Watch Slaughter For Free

Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

An Exercise In Nonsense

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Blaxploitation copped a lot of grief. White people called it subversive, a lot of black folks considered it self-abusive. Those who loved it, and still do, took it on its own terms, as simple, trashy fun.Sadly, it's fun that is sorely missing from this lame Jim Brown vehicle. Brown plays the titular ex-Marine and all-round bad-ass whose father is murdered by some Latin American gangsters. Whatever Slaughter actually does for a living is obviously not so important that he can't drop it in a heartbeat to and work for some CIA-esque law agency who are trying to shut the gangsters down. With all the money and equipment they have at their disposal, they haven't been able to do this, so they recruit Slaughter to do it for them because... well, presumably, for some reason, they think he can. Sound silly? It is.Unlike many of the lighter Blaxploitation films, there are no winks to the audience here. No, the film-makers seem to actually want us to take them seriously. This is the film's downfall.Jim Brown is charismatic enough, though he's no Richard Roundtree or Fred Williamson. Stella Stevens genuinely shines as his "love" interest and a young Rip Torn is positively loony (and totally out-of-place) as the goon-turned-boss out to get Slaughter. The rest is padding. The action sequences are barely worth watching and the script is not a patch on the films it clearly tries to emulate.All things considered, Slaughter is really one for die-hard Blaxploitation fans and/or completists. All others proceed with caution.

Slaughter (1972) ** (out of 4)Ex Green Beret Slaughter (Jim Brown) seeks vengeance against the Mob who killed his father and soon teams up with some Feds to track down the gang and take them out one by one including the head guy (Rip Torn). This AIP blaxploitation flick has a lot going for it but I found the direction to be all over the place and there were a few too many slow spots to be a complete winner, which is a shame because there's a terrific cast on display here. The screenplay is your typical revenge tale but I think the film could have benefited from a small re-write because what we have here isn't all that interesting because the script really lets us down in terms of the bad guys. We have a couple different bad guys but neither of them are very interesting and I think the film would have benefited by touching them up a tad bit more especially since you have an actor like Torn eating up the scenery and turning in a fine performance. Brown, not the greatest actor out there, but he still manages to be quite cool in the role and he's got some funny comic timing as well. The sequence where he crashes into a party and the servant asks if he has an invitation and Brown slowly pulls out his gun and says "yep" is certainly one of the highlights of the film. We also get Cameron Mitchell in a couple brief scenes and it's always fun seeing him. Even though all the guys do a good job it's the beautiful Stella Stevens who steals the film. It's not her acting that steals the movie but her chest, which is constantly coming out of no matter what type of outfit she's wearing.

Somehow, in even the most sleazy, tacky and sordid surroundings, Brown was able to retain a level of dignity and appeal in his movies. This film revels in the various hallmarks of the Blaxpoitation genre, but Brown comes out of it unscathed. He plays a former Green Beret whose parents are killed by the Mob (his father was heavily involved with them.) When he tries to exact revenge, he winds up recruited by Treasury Department official Mitchell to work together in bringing down several mobsters in Mexico. Here, he is aided by Gordon and, to a lesser degree Clark. Alfe is the primary fat cat with Torn as his second in command. Things get complicated and very ugly when Alfe sends Torn's ex-hooker girlfriend (Stevens) to soften up (or harden?) Brown. Brown, though very low-key through most of the film, presents such an amiable presence despite the tawdriness of the material that he makes this film worth watching. His "shoot first, ask questions later" character is somewhat ill-defined, but he gives the film some honor. Gordon does an admirable job as his short, adoring sidekick who wishes he had even a tenth of Brown's magnetism and ability. Torn gives a brooding, slimy, but interesting performance as a racist, vicious thug. Stevens gets a showy dress (and undress!) rehearsal for her memorable role as an ex-prostitute in "The Poseidon Adventure" (filmed just after this.) Her look in this film is precisely the same, though she has some far more adult scenes in this one. Brown's sex scenes with Stevens had to have been quite the eye-openers in 1972 as they still are even today! It's clear that the two had chemistry together and clearly enjoyed their relationship as actors. Alfe (who, oddly, has not one other screen credit to his name) is distinctive and memorable (if, at times, unintentionally funny.) With a Mr. Roarke hairdo and with a voice that may not be the actor's own, he nonetheless does a decent job of presenting a man with power and influence. Mitchell hardly appears and Clark's role is an almost total throwaway (though she has one memorably hilarious exit from an apartment doorway!) This film is not for everyone as it is decidedly politically incorrect with plenty of the "N" word flying around. However, it is filled with interesting lead actors who give their all to their roles and help it to rise above cheaper variations on the genre. A few of the bit players are bad, but they aren't around long in most cases. Only some of the interior shots in hotel rooms or offices betray a lack of budget (with rotten sound and lighting.) There is definite overuse of a fish-eye lens which becomes distracting and is a by-product of the era. Much of the film, though, comes off as pretty slick with a terrific title song, some well-handled action scenes and enough spark in the dialogue to hold one's interest. It's the type of flick where the men refer to each other as "baby" and even "sweetheart" all in the name of that inimitable 1970's funk. It was followed by an even more lurid, but entertaining, sequel.

It kicks off a little slow, but by the time they get to Mexico, things pick up and get pretty smokin' in the conclusion--Jim Brown's entrance to the casino is terriffic, it's got the shock value of having a dwarf thrown through your bay window. His later entrance to the bad guys' lair from the car is also classic. Jim Brown isn't a great actor, but his ass-kicking stoicism is at it's best here, as he slaps down legions of bad guys with barely a raised eyebrow. (Did you know that, aside from his football skills, Jim Brown was supposedly the greatest Jai Lai player on earth?) Stella Stevens and Rip Torn are also very good, but even higher praise goes to Billy Preston's theme song.