Black Eye (1974)

Made when the 1970s blaxploitation genre had reached its peak, this independently made production got picked up by a major Hollywood distributor. The distributor may have picked it up because they reasoned that since "Shaft" - about a black private eye - was a hit a few years earlier, lightning might strike twice. But I'm pretty sure that most people who saw the movie were kind of let down. Despite being about a black private eye getting tangled in two complex separate investigations that eventually merge, the movie doesn't play out in a way that you'd probably expect. Until the last 20 or so minutes, there's very little action. The movie for the most part moves somewhat slowly, with little spark. Combined with the somewhat cheap production values, viewers in the mood for action and gloss will probably be let down. But in a strange way, the movie does have some compelling features for patient viewers. It is slow and not very exciting, but at the same time it feels a lot more realistic than many other private eye movies of the time (blaxploitation or not). And Fred Williamson, playing the lead, does give his character some (believable) charisma and makes his character also palatable by showing he's not a superman (though he is believably smart and resourceful.) If you are looking for standard blaxploitation thrills, look elsewhere. But if you are interested in the idea of an offbeat 1970s black private eye movie and are in a patient mood, you might find the movie has its rewards.

***SPOILERS*** A nicer and less radical Fred Williamson is down in the dumps private eye Shep Stone who gets himself involved in a drug ring that uses religion as a front to push its sh*t to the public;especially the hippie and disgruntled youth by claiming to save them. Stone gets involved in all this by being hired by Mr. Dole, Richard Anderson, to track down his hippie teenage daughter Amy,Susan Arnold,who joined the religious cult in order to find herself and ended up pushing drugs as well as getting addicted to them.Stone besides all his other problems, like paying his bills,is stuck with a lesbian girlfriend Cynthia, Tresa Graves, who flaunts her lesbianism in front of him that totally confuses him and makes him feel, can it be possible, inadequate with the opposite sex. Stone's involvement in all this happened when he obtained this silver tipped walking stick that once contained 50 G's of heroin in it from Hollwood memorabilia collector Bowen, Richard X. Battery, who left it at the cemetery while attending a funeral. It was hooker Vera, Nancy Fisher, who swiped it while the absent minded Bowen forgot to pick it up and ended up getting murdered by hit-man Chess, Frank Ashmore, who Bowen hired to retrieve it. This not only ended with Bowen later losing the walking stick and its contents but his life as well.***SPOILERS*** Williamson does his best to keep this turkey of a movie afloat with a number of fight and car chase scenes but its the plot that's too long and complicated for anyone to follow that ends up sinking it. We do get what seems like a surprise ending and climatic chase scene in the beach that exposes the real bad guy in the movie who ends up getting dumped by Stone in the Pacific Ocean. The biggest surprise is not who the drug kingpin is but who he isn't.

Fred Williamson ('Black Caesar', 'Vigilante', 'From Dusk Til Dawn') was one of the coolest and most charismatic blaxploitation stars of the 1970s, but 'Black Eye' is by no means one of his best movies. Williamson himself is pretty good as always, but the pedestrian script and lacklustre direction (by Jack Arnold, who later worked with Williamson on the lame Western comedy 'Boss N*igger') don't do him any favours. Arnold directed 1950s classic 'Creature From The Black Lagoon' and 'The Incredible Shrinking Man', but had been mainly working in TV, and I think it really shows. 'Black Eye' feels like a TV pilot. It's like blaxploitation-lite. Williamson plays an ex-cop investigating the murder of a call girl and the theft of a walking stick she had stolen from a recently deceased Hollywood movie star. The trail leads him to a drug ring, porno movies and a religious cult, which sounds very Dashiell Hammett and interesting, but it isn't. It's very dull and never picks up steam. The supporting cast includes two actors familiar to 70s TV viewers, Richard Anderson ('The Six Million Dollar Man's Oscar Goldman), and the foxy Teresa Graves ('Get Christie Love'). Graves had previously co-starred with Fred Williamson in 'That Man Bolt', which may not be my favourite Williamson vehicle, but it was a damn site more entertaining than this! I say give 'Black Eye' a miss unless you're an obsessive fan of "The Hammer". If you haven't seen it, you really aren't missing much. Newcomers to Williamson are advised to go directly to Larry Cohen's brilliant 'Black Caesar' which features a dynamite Williamson performance, and a super cool score from The Godfather Of Soul James Brown.

His significant charisma and commanding presence are about all that keep this afloat, but Fred Williamson has done far better urban action films including many of his later, vid-released fare. The big studios' Williamson films of the early-to-mid 70's rarely had the punch of their mid-level counterparts, and this is a prime example. Clumsy action, little violence, and the PG rating is nowhere near questionable. Worth a look for Hammer completists in any case.