Top of the Heap (1972) review

 

TOP OF THE HEAP 1972

Christopher St. John (George Lattimer), Florence St. Peter (Viola Lattimer), Paula Kelly (Black Chick), Leonard Kuras (Bobby Gelman), John Alderson (Captain Walsh), Patrick McVey (Tim Cassidy), Ji-Tu Cumbuku (drug dealer #1), Damu King (drug dealer #2)

Directed by Christopher St. John

"Damn, brotha', are you The Man, or somethin'?!"

The Short Version: Christopher St. John wrote, starred, produced and directed this unique, mesmerizingly metaphoric character study of a troubled black police officer attempting to get a handle on his home life, his job, and his humanity; and often making it worse in the process. If you go in expecting the usual black action tropes, you'll be disappointed. This isn't that sort of movie. St. John veers into those areas, but briefly; and even then, uses those scenarios to put the viewer inside the head of its lead character trying to make sense of his world.

George Lattimer is a frustrated D.C. cop struggling with turmoil within and without, attempting to juggle problems out on the street, on his job, and in his home all the while desiring, and dreaming to one day be at the Top of the Heap. 

Christopher St. John (SHAFT) turns in a stunning tour de force both in front of, and behind the camera in his first, and only directorial effort; a picture he also wrote and produced. His engrossing script concerns George Lattimer, a black D.C. cop vying for acceptance in an insane world, all the while trying to maintain his own sanity, and not doing a very job of it. He fails his exam for police sergeant, and is failing in his home life. He finds solace in dreams that often juxtapose his emotional state at that moment with where he'd like to be. Towards the end of the picture, George's real life intertwines with his fantasy one in which neither turn out to be all that different, not to mention tragically prophetic.

In TOP OF THE HEAP, the directors cornucopia of dream sequences propel the inner workings of our main character, George Lattimer. They take us back to his African roots, to a final moment with his mother he never got to have, and even to outer space. He always looks much younger, and with a goatee in these sequences. Incidentally, many of them deal with NASA and space flight. One key dream sequence just before he and his partner Bobby and Tim, his former Captain, are to take off, he receives a call that his mother has passed away. When Tim asks what the call was about, Lattimer states it was the wrong number. Throughout the movie he's reminded of his mother's death, and it's clear it weighs heavy on his conscious. 

One vision sees George wearing full astronaut garb while three police cars violently circle him signifying his job is holding him back. Another dream sequence has George laid up in hospital after a deadly space training accident. He explains he bailed before the machine exploded after a voice told him to do so. This feels like a reference to Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., who would have been the first black astronaut had he not been killed in a flight training accident in 1967. A handful of scenes in the real world also have space iconography in them, too.

"All you care about is putting on that damn uniform and gun and playing the big nigger cop!" -- Viola Lattimer lets her husband know just how invisible he is at home... even when he's there.

Lattimer the man (or 'The Man'), is far from a perfect person. He's probably got more bad qualities than good, actually. The script goes to great lengths to make him a seriously flawed individual. He's a cop who formerly took bribes, smokes weed, cheats on his wife, and shows little interest in his nightclub singer mistress outside of having sex with her when it's clear HE means more to her than a mere fuck. Unfortunately, she's not free of faults, either with her steady diet of pills and pot. His teenage daughter is having sex and likewise doing drugs; and Lattimer is detached with his role as a father figure, too.

Chris St. John doesn't stop at simply building a uniquely complex main character -- he does the same with the rest of his cast, as well as the supporting players. It's remarkable to see a black themed movie with such a balanced approach to black-white relations as this one. It covers the stereotypes of conventional black action pictures, but remains an unconventional movie in the way it deals with its subject matter. As a cop, he expects a certain degree of respect, and gets very little of it. In a few instances, some of the white characters (particularly another cop from a different precinct during a bus ride debacle) fail to recognize him as a police officer. Astonishingly, the highest level of hatred towards him comes from other blacks.

