gangster films then you still might enjoy it, just don`t set your sights too high.

Disc wise things are just about ok - the transfer is a bit of a mess, but the soundtrack is good (for its age). It`s just a shame that they stitched us up AGAIN by not putting the commentary track from the Region 1 disc on this disc. Stop doing that MGM!

If you really want to own this film, buy the Region 1 disc.