Willie, my
man. Shit is going to come tumbling down on you like a rainstorm. A tsunami
of trouble is headed your way. Willie is a pimp. It is no wonder that black
organizations back in the 1970s were upset by the Blaxploitation films. The
heroes were often pimps or drug dealers. Shaft was a nice exception. But
none of them dressed as well as Willie with a vast wardrobe of garishly colored
outfits accessorized by fur hats that should have been in Dr. Zhivago. His
cars are as slick - Willie on the front license plate, Dynamite on the back
one. The interior all in leopard designs. It is advertising.
It is a good life as the film begins with
his own song "Seven women in the palm of his hand" as they stroll through
a high-class hotel like Patton entering Berlin. A convention is going on
with myriads of men all in their Laurel and Hardy lodge hats swooning as
the girls pass by. Pulling them inside to their room. Willie wants to run
his business like a production line - like GM he tells one of his stable.
Individually they are all bitches in his vernacular. These are all good-looking
women of racial diversity - DEI - with style and Willie is their man. A protector.
A lover. A financial manager.
His latest find is Pashen played by Joyce
Walker, knockout deluxe. Walker was a top black model - the first black model
on the cover of Seventeen and the Look model for their Black is Beautiful
issue. She didn't go on to appear in many films - later married a Black Panther
which may not have helped much. Pashen is new to the game and soon arrested
by the cops. An ex-prostitute Cora (Diana Sands) wants to set her straight
- get her out of the life before it is too late - but the attraction of the
money, the lifestyle keeps pulling her back. The den where they all hang
out is set up like an Andy Warhol designed pad. In the world of pimps, Willie
is probably better than most. The occasional slap when they have to be bailed
out or the tricks are coming too slow - but then he turns on the charm to
get them back into line. Willie is played by Roscoe Orman, known to Sesame
Street fans as Gordon in 658 episodes. Never saw the show, but I doubt if
he was a pimp on it.
Then it all goes bad. Cora tries pulling
Pashen away and telling the other girls that they are suckers. She calls
herself the Ralph Nader for hookers. Besides that, the cops target him for
maximum harassment and the pimp union comes after him because he won't join
the organization. That good life is slipping away. The rise and fall
of a pimp. New York City is a tough city. This is easy on the eyeballs -
the colors are a treat and the costume designer deserved an Oscar.
Orman is great in the role - cruel to be kind. Perhaps the filmmakers were
trying too hard to slip in a social message about the evils of prostitution
and drugs and yet at the same time made the life look pretty damn cool. Martha
Reeves sings a few songs.