This is represented to great effect when Lattimer busts two small time drug pushers enjoying some soul food and a little cocaine on the side. Pointing his gun at the two crooks after their bribery attempt fails, he tells them to put their hands on the wall. One of them refuses stating, "...Now if you shoot me, you gonna have to shoot me right in my face, Mr. Black Pig." Things nearly escalate when the man refuses to comply while calling him a "nigger", and "black ass pig". When Bobby enters, the two criminals show no resistance to him, a white man, putting them against the wall. The main drug dealer (played by BLACULAs Ji-Tu Cumbuku) looks disgusted at a fellow black man wearing the threads of 'The Man'. He sees Lattimer as a sell-out despite the fact he and his partner-in-crime are contributing to societal woes with their drugs.

What makes this sequence even more fascinating is just before Lattimer enters the room, the two crooks are having a conversation and one of them sarcastically states he forgot to go down to the unemployment office to get his check. His friend replies "How the hell you gonna collect some unemployment, baby, when you ain't ever had a J-O-B?" The significance is that Lattimer, for all his faults, has made something of himself. He has a good job (although he's frustrated with it), and a family (as fractured as it may be). It is ridiculous to think that bettering oneself is "selling out"; although in today's climate, this sort of attitude is primed for political posturing in an effort to grow the entitlement state. For the time in which the film was made, it's understandable why there would be such sentiments so soon after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

George has a faithful bond with his police partner Bobby and the elder, Tim Cassidy. The scenes they share are like two brothers and father son relationship respectively. These scenes are the ones where George seems the most content. These three men do not recognize color between them -- they are all individuals. They share food and drink together, and discuss personal matters together. This sort of male friendship between black and white was rarely seen at this time, and certainly not observed with this level of maturity.

In another case of life imitating art, Christopher St. John, to a degree, literally lived the character he played. According to news reports of the day, he tried out for the lead in SHAFT (1971), but lost to Richard Roundtree -- settling instead on a co-starring role. He then had a lot of trouble getting his movie made since blaxploitation was what the studios wanted and not some existential tragedy stocked full of symbolic dream sequences. The promotional campaign heightened what little action-thriller elements the film possessed, much to the directors dismay. He wasn't a fan of the violent, stereotypical black-themed action movies, and did remain true to his word in refusing to sell out to the studios for the sort of product they were demanding.

Just like the NASA symbolism discussed above, a lot of the striking imagery residing in the frames of Christopher St. John's movie is centered around the American flag. Like everything else in the film, there's a balance as to how it is presented; there's the upside down flag on the moon (signaling a nation in distress), and black military school kids play fighting with an American flag that strangely resembles the iconic Iwo Jima flag raising; the opening scene shows a group of protesters inexplicably beating each other up in a mud hole, and several of them tear a flag to pieces; then there's the woman wearing tight jeans with an American flag patch right on the ass of her pants! There are others, of course. 

There were a few times I said to myself, "What is he saying here?" I may be reading too much, or seeing things not intended, but this is how the film spoke to me. It's actually quite a brilliant movie, if a little rough around the edges in places. Still, it's a highly recommended piece of 70s cinema that is not at all like your typical black action picture that was extremely popular in the early part of that decade. It's SWEET SWEETBACK without the excessive sex; it's WATERMELON MAN without the comedy; and it's THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR without the militant atmosphere. Christopher St. John's stunning directorial debut dabbles in all three, but is ultimately a humanist story about mankind; particularly a black man in 1970s America. TOP OF THE HEAP deserves to be there, and to be seen by a wider audience.

This review is representative of the Code Red DVD.

Across 110th Street (1972) review

ACROSS 110TH STREET 1972

Anthony Quinn (Captain Mattelli), Yaphet Kotto (Lieutenant William Pope), Anthony Franciosa (Nick D'Salvio), Antonio Fargas (Henry J. Jackson), Frank Mascetta (Don Gennaro), Richard Ward (Doc Johnson), Gilbert Lewis (Shevvy), Paul Benjamin (Jim Harris), Ed Bernard (Joe Logart), Norma Donaldson (Gloria Roberts)

Directed by Barry Shear

"Nick, today they took our bank in Harlem for over $300,000 dollars...They killed two of the family, two cops and two of their own. Nick, aim for the money, aim for the man, but we have to teach them a lesson...or we lose Harlem! If we lose Harlem, we lose a lot more than the money; we lose all prestige..."

