Black Gunn

Black Gunn
1972 - Columbia Pictures
Directed By Robert Hartford-Davis

SYNOPSIS

A nightclub owner named Gunn (Jim Brown) goes on the offensive after the mob kills his brother, who staged a daring robbery on them and stole some of their accounting books. Now he's targeting Capelli (Martin Landau) who pulled the trigger on his brother.

MY THOUGHTS

An adequate blaxploitation film.

Story-wise, Black Gunn offers up nothing new. It's your standard revenge plot. The action is purely standard. Though 'whitey' seems more overtly racist than in usual blaxploitation films, making the hero even easier to root for.

For many blaxploitation films, the soundtrack is about the only thing going for it. Here, the music is weak, but the performances make up for it. Jim Brown is as tough as ever.
Other sports stars join the Hall Of Fame Cleveland Brown including ex-NFLer Deacon Jones and baseball pitcher Vida Blue (among others.)
In addition to Martin Landau, many notable character actors make up the evil honkies including Bruce Glover and William Campbell. Usually, those roles are filled with nobodies, so it's great to see some familiar faces.

Apart from the acting, the film has little going for it that seems original yet, the standard revenge plot does keep interest.