Another Bad Future

 

 (imdb)

THE NEW BARBARIANS (aka Warriors of the Wasteland)-1983-In 2019 AD “the nuclear holocaust is over” but bad film making in Italy still goes on. A group of fancy men called The Templars led by One (George East-man), roam the land killing survivors. A loner named Scorpion (Timothy Brent aka Giancarlo Prete) saves a woman, Alma (Anna Kanakis) from the gang. When some of them trap Scorpion, he's saved by bow and arrow using Nadir (Fred Williamson), another loner. Later, the trio meet The Sect, a tribe that believes in God led by Father Moses (Venantino Venantini; also in CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)). When Scorpion is captured by The Templars, Nadir once again saves him. They team up with a little kid mechanic (Giovanni Frezza from THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY (1981)) to save The Sect from the sadistic One. 

Mindless ROAD WARRIOR inspired junk by director/co-screenwriter Enzo G. Castellari (ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX the same year; also with Prete). Bad guy Eastman was also in Castellari's 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS (1982) along with the former football playing Williamson.

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He Who Walks Behind The Rows

 

 (themoviedb.org)

CHILDREN OF THE CORN V: FIELDS OF TERROR-1998-A young kid has an episode in a cornfield. Then he goes and kills a farmer and a bunch of kids bludgeon his wife to death. Later a guy (Ahmet Zappa) and his girlfriend are killed by some strange kids in the cornfield. 2 more couples (Stacy Galina, Alexis Arquette, Eva Mendes, Greg Vaughan) appear looking for the first pair and one girl's brother Jacob. After their car breaks down, they wander into a town full of asshole hicks (Kane Hodder is a bartender). To top it off, the unhelpful sheriff is played by Fred Williamson. The idiots miss the only outgoing bus and their car is set on fire. They find a semi-abandoned house and stay the night. Later they meet Luke (David Carradine), a way-out guy who seems to have a community of children he wants to save from adulthood, but little punk Ezekiel (Adam Wylie) seems to really be in charge. The only good part is the whacked confrontation between Luke and the sheriff. 

From Ethan Wiley, director of HOUSE 2: THE SECOND STORY (1987) and writer of the original HOUSE (1985) and BLACK OPS (2008). These corn kid sequels are of course all “based on” Stephen King's short story.

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Eden?

 

(tmdb)

ATOMIC EDEN-2015-An annoying mercenary Stoker (Fred Williamson) assembles a group from his past to go to Chernobyl to find "the ultimate weapon" left behind by The Nazis. Meanwhile a mysterious army of people in radiation suits are outside attacking. Almost everyone gets killed. It's very violent and the dialogue is pretty bad. To top it all off Lorenzo Lamas shows up near the end as a villainous scenery chewer. 

Many questions are left unanswered and the end sets up a sequel though one was never made. German action star (and the film's co-producer) Mike Moller has several fights and there's a female samurai (Hazuki Kato). Director Nico Sentner plays a sniper.

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Three Way

 

 

 (wikipedia)

THREE THE HARD WAY-1974-Record producer Jimmy Lait (Jim Brown), PR man Jagger Daniels (Fred Williamson) and Kung Fu guy Mr. Keyes (Jim Kelly) team up to rescue Jimmy's wife (Sheila Frazier) from the clutches of the racist madman Monroe Feather (Jay Robinson) and his mad scientist pal (Richard Angarola) who's created a secret formula to destroy all our black brothers and sisters. There's lots of fights and shootouts. Keyes gets help from his Asian friend (David Chow). Later Feather has a party where his Aryan troops all wear Guardian Angels like red berets. Despite the overwhelming numbers the trio invades Feather's citadel and destroy everything and everybody. Alex Rocco, Jeanie Bell, Irene Tsu and Roberta Collins have small roles. The weirdest part is the three topless women Jagger hires to torture a hit man. 

Director Gordon Parks, Jr. keeps the movie going at a fast pace despite the thin plot. It could have been better but seems the selling point were the three stars themselves. Parks' best-known film is SUPERFLY (1972). He made THOMASINA & BUSHROD the same year as THREE. He only completed one more film after this as he was killed in a plane crash over Kenya while making a film called “Revenge”. It was later finished by another director and re-titled THE BUSHWHACKERS. He was 44 years old.