The Short Version: Brutal, bloody and brilliant crime thriller that touches on many topics that are still relevant today. One of the most violent movies of the 1970s, the strong performances, tightly written screenplay and incendiary dialog make the more vicious sequences that more savage even when we see nothing at all. A serious highlight of the decade and a film unfairly lumped in with the blaxploitation genre. There's a lot more to say here than car chases, shootouts and comic book heroes and villains. The individuals and situations populating 110th STREET are all too real.


Three small time hoods hold up a syndicate transaction stealing $300,000 from the mafia and killing everyone in the room including two mafiosi and two cops. Gangster, Nick D'Salvio seeks revenge against the thieves and scours the city for their blood while two cops of different races--one a grumpy white bigot about to retire and the other a black by the book detective trying to impress his superiors--try to work together to close the case before the streets of Harlem become a bloodbath.


This intensely gritty, grubby and gruesome crime drama is one of the most underrated thrillers from the boundless creativity that was the 1970s. Often lumped in with the mindless, but enjoyably over the top blaxploitation actioners, ACROSS 110TH STREET (1972) is one of a handful of dramatically race themed films that transcends the brutally comic book confines of the genre and emerges as a thought provokingly depressing view of racism, chaos and corruption in all manner of society from the squalor of the underpriveledged, to the civic protectorate and also the upper echelon of the crime syndicates that control whole cities. Save for Kotto and Donaldson's characters, virtually no one has any redeeming qualities.

"Hey, you watch your motherfuckin' mouth, white boy! You might be somethin' big to those booty butts that you work over down at the station, but goddamnit, this is me...Doc Motherfuckin' Johnson! You come runnin' in here 'cuz a couple o' your cops got knotted...especially because one was white! Your friend is a racist son of a bitch! He always has been, they all are! If you're smart, you'll stick with me."--Doc "motherfuckin' Johnson to Mattelli and Pope.

"We been givin' Mattelli $2,500 a month for the past two years...and he come in here givin' me orders, shit! He works for me...same as the whores and the dealers!"--Doc "motherfuckin' Johnson to Pope

"You're lookin' at a 42 year old ex con nigga...with no schooling, no trade and a medical problem! Now who the hell'd want me for anything but washin' cars and swingin' a pick?! You gotta get your mind outa' that white woman's dream!!"--Jim Harris to his girlfriend, Gloria Roberts after she begs him to give the money back.


Shear's slimy vision of 70s violence, corruption and the impoverished (based on the novel by Wally Ferris) is a startlingly well made, brilliantly acted, incendiary thriller that's one of the best films of its kind. The screenplay is an absorbing work that covers all the bases in a fashion that would be copied in the following years equally explosive and similarly themed DETROIT 9000 (1973). One of the areas covered is the way in which people live and how they struggle. Those with maladies, no education and no hope are left with two choices--struggle, or take the "easy way out". For the three men who rip off the mob, the "easy way out" proves to be the wrong choice.

"Look, I'm sick and tired of your liberal bullshit! You better make up your mind--are you a cop, or one o' them social workers?!"--Mattelli to Pope


The racially charged dialog in Shear's movie is on fire and speaks volumes on the futile struggle of race relations on multiple levels. The exchanges between the white and black mob factions are incredibly tense. This tension isn't relegated to the mobsters, but also to the forces of law and order. Capt. Mattelli (Quinn, who also Executive Produced) is a 55 year old detective whose secretly been on the take for a few years and threatened with being pushed out by a new upstart cop named William Pope, who also happens to be black. The two have an uneasy partnership, but on this case, Mattelli is working for Pope. The two have their own heated exchanges, but eventually, both come to work together to find the three destitute robbers before the mob spreads their blood all over Harlem.

"You be happy Frank. The last sucker that put his hands on me...lost'em."

There's not a bad performance out of the bunch, but something else stands out in this debauched landscape--the violence. While it's not a non stop barrage of action, the brutality on display is incredible. Squibs flow generously from bullet riddled victims and the torture scenes, whether onscreen, or off, have a visceral punch about them that stands with todays level of ferociousness on the screen. One scene in particular is when the bloodthirsty Nick D'Salvio locates the driver, Henry Jackson, whooping it up and having a grand time in a whorehouse filled with loose women, trannies and all manner of lowlifes.


