The Black Godfather

The Black Godfather (1974)
Dir: John Evans (BlackJack)
Starring: Rod Perry ( Black Gestapo/The Evil Within)

 Going in I was expecting A Blaxploitation Knock off of the Godfather , Much like Black Shampoo was a Afro-Centric take on Shampoo, But this was not the case for the most part. This one turned out to be the average Man of the people versus the White man for poisoning his people. The film opens with two black men being gunned down while trying to rob a drug dealers house, It is revealed that one of the men was just trying to get a fix and the other was J.J. a local small time criminal. J.J. survives and is taken in by Local Kingpin Nate Williams, Some time later J.J. is now a big time pimp and crime lord who was tutored by Nate in the ways of the game. J.J. decides he is fed up with the drugs taking over his neighborhood and he approaches another local dealer Diablo and discusses a truce in order to get the junk off the streets in exchange for putting him on the payroll. Tony a Mafia leader is responsible for pushing heroin in the streets and J.J. builds an army to take Tony and his men down. Nate tries to warn him of Tony's power but he will not bend and sets out to take down Tony's empire.

Meanwhile The cities Police Lieutenant is playing both sides as he is in the pockets of both Tony and J.J. and goes back and forth sharing information. Upon realizing J.J.'s plan, Tony decides to nip the attack in the bud before his big score takes place. J.J. and Diablo's men begin attacking and running Tony's dealers out of the city.At one point they manage to kidnap one of Tony's men and force some info out of him about a huge three million dollar shipment coming in and they plan an ambush.

J.J.'s squad succeeds in ambushing the Shipment after a gunfight with some of Tony's goons and in the process they blow up the shipment. After receiving this news, Tony decides to go looking for answers and Goes to Nate's trying to get what he wants. While at Nate's, Tony  kills Nate in the process and Lt.Joe without gaining any information. In hopes of getting J.J.'s attention Tony kidnaps Nate's daughter and J.J.'s girlfriend Yvonne. Shortly after J.J. hears this news , So he and his army do some investigating to find where Tony is holding Yvonne. Eventually they find that the gang has her held up at a local hospital , So the gang sets out to make the save.

J.J. and his boys arrive at the hospital and we are treated to the final shootout which leads to Tony holding Yvonne at gun point until she eventually gets behind him and strikes him with a Hatchet. Now with all the drugs off the streets and Yvonne sfe in J.J.'s arms the credits roll and that is it.

So in the end Black Godfather is a pretty harmless forgettable Blaxploitation film. Everything about it is relatively standard stuff, The soundtrack is decent and the action is pretty well done but nothing really sets this one apart from the pack. The DvD cover states that this film made almost as much money as Shaft and Superfly making this one of Blaxploitation's biggest draws and I truly find that one hard to believe. It is a decent film but nothing spectacular. Typical story telling and characters with the Black hero taking down the racist White drug dealer who is pushing to the urban community. You can find much worse a but would not be hard pressed to find better either, As I said this one just seems forgettable.
Ass-Kickin':6 (Allot of action in this one but, Pretty light on the gore)
Jive: 5 ( Pretty Standard stuff, No real memorable dialog but it does have it's few moments)
Funk:6 ( Decent soundtrack for this one, with a few nice jams, Mixed in with some strange Synth Music added into the mix)
Ass and Tittay's:4 ( Not allot of Nudity in this one but a few breasts here and there)
Overall on the Funk-O-Tron: 5.5 out of 10