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Buck It Up

 

 (imdb)

BUCKTOWN-1975-Duke Johnson (Fred Williamson) goes to a small racist town in Alabama to sell the club his brother Ben owned before he was killed. Aretha (Pam Grier), a realtor friend of Ben's, becomes Duke's lover. The racist white police chief (Art Lund) and his two flunky deputies harass Duke, start a fight in a bar, then try to kill him. Duke calls his friend Roy (Thalmus Rasulala) who brings in some “muscle”. The chief says “Just remember we're the law. God is on our side”.Duke, Roy and their gangs proceed kill all the white bigoted lawmen and hold the chief hostage. Roy and his flunkies decide to take over as the law after they meet up with Roy's alcoholic friend (Bernie Hamiton). When they try to rape Aretha, Duke builds a tank and attacks them. He has a fisticuffs showdown with Roy in the finale. 

This is more blaxploitation hi-jinks from director Arthur Marks who made FRIDAY FOSTER with Pam Grier the same year. He made the much more enjoyable J.D.'S REVENGE the next year.

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Bad Future

 

(IMDB)

THE NEW GLADIATORS-1984-In the future a global TV network creates a violent modern gladiator show to beat the rival networks (one show has a woman getting her throat cut by a pendulum). They recruit prisoners for their "contestants" plus a TV "kill star" Drake (Jared Martin) from a rival show who they frame into joining by killing his wife. The thing is put together by Cortez (Claudio Cassinelli; also in SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD). When he's told to go to hell, he says "I would if it would raise my ratings". A jerk named Raven (Howard Ross) is head of the training camp Drake is sent to. He is joined by old friend Monk (Donald O'Brien; DR. BUTCHER MD), a freaky guy with fake eyes. Other participants include Abdul (Fred Williamson), Akira (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), the scourge of outer Mongolia and Kirk (Al Cliver; ZOMBIE 2), the Minnesota chainsaw murderer. A woman Sarah (Eleonora Brigliadori) tries to convince Cortez Drake is innocent. She visits Prof. Towman (Cosimo Cineieri) who invented Junior, the computer that controls everything. But before he can really help he's killed. 

This ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK/THE RUNNING MAN influenced violent nearly plot-less story was the 20^th film from director Lucio Fulci (he also co-wrote it).

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Mean Johnny

 

MEAN JOHNNY BARROWS-1975-Johnny Barrows (Fred Williamson) is dishonorably discharged from the army for hitting an officer. He arrives in LA and is mugged and beaten. Some racist cops arrest him thinking he's a drunk. A Sargent recognizes him as a college football player and war hero. After turning down a job offer from obvious gangster Mario Racconi (Stuart Whitman), he combs the city for a job but to no avail and sleeps in a doorway. Then he meets the Professor (Elliot Gould) and gets a job cleaning up in a gas station for the racist owner Richard (RG Armstrong). At a pow-wow mob boss Da Vince (Anthony Caruso) has his sons (Roddy McDowell and Mike Henry) kill Mario and his dad (Luther Adler) but Mario survives. When Richard cheats Johnny out of his pay Johnny tries to get it by force and is beaten up by white cops again and arrested. He gets out and Mario hires him to kill the Da Vince family. He kills both sons then has a terrible fight with an assassin who looks like Tiny Tim. Unfortunately Tony Da Vince and Mario's girlfriend Nancy (Jenny Sherman) were conspiring against both families so when Johnny tries to put the moves on her she shoots him but Johnny rigged a mine that she steps on and is blown up. 

This drawn out low budget crime drama is terrible with director/star Williamson  sleepwalking through most of the film and hardly involved in the mob family war till the last half hour.

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Hammer Time

HAMMER-1972-B.J. Hammer (Fred Williamson) is fired from his longshoreman job and becomes a boxer for mobster Big Sid (Charles Lampkin). He knows Sid is no good but he only cares about success. He falls in love with Lois (Vonetta McKee), Sid's secretary. 

Meanwhile a philosophical cop (Bernie Hamilton) dogs his trail. At a party Hammer is called a “bourgeois negro” and is ridiculed by his friends at a pool hall. Sid's out of control bodyguard Brenner (William Smith) stupidly kills anyone who gets in Sid's way. Of course Sid is really working for a white guy boss. Lois is kidnapped by Brenner so Hammer will take a fall but in the end Hammer beats his opponent when he learns Lois is safe. In the finale the evil whiteys are beat up by the soul brothers and Hammer clobbers Brenner. 

The acting, direction, fight scenes and make-up are sub-par. Also featured are D'Urville Martin, Stark Pierce and Johnny Silver. Australian born Bruce D. Clark later made GALAXY OF TERROR. 

This was a big hit and establish former NFL football player Williamson as a “blaxploitation” star.

