A man has
to have a dream. To succeed, to take care of his mother, to be respected,
to have money, to take no shit from anyone. Especially the Man. Five years
in prison will give you time to think about it. Goldie (Max Julien) comes
out after being sentenced after a shootout in a junk yard with his good friend
Slim (Richard Pryor) able to escape the cops. The two white racist cops (Don
Gordon, William Watson) had come over to his inert body and talked about
just killing him to save the city money - but the paperwork stopped them.
They are both as crooked as Goldie but the police badge gives them license
to do so. Now Goldie wants to start over. No more dope dealing. Something
better. His own business. The tried and true profession of being a pimp.
They say prostitution is the oldest profession, but chances are they always
had a business manager to take their share of the money and protect them.
Goldie is in the protection racket.
The Blaxploitation genre was in full swing
by 1973 and this joined the crowd of Black Caesar, Cleopatra Jones (which
Julien wrote the script for), Coffee and Hell Up in Harlem. People more learned
in the genre than I am, think this film is one of the best. And perhaps it
is, more grounded in reality than the romanticism of many of the others.
Part of the reason for that is the background of the film production. The
script was written by Robert Poole on toilet paper while he was in prison
- it is his only credit in the film industry. The director Michael
Campus then worked with a real pimp, Frank Ward, to get things right. Ward
shows up for a quick thanks in that gala event - before he was killed in
a car shooting during filming. Ward provided the extras from his neighborhood.
The Black Panthers also had a rooting interest in the film and Campus had
to make a deal with Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to film in Oakland.
Goldie with his friend Slim set about putting
together a stable of girls. Goldie is a smooth operator - first romancing
the girls - then marketing to them the great lifestyle of prostitution -
the money, the fresh air, the clothes - and he soon has ten girls working
the streets and each giving him $100 every night. Nicer than your stereotypical
pimp in the films, but when they don't deliver or get lazy, he has to crack
down as any boss would. A pimp has to be a pimp.
But his past begins to catch up with him.
Those two racist cops want a cut but Goldie won't play that game and his
old boss The Fatman (George Murdoch) wants him back and for him to stop his
brother (Roger Mosley - TC in Magnum) in stopping drug dealers. This has
a good script - realistic dialogue - a few good speeches, one by Mosley about
creating a Black America within White America - a preacher about drugs and
Goldie to his girls like a Pimp Cult Leader. Julien is terrific in this -
charming when he has to be, ruthless when needed. He never went on to do
much more in films. I wonder why. The mother is played by none other than
Junita Moore who had been nominated for an Oscar for her role in Imitation
of Life.
