Review of The Black Godfather

Despite my skepticism about the whole "cash-in" business, I can't deny that the Blaxploitation genre has yielded some remarkable achievements, most notably Larry Cohen's BONE (1972) and Bill Gunn's GANJA AND HESS (1973); unfortunately, THE BLACK GODFATHER would definitely come somewhere near the bottom if such a list was compiled…! Having already updated private detectives, vampires, monsters and what have you to the funkier generation, it was only a matter of time before we also had a colored Don to lord it over the underworld; it's a pity, though, that the mobster here is nothing like his Italian namesake (unless having his bodyguard named Sonny is enough to earn him the title of "Godfather"!).

Anyway, I've already spent far more time writing about this film than it deserves; suffice it to say that the hip dialogue (brimful of catchphrases like "dig", "nigger", "brother", "right on", "the man", "that where it's at", etc.) is risible, the hairstyles outrageously dated, the action sequences amateurish, the compulsory song score mediocre and the acting woeful. Despite all this, I guess I was in a "bad movie watching" mode tonight because I was reasonably entertained by this junk and I can't wait to get my hands on that other Blaxploitation double-feature disc – THE BLACK SIX (1974)/THE BLACK GESTAPO (1975) – which is available for rent from the local DVD store…!