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Bolt

THAT MAN BOLT-1973-A Karate expert/professional courier Jefferson Bolt (Fred Williamson) locked up in a Macao prison is hired/blackmailed by a mysterious English man named Griffiths (Byron Webster) to deliver 1 million dollars from Hong Kong. When he lands in Las Vegas some mobsters try to kill him, so after a car chase he gets help from another mobster Connie (Jack Ging). At a casino he meets singer Samantha Nightingale (Teresa Graves) and after they have sex she's killed in an attempt on Bolt's life. He hightails it to Hong Kong where things get a little confusing when an Asian assassin is hired by Javanese merchant banker Kumata (Masatoshi Nakamura) to kill Bolt. 

The acting, dialogue and fights are sub-par but it also features appearances by Karate and kickboxing champions like Mike Stone, Kenji Kazama, Emil Farkus and David Chow. 

THAT MAN BOLT has two credited directors. One Henry Levin made his directing debut in 1944 with semi-horror movie CRY OF THE WEREWOLF. In the 1970's he directed several Matt Helm movies. BOLT was one of his last features. The other was David Lowell Rich who started in TV around 1950 and continuing till the mid '60's when he made some feature films like EYE OF THE CAT and THE PLAINSMAN. He went back to TV making many TV movies and in the early '80's returned to some feature film work including THE CONCORDE-AIRPORT '69. 

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Boss

BOSS NIGGER-1975-Two black bounty hunters Boss (Fred Williamson also the screenwriter) and Amos (D'Urville Martin) who hunt only white people become sheriff and deputy of a town and basically harass all the white people and give the mayor (RG Armstrong) a hard time. Later Williamson is kidnapped and tortured by Jed Clayton (William Smith) but Amos and Clara Mae (Carmen Haywood) rescue him. A doctor (Don “Red" Barry) patches him up. Later after Clayton kills Clara the townspeople help fight off Clayton's gang and Boss kills Clayton but he seems to be killed at the end (I think...??) 

Despite being directed by the great Jack Arnold (as noted previously he was doing lots of TV shows around this time), BN seems to tread a thin line between drama and parody. Many critics seem to think it's a set up. I personally think it's a disaster and the filmmakers had no idea where they were suppose to take the film.

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Williamson/Arnold

BLACK EYE-1974-A former cop named Stone (Fred Williamson) who was kicked off the force for killing a pusher after his sister died from an overdose, gets involved in the search for the cane of a dead old actor (it kind of looks like the one in THE WOLFMAN). After a hooker is killed his ex-boss (Richard X Slattery) puts him on the case. Meanwhile his kind of girlfriend Cynthia (Teresa Graves; also in THAT MAN BOLT with Williamson) is having an affair with a female fashion designer (Rosemary Forsyth). While helping a father (Richard Anderson) rescue his daughter from Jesus freaks, a search leads to porno flicks and drug dealing. Stone (who frequently eats while talking) is usually hostile to whites (good or bad) and is actually res-ponsible for the death of an old man (Cyril Delevanti). It all has to do with heroin hidden in the cane and using old actors as drug mules! 

It's pretty sub-standard but Jack Arnold though a busy TV director at the time managed to direct Williamson the next year in BOSS NIGGER.

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Won't Get Fong Again

BLIND RAGE-1976-5 blind men are recruited by a mobster named Duran to rob a bank. They are a diverse group: Willie Black (D'Urville Martin), Lin Wang (co-writer Leo Fung), Hector Lopez (Darnell Garcia), Amazing Anderson (Dick Adair) and Ben Guevara (Tony Ferrer). A woman named Sally (Leila Hermosa) runs a school for the blind and teaches them how to commit the robbery and act as though they can see. They steal 15 million dollars and kill several people in the process. After finding a blind man's cane at the crime scene the police suspect blind men must have pulled the robbery! They arrest Ben and he rats out everyone. When the remaining gang tries to escape hiding in a gas truck, it crashes and explodes killing them all except Duran who took a different mode of transport. He escapes to LA but when he lands (top billed) Fred Williamson as Jesse Crowder (a character he'd played in several of his movies at the time) shows up and arrests him after chasing him down and beating him up! 

This odd but ultimately far-fetched crime drama was shot badly in the Philippines by Efren C. Pinon who had previously directed ENFORCER FROM DEATH ROW (also starring Fong).

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Vigilante

VIGILANTE-1983-After his child is killed and his wife brutally beaten by a crazy street gang iron worker Eddie Moreno (Robert Forster) tries to seek justice through the court system but a stupid judge and a crooked lawyer (Joe Spinell) let off the one gang member on trial. Eddie goes bonkers in the courtroom and somehow winds up doing 30 days in the state penitentiary. Meanwhile Nick (bearded Fred Williamson) fights crime crime in his own way leading a vigilante force that beats up drug dealers and muggers. While in prison Eddie befriends Rake (Woody Strode) who helps him beat up some guys while he's taking a shower (did we really need a shot of Forster's naked ass?). The force beats up Horace the pimp and when Eddie gets out he joins the illegal crime fighters and kills the gang member who got off (Nick shoots the whore he was with) and then kills the gang member who actually killed his son. He even blows up the judge!

