Wednesday 12 February 2014

The Black Gestapo (1975)


 

 

Warning: this review contains scenes of violence and nudity

 

AKA: Ghetto Warriors

Dir: Lee Frost

Starring: Rod Perry, Charles Robinson, Phil Hoover, Angela Brent, Lee Frost

 
Ok, that title doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. In this latest post I’ll be looking at the oxymoronically titled The Black Gestapo (1975) a blacksploitation vigilante flick from the prolific and highly regarded exploitation filmmaker Lee Frost.



General Ahmed (Rod Perry) has set up the People’s Army to protect the black citizens of Watts, California from local mobsters. However, when violence against the citizens of Watts increases and the police don’t do anything to help, Ahmed reluctantly gives in to pressure from Colonel Kojah (Charles Robinson) to set up a special protection squad. This new squad responds with violence of it’s own and the gangsters are driven from town. However, Kojah transforms the squad into his own militia which becomes way more corrupt than the mob ever was. Ahmed must stop him before it becomes too powerful.



Blackspoitation was a big part of the drive-in movie scene in 1970s America. Films of this subgenre were brash, exciting and had great soundtracks. Although aimed at primarily an urban black audience, they were good enough to cross racial divides. The era produced some classic films including Shaft (1971) and Foxy Brown(1974), and made cult stars out of likes of Pam Grier and Fred Williamson. The subgenre has even influenced modern day filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino – who paid homage to blacksploitation with JackieBrown in 1997 starring Grier – and many Hip-Hop artists. The Black Gestapo came out at the height of the genres popularity and is often heavily criticised. However, in truth, I found it to be very entertaining and not nearly as bad as some of the negative comments I’ve heard about it.


Lee Frost, along with his writer/producer partner Wes Bishop, was a very prolific American exploitation director throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. Most of his films were highly enjoyable affairs and he filmed across many different subgenres, including sexploitation (The Animal [1968]), Mondo documentaries (Mondo Bizarro [1966]) and westerns (Hot Spur [1968]).  He also directed arguably the first ever Nazisploitation film, the controversial Love Camp 7 (1969).


The Nazi link in The Black Gestapo is a very loose one. There is a brief opening credits sequence in which stock footage of Hitler and the Nazis is played, but, apart from the film’s title, that’s the only literal reference to the Third Reich in the movie. Kojah’s militia may where SS-like uniforms but they don’t where Swastikas or even refer to themselves as ‘the Black Gestapo’. I can only assume that the title was just a ploy to stir up some controversy – not an uncommon tactic for these sorts of films. As if you didn’t know, the Nazis hated black people as much as jews, so the idea of an African-American Nazi militia doesn’t make sense. It would be like if the film was called ‘The Black Klu Klux Klan’!


So no, this is not Nazisploitation. For its first half, the movie plays like a vigilante flick with Kojah’s ‘protection squad’ trading blows with the gangsters – “he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send of his to the morgue”. The film’s most memorable scene comes during this period.  Nurse Marsha (Angela Brent) is raped and badly beaten by a couple of the mobsters. In response, Kojah and his men break in to the home of one of the rapists to dish out some vengeance. The squad ambush him while he’s taking a bath. While the rest of the squad hold him down, Kojah takes out a razor and slices off the gangster’s testicles. He then proceeds to flush them down the toilet!


Both lead actors in The Black Gestapo made their names in TV. Rod Perry was a member of the cast of S.W.A.T. and Charles Robinson is best remembered for Night Court. Lee Frost also made numerous cameo appearances in his films. In this one he plays the role of mob boss Vincent, who wears a toupee and has a pet schnauzer. There’s even an appearance by busty beauty Uschi Digard, showing off her impressive ... er, talents.


As I mentioned before, The Black Gestapo gets a lot of stick. It even featured in a Rotten Tomatoes piece called 25 Movies so Bad they’re Unmissable alongside such titles as Troll 2 and The Room.  I didn’t think it deserved it, to be honest. Sure, the title is just bizarre and you expect a car crash because of it, but it never really happens. It’s rough around the edges but it’s entertaining and competently directed all things considered. Or maybe I’ve just watched too many shitty movies to notice anymore.