Nick busts a glass in his face and beats Henry to a pulp as others stand around and gawk. One of the whores that was enjoying Henry's time and money now seems to not care at all after one of the gangsters gives her some money after handing over his clothes. Taking the near dead man out to torture him some more, the screen dissolves to Henry in an ambulance, his eyes gouged out and about to die. We learn through dialog that he was crucified and castrated by Nick and his cronies. Henry dies before Mattelli and Pope can get any information out of him. Antonio Fargas (FOXY BROWN, STARSKY & HUTCH) plays Henry and his supporting role is a stand out performance and a fine actor who shined throughout the decade.


The film further benefits from a strong musical score by J.J. Johnson and songs by Bobby Womack. Interestingly enough, whenever there's a killing, or someone is tortured, there's no music at all. Only the screams, the blood curdling cries of pain act as substitute for any musical alleviation. This lack of music intensifies the grim finality of these sequences. The film also adopts a documentary approach in a number of scenes that, when combined with the accomplished performances adds to the realism immersing the viewer in this world of carnality, corruption and cruelty. If Shear's intention was creating a volatile expression of race relations through the use of a gun, knife or fist pointed at close ups of bugged out eyes, facial twitches and fear engulfed visages, he succeeded admirably.

This review is representative of the MGM DVD

The Spook Who Sat By the Door (1973) review

THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR 1973

Lawrence Cook (Dan Freeman), Janet League (Joy), Paula Kelly (Dahomey Queen), J.A. Preston (Dawson), Paul Butler (Do-Daddy Dean), Don Blakely (Stud Davis), David Lemieux (Pretty Willie), Joseph Mascolo (Sen. Hennington)

Directed by Ivan Dixon

***NOTE: This review is strictly my own opinion and observation. It is not intended to make a political statement, but comparisons are made to the increasingly heated political climate of the United States today.

"I want people to think...you don't act first and then think. You think first and then act. That's why we were given brains. That's why we don't act instinctively. When we do we're wrong. Which ever way they go, I want them to think about what I've had to say. I'm not tryin' to recruit anybody, I'm not tryin' to prophesize, I'm not tryin' to convince anybody...I want to shake up the man! I want people to look at that movie and go outa' there thinkin'..."--Sam Greenlee interview on DVD


The Short Version: This strikingly volatile protest movie written by Sam Greenlee from his own novel is an important, yet controversial indictment against oppression and discrimination. Arguably the single most significant African American production of the 1970's, it transcends what many would classify as "blaxploitation". This is not exploitation, but a serious look at racism and the need for people to be accepted and stand on their own two feet. What follows is a fictionalized, but still relevant and wrathful diatribe against white America of the day. Truly a brilliant piece of filmmaking.


After being accused of racial insensitivity by a politician who is lagging in the polls, the CIA recruits a group of African Americans to be trained as agents. Dan Freeman is the only one who passes. Seeing the discrimination around him, Dan realizes nothing has changed and he is only there due to political reasons. Eventually leaving the CIA, Dan returns home to Chicago and secretly trains African Americans living in the inner city slums to be militant freedom fighters. The word spreads to cities across the nation resulting in violence between the militants, local police officials and the National Guard. Going to war against the establishment, Freeman's fight isn't so much about race, but about freedom.



When I began getting into black action films back in the early 1990's, I often lumped them all into the blaxploitation genre. Since then, it seems even African American authors who have written about the genre, seemingly place any black oriented production into that category. Many consider it an offensive term and I can understand that when important films such as this are saddled with that label. That's why I created this separate category (see blaxploitation sidebar to the right) for what I consider movies about African Americans (or race relations) that aren't necessarily about action and violence, but have something serious to say regardless of how offensive, or controversial the subject matter. DETROIT 9000, MANDINGO and ACROSS 110TH STREET are some films that fit this criteria in my eyes. However, THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR (1973) staunchly represents this category above all others.



