Cotton Comes To Harlem

This is the funniest movie I have ever seen in my life. Only Richard Pryor ever made me laugh harder. Rex Reed, the movie critic whose tongue was sharper than a sword, said that you needed to sit through two showing in a theatre so you could hear the lines you missed because people were laughing so hard. He was right.

Director Ossie Davis delivers not only a taut police thriller but a film that inserts the concerns of the civil rights movement circa 1970 in a fascinating way. Filmed on actual locations the film just exudes authenticity and atmosphere. For a film that keeps it real I found it interesting that the film's score was composed by Galt McDermott of "Hair" fame(?!). Another minor quibble is that the violence in the film was at times over-the-top. Godfrey Cambridge as Gravedigger Jones and Raymond St. Jacques as Coffin Ed Johnson make an engaging pair. They assume their duty as New York police detectives is to protect their people from predators whether they be black or white even if at times they are at odds with their white captain. Calvin Lockhart is deliciously smarmy as Reverend Deke O'Malley who bilks his congregants out of cash for a bogus back to Africa scheme. Judy Pace is seductively evil as Iris, O'Malley's main squeeze. Redd Foxx is underutilized here as a junk dealer but his character does prove integral to the film's plot.

Another movie in which Calvin Lockhart is momentarily shirt-less. A hundred, thousand, million stars!

a little slow in delived but an excellent movie.

I am a huge fan of blaxploitation movies of the 1970s. I thought it was really funny, especially in the beginning of the movie. This is the kind of movie that you can't take very seriously because a lot of it is cliche. Calvin Lockhart's character (Rev. Deke O'Malley) is conniving, but irresistable. You will enjoy this DVD!