Bronx born Willam Lustig (MANIAC) directed this mean, depressing and violent exploitation movie (vigilantism themed movies were quite popular in the '80's) which also features Carol Lynley in a small role as Eddie's lawyer and Steve James as a cop. A few years later Lustig was back with MANIAC COP and its sequels.

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Hammer's Other Time

BLACK CAESAR-1973-Blaxplotation classic starring Fred Williamson (who had starred in HAMMER the year before) as Tommy Gibbs who rises from abused shoeshine boy (who helps with a mob hit) to Black Caesar, the head of the Harlem underworld. He gets help from a phony black preacher (frequent co-star D’Urville Martin) and a corrupt white lawyer (William Wellman Jr.) to secure some ledgers that can expose some corrupt politicians and nearly kills his own father (Julius Harris). In the wildest scene he puts shoe polish on the face of a corrupt white cop (Art Lund) and makes him sing “Mammy” while beating him to death.

Gloria Hendry (who had a role in LIVE AND LET DIE the same year) plays his girlfriend who later betrays him. Val Avery is a mob leader Gibbs muscles out and Don Pedro Colley is Crawdaddy, Gibbs’s right hand man who causes a lot of trouble. The ending finds Gibbs seemingly dying near a burned out building in his old neighborhood after being beat up by local kids. 

He doesn’t die though. Gibbs/Williamson returned in HELL UP IN HARLEM later in the year.

BC was the second feature directed by Larry Cohen (who also wrote and produced). Besides the sequel he also made IT’S ALIVE around the same time and went on to make other quirky features. He and Williamson re-teamed (with Jim Brown, Pam Grier, among others) for ORIGINAL GANGSTAS in 1996.



HELL UP IN HARLEM-1973-This sequel was pushed into production and it shows. It’s a major letdown after the incredible BLACK CAESAR and has a lot of unintentional laughs.

Gangster Tommy Gibbs apparently didn’t die. Despite being shot and beaten he manages to phone his dad (returning Julius Harris) who comes to his rescue, hides the ledgers and gets “some brothers who can still be trusted” to help out. They take Gibbs to a hospital and hold the staff at gunpoint and force a surgeon to operate (with no anesthesia). This part is pretty funny. Eventually the Gibbs character is re-molded into a force for good battling drug dealers and corrupt politicians. For a while he turns over his gang to dear old Dad who starts a gang war and kills his ex-girlfriend (the also returning Gloria Hendry). D'Urville Martin repeats his role as the preacher who is now legit and believes Tommy is doing good.

It’s entertaining but kind of a letdown. It’s been said the role of Tommy Gibbs was first offered to Sammy Davis Jr. who turned it down!

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"Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared." Henri Nouwen

Hard Riding

TAKE A HARD RIDE-1975-This is like a spagetti western mixed together with a blaxplotation movie and it kind of works.

Just before cattle boss Morgan (Dana Andrews) dies he entrusts a large sum of money to his hired hand Pike (Jim Brown) who promises to deliver it back home across the Mexican border. Bounty hunter Kiefer (Lee Van Cleef) gets wind of the journey and decides to go after the money. Along the way, Pike picks up a cigar smoking gambler (fellow ex-football player Fred Williamson), a widow (Catherine Spaak) and her mute Indian servant (Jim Kelly!). Later they also take in a little boy.

Kiefer teams up for a while with a preacher/gunfighter (Ronald Howard in his last movie role). Barry Sullivan is a local sheriff and Harry Carey Jr., Robert Donner and Charles MacGregor are also featured. There's a lot of gunfights but the short fight between Brown and Williamson is pretty bad.

Van Cleef (a really great screen villian) was a very busy actor in Europe in the mid '70's. Brown, Williamson and Kelly (and MacGregor) had all been in Gordon Park's THREE THE HARD WAY the year before. Williamson directed the first two of his many low budget movies in 1975, the seldom seen DEATH JOURNEY and the comedy western ADIOS AMIGO (co-starring Richard Pryor).

Director Antonio Margheriti (credited as Anthony Dawson) keeps things going at a good clip and even throws in some humor. Margheriti (who died in 1990) worked in every movie genre' including the cannibal gore of INVASION OF THE FLESHHUNTERS.

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