Based on the novel by Sam Greenlee, this thought provoking, incendiary and highly controversial movie is one of the most important, if not THE most important race film of the 1970's. What makes Ivan Dixon's picture so engaging NOW is that this film resonates just as much today as it did back then. However, viewed today in light of the recent spate of politically charged racist remarks from the new Black Panthers and the seemingly disgruntled and damaging agenda of the current President, the ideals present in this movie are somewhat skewed and prophetic when viewed today. What's also noticeable is how little people have changed, both black and white in today's social climate.

Student: Cool it. If you weren't so eager to please the white man and send the grading curve up there'd be three times as many of us here now. What kind of 'Tom' are you, anyway?

Dan Freeman: Same as you, I guess. Except I don't try to have it both ways.


At the time, this was a wake up call for acceptance and for those oppressed to stand up and take control of their lives. The film itself is an offensive, angry indoctrination on civil rights and the fight for acceptance and what author Greenlee states as self reliance. The interview with Greenlee is just as fascinating and attention getting as the film itself. An obviously learned, philosophical man, Greenlee takes no sides and tells things how it is. Regarding empowerment to African Americans, Greenlee says this among many other things in his interview...

"Now we're talkin' about integration, now it's diversity, and the latest thing is reparations...which aint nothin' but beggin' for crumbs from the white man's table. And we oughta' be about the business of buildin' our own tables and bakin' our own bread!"

This point is is in evidence during a conversation between Dan and Pretty Willie. The exchange is below...


Willie: Ya' know I can't figure you.

Dan: What's to figure?

Willie: I mean what are you in this for? You want power, you want revenge? What is it?

Dan: It's simple, Willy. I...just wanna be free. How 'bout you?

Willie: So do I. And I hate white folks.

Dan: Hate...white folks? This...is not about hate white folks! It's about lovin' freedom enough to die, or kill for it if necessary! Now you gonna need more than hate to sustain you when this thing begins. Now if you feel that way, you're no good to us...and you're no good to yourself! You ever kill a man, Willy?!

Willie: ...No.

Dan: I have! In Korea...and when you spill a man's guts in the gutter you see how fast hate disappears unless...you like killin' and I don't think you will. Now some of the Cobras will. Stud will.

Willie: Why Stud?

Dan: Because he's a killer. He doesn't know it yet...but he is.


Greenlee's statement about "beggin' for crumbs", is used by Cook's character in the film when discussing things with the Cobras. Also of note, the fictionalized violent message in the film isn't the intention of the filmmakers, or Greenlee himself. It's all about self reliance and making one's own way. The violence of the film is a response to the oppression of the times. It's a release of the anger that surely was felt by African Americans of the time. Another way this picture is strangely prophetic are the parallels to the allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency had a hand in the training of Osama Bin Laden and the Mujahedeen, Afghan fighters engaging Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the late 1980's.


Just as Dan Freeman does for the Cobras and the other militants in THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR, Bin Laden allegedly took the training learned from the CIA and taught it to his own growing, private army (Al Qaeda) which would be instrumental in the 9/11 attacks on US soil.


Although it's obvious the production had little money, what makes the guerrilla filmmaking of SPOOK work are its screenplay (by Greenlee, himself), the performance of Lawrence Cook as Dan Freeman and the pictures angry atmosphere which will no doubt hit home and be viscerally understood by those who lived through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and into the 1970's. Special attention should be paid to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Dr. King's assassination and the Poor People's March of 1968. The latter march was a unification march for all races to perpetuate change in American society and our economy; something currently lacking in this current administration. Dr. King wished for peace and freedom for all men.


THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR (1973) wants the same thing, but gets its pent up frustrations across as a wake up call for those to stop waiting for hand outs and start paving the way for a future of self sufficiency and dependence in one's own ability to obtain and succeed. Pulled from distribution by United Artists for fear of the violence the film may incur, the film has been restored and was re-released on DVD in a respectable special edition back in 2004. This film is a brilliant work that doesn't deserve to languish in obscurity, but should be seen by any serious film fan, or anyone with an interest in society in general.

This review is representative of the Obsidian Home Entertainment DVD