Slaughter (1972)

I haven’t covered many Blaxploitation movies here at the site. If you are unaware of what I’m talking about with this genre the following link will explain it better than I can. Wikipedia is our friend! I watch a lot of these flicks, so I thought it was about time to correct that. So welcome to my first ever marathon of Blaxploitation movies.

Former football star Jim Brown stars as the titular character Slaughter. He is a Green Beret who comes home after his parents were killed in a car bomb. He understands that his father had mob connections, but his mother was innocent. That means that someone is about to pay for what they did to her. Starting with his Dad’s girlfriend he works his way back to the hitman, but just as he is about to put him down things go sideways. Slaughter gets caught up with the Treasury Department, he screwed up their investigation, and ends up in South America. Not only can he fix what he screwed up, but that is also where his parent’s killer is as well. Two birds one stone sort of thing.

I figured why not start off with one of the better but sadly lesser known Blaxploitation movies. Slaughter is a kick in the butt with the action starting from the opening scene and coming non-stop most of the way until another bit of car related violence at the end. In between we get car chases including one with a plane. There are many fistfights, a knife fight, gunfights, and Jim Brown even gets physical with a car. Seriously the bad guys are fighting him with cars while he jumps around them kicking ass! We do get some character development and a subplot of Slaughter falling for the head bad guys lady, but it is paced well so that it never slows the movie down. In fact, we get just enough to root for Slaughter and against Dominic (the assassin and main villain).

The editing of the action sequences are great and it flows perfectly on screen. Jim Brown wasn’t that far removed from his football career and was still a world class athlete. It shows as he is very smooth and natural in all the physical stuff he is asked to do. What gets lost and something a lot of people don’t realize is that he was a good actor as well. Sure, he might not be an Oscar level talent, though an argument can be made he was never given those types of roles. What isn’t debatable is that he can carry a movie.

The rest of the cast is equally as good. You have Stella Stevens as Ann, the gangster’s girlfriend who falls for Slaughter. Rip Torn is Dominic, the gangster who likes to drop “N” bombs and generally make an ass of himself. Torn is really good in this movie and you can’t wait for Slaughter to kill him. Don Gordon who is normally relegated to small supporting roles has a decent part as Harry, the partner Slaughter doesn’t want. Finally, there is a small glorified cameo from Cameron Mitchell. There is a lot of talent around Brown and it only helps to make the movie that much better.

What else haven’t I mentioned? There is a great theme song and a lot of fun groovy music. The camera work is great and includes a weird “fish eye” lens that gives some of the action sequences a unique look. Honestly, I don’t have a bad thing to say about this movie. It is exactly what I want when I sit down too watch an early seventies action movie and because of that I highly recommend Slaughter. Do yourself a favor and track down a copy of the movie.

 

Ó Copyright 2023 John Shatzer