When
this was released in 1973 it received a bunch of mediocre reviews and disappeared
faster than a popsicle in the hot sun. Then Tarantino released it on his
Rolling Thunder DVD label and it got a new life. A well-deserved resurrection.
Maybe the problem was that it was marketed as a Blaxploitation film with
a white guy in the lead role and no big black stars. Though most of the characters
are black, this is just a terrific cops and robbers film - many who just
happen to be black. I would almost put this up there with Across 110th Street
which had come out the previous year but with a much more recognizable cast.
Both films deal with race and throw a few racial epithets around - but calling
them Blaxploitation diminishes them a bit - they are both just good gritty
crime films. The 9000 is the police code for "Officer Down".
It takes place in Detroit. You don't get grittier than that. After
the riots and the white exodus. A passing parade of burnt out deserted buildings,
prostitutes, whore houses, dives and strip clubs. This was endorsed by the
city of Detroit but I can't imagine why. It is grim and rock bottom. I really
liked the downbeat rough atmosphere of the film. Nothing is pretty here.
Everything feels gray and in a late stage of decomposition. The crooks, the
cops, the prostitutes are all just trying to make a living in a dying city.
A black Congressman - as corrupt as a snake - announces that he is running
for Governor and has an impromptu fund raiser with black folks throwing in
their jewelry. But a group of well organized thieves all covered from head
to toe hold the place up and take it all.
Pressure is brought on the police to solve it quickly and they give the case
to the nose to the stone incorruptible cop who takes no shit from the upper
echelon and knows every rock to look under in this city of his. This is Bassett
played in a terrific performance by Alex Rocco. He just nails his cynical
angry working class character. He gets teamed up with a slick black cop on
his way up - Sergeant Williams (Hari Rhodes). They run down blind alleys,
a few shoot-outs and into a few dead bodies. But they get no closer. It is
well-paced, hard as nails, brings in various seedy characters to add color
and has a fantastic sprawling shoot-out at the end which is wonderfully choreographed.
It was directed by Arthur Marks who also directed Friday Foster and Bucktown.
In the cast also is the lovely Vonetta McGee and Scatman Crothers.
