Hell Up In Harlem (1973)

Cast:

Fred "The Hammer who is Black Caesar" Williamson is Tommy Gibbs
Julius "Mr. Summatra from Shrunken Heads" Harris is Papa Gibbs
Gloria Hendry is Helen
Margaret Avery is Sister Jennifer
D'Urville Martin is Reverend Rufus

What the box says:

Tougher than Shaft and smoother than Superfly, this high-voltage sequel to Black Caesar explodes with enough action to incinerate New York City. Packed with machine-gun mayhem and riveting adventure, Hell up in Harlem is nothing less than a modern-day tribute to the classic 30s gangster film. Fred Williamson (Original Gangstas) is Tommy Gibbs, a fearless, bulletproof tough guy who blasts his way from the gutter to become the ultimate soul brother boss. When he steals a ledger with the name of every crooked cop and official on the mob's payroll, he becomes the most hunted man in the city. Enlisting the aid of his father and an army of Harlem hoods, Gibbs goes from defense to offense, launching a deadly attack on his enemies that sets off a violent chain reaction from Harlem all the way to the Caribbean, climaxing in one of the hottest turf-war shoot-outs in Hollywood history.

Plot:

New York City, Helen warns Bradley D’Angelo, the DA, about the murder of Tommy Gibbs. She stole Gibbs’ ledgers implicating crooked politicians.

Several blocks away, Gibbs is shot and chased. The wounded Fred “The Hammer” Williamson is still able to escape and retrieve the ledgers. His dad helps him get away from the cops and hides the ledgers in the park. He calls some of Tommy’s friends to get him to the hospital by taking it over.

D’Angelo gets a call about the ledgers and to let Gibbs get away from the hospital. Gibbs is placed in an ambulance and driven away.

The cops trace the call and catch Gibb’s Dad. While they’re attacking him, several of Tommy’s friends come to Pop’s rescue.

Tommy wants to bring Pops into the business. First, they nail everyone involved in the shooting. Pops takes Helen’s baby from her. They handle some informants and the Asian syndicate. Kung Fu is no match for a good 1970s beatdown.

Tommy goes to the Florida Keys to handle the big families. After infiltrating through SCUBA, the gunfight ensues. A Kung Fu bikini chick can’t compete with the butt-kicking skill of Fred “The Hammer” Williamson. He gets the bosses and wants all the charges against him dropped.

Later, back in NYC, Tommy and Pops are celebrating the acquittal of all the charges. Black Caesar is back. Tommy wants Pops to keep an eye on D’Angelo. It’s time for a montage of getting back into the business. They take care of the DA’s pushers. Reverend Rufus is naming Tommy as evil from the pulpit. Tommy is going after the drug dealers and wants Rufus to quit hassling him.

Later, at Tommy’s office, Helen wants to see him. He tells all his men to leave her alone.

Tommy meets Jennifer, one of Rufus’s parishioners. The witty repartee is flying before the romantic montage which leads to the sweet sweet lovin’.

3 years alter, Tommy has married Jennifer. He still has his son from Helen.

Helen is on the streets in bad shape. Zach, one of Tommy’s enforcers catches her and strangles her. Zach has wanted to move up in the organization. He calls the DA.

Tommy is taken to the DA’s office and told of Helen’s murder. The DA claims that Tommy’s dad was involved.

Later, Tommy learns on the street that Pops paid for the hit. Tommy is sure that Pops was behind it. He decides to leave NYC to handle some of the other cities and let Pops run the business in New York City.

Gang war montage ensues. Pops learns that Zach killed Helen for the DA. Zach starts taking out Pop’s men.

In LA, Tommy decides to go legit for Jennifer. Goons are going after Tommy. He realizes that Zach is after him.

New York City, Pops meets Zach. They have a fight and Pops dies of a heart attack.

DA knows that Tommy will be coming back soon.

Tommy is going to TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS. He goes throw Philadelphia first. He gets a sniper rifle. Commando style, he’s going to make NYC a decent place by sniping all the bad people.

At Coney Island, Tommy impales some guy with a beach umbrella and continues eliminating more of the mob bosses. Tommy takes his ledgers and mails them to a Senator in charge of a Crime Commission.

Tommy learns that Zack is heading to the airport and has to get a later plane to LA. A goon on that plane attacks Tommy who demonstrates the proper way to strangle one with an air-sickness bag and hides the body.

At the LA airport, Zack gets his suitcase. Tommy runs and shoots him and escapes.

At Tommy’s mansion, he learns that the DA got Jason, Tommy’s son. They will trade Jason for Tommy’s life. Tommy is taken by goons with Reverend Rufus to the rescue. They learn that the DA is hiding in a church. DA D’Angelo has a gun on Jason and shoots Rufus. DA versus Fred “The Hammer” Williamson ensues. Fred hangs DA. He finds his son and leave.

The all knowing credits reveal that Tommy Gibbs and his son vanished. They haven’t been found and are still searched for by the government.

What I say:

Blaxsploitation gave Richard Roundtree the Shaft movies. Fred "The Hammer" Williamson had a number of Blaxsploitation movies including Black Caesar which was a big hit. So if something is a hit it must have a sequel even if the first movie ended with the death of the main character. Logic has never stopped movie sequels before. He then moved into the realm of low budget Italian action movies such as Warriors of the Wasteland and others.

This movie is set after Fred "The Hammer" Williamson is trying to regain his position after the end of the first movie. It is a lot like the video game sequel to Scarface. After, Tony died at the end of the Scarface and introduced the world to his Little Friend, the video game starts off with him escaping and wanting to regain his position. Good to know that 2000s video games are ripping off ideas from 1970s Blaxsploitation movies.

Fred "The Hammer" Williamson was one of the biggest football to movie stars I know. Don't think Brian Bozworth's Stone Cold or Howie Long's Firestorm are much competition. Fred just looks like he wouldn't have any problems beating someone and then having a steak for dinner. We all know that the Governator isn't a temporal displaced android sent from the future to hunt down the mother of the leader of the human rebellion. We know that Sylvester Stallone isn't Rocky, Rambo, or Cobra. However, with Fred, it seems to be a bit harder. He's played so many tough guys onscreen and seems that tough in interviews it can be a little hard to separate fact from fiction.

Though, he may not quite be in the "hey, it's that guy" category, he's awfully close. Julius Harris was also the Voodoo Guy from James Bond's Live and Let Die. He's appeared in numerous televison appearances such as Good Times. However, to me, he'll best be remembered as Mr Sumatra, the newstand owner and former Ton Ton Macaute officer, secret police officer in Haiti, in Shrunken Heads.

Larry Cohen directed the killer desert movie classic, The Stuff and the Black Caesar, which is of course the prequel to this movie. Cohen is almost as famous for movies like Q- the Flying Serpent as the movies he's written such as Maniac Cop and 1990s The Ambulance and Body Snatchers, any movie that gives us Gabrielle Anwar has redeeming qualities.

When the movie theme song is sung by Edwin Starr, the man who gave us "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing..." Quality doth ensue...We have an almost Isaac Hayes level theme song. To Edwin Starr's musical talents, between the theme sone and the "Big poppa" song, we've got some good funky soundtrack music. Even one such as I who is tragically unfunky and unhip can appreciate it, that is the sign of musical greatness.

Quotable Dialogue
"Xerox is a very useful weapon."
"We plan our own little Pearl Harbor."
"We have met in very high places."
"You need a whippin', boy."
Morals of the Story
Taxis have right of way of sidewalks.
Bench jumping is an Olympic Sport.
Guns get youimmediate access to emergency surgery.
Italians don't like soul food.
Maids are excellent shooters.
Grant's Tomb is an excellent hideout.
Confederate flags are very popular for beach towels.