Black Caesar (film)
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| - | '''Larry Cohen''' (born '''Lawrence G. Cohen''' on [[July 15]], [[1938]], [[New York, New York]], [[United States|USA]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[film producer]], [[Film director|director]], and [[screenwriter]]. Although he writes and produces for others, he is best known for directing his own low-budget but inventive [[horror films]] and [[thrillers]]. Cohen moved to the Riverdale section of the Bronx at an early age, eventually majoring in film at the [[City College of New York]]. | ||
| - | Cohen started his career in [[television]]; writing on many shows and creating the cult classics ''[[Branded]]'' and ''[[The Invaders]]''. He wrote, produced, and directed his first [[feature film]], ''Dial Rat for Terror'' in 1972. He came to prominence with ''[[It's Alive (movie)|It's Alive]]'' (1974), a horror film about an [[epidemic]] of fanged predatory babies. Though cheap, it is notable for its satirical [[black humor]] (the hero's son slaughters the medical staff at birth) and for its exploration of the parents’ dilemma: the hero, who has fathered one of the creatures, at first disowns it but later tries to protect it despite its obvious [[anti-social]] tendencies. ''It's Alive'' is also noted for being scored by [[Bernard Herrmann]]. Cohen made two [[sequels]], ''It Lives Again'' (1978) and ''It's Alive III: Island of the Alive'' (1987). | + | '''''Black Caesar''''' (released theatrically in the UK as '''''Godfather of Harlem''''') is a 1973 American [[blaxploitation]] crime drama film, starring [[Fred Williamson]], [[Gloria Hendry]] and [[Julius Harris]]. The film was [[screenwriter|written]] and [[film director|directed]] by [[Larry Cohen]]. ''Black Caesar'' is a [[remake]] of the 1931 film ''[[Little Caesar (film)|Little Caesar]]''. It features a [[Film score|musical score]] (''[[Black Caesar (album)|Black Caesar]]'') by [[James Brown]] (with heavy input from his [[bandleader]] [[Fred Wesley]]), his first experience with writing music for film. A sequel titled ''[[Hell Up in Harlem]]'' was released in late 1973. |
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| - | Cohen's films are full of quotable dialogue. In ''Full-Moon High'' (1981), a teenage [[werewolf]] puts off his girlfriend's advances with the excuse that it's “his time of the month.” ''The Stuff'' (1985) concerns a parasitic goo from beneath the Earth's crust that manages to get itself marketed as a dessert. The film's hero announces proudly at the beginning, "''Nobody'' could be as dumb as ''I'' appear," and later delivers the maxim, "Everybody has to eat shaving cream now and then." | + | |
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| - | In ''[[Q (film)|Q]]'' (aka ''The Winged Serpent'', 1982), the [[Aztec]] [[god]] [[Quetzalcoatl]] is resurrected and flies about [[New York City]] snatching [[human sacrifices]] off the skyscrapers. Cohen was able to employ the talents of [[Michael Moriarty]], [[David Carradine]], and [[Candy Clark]], and the film is one of his most sophisticated, but it still manages to include such lines as “Maybe his head got loose and fell off.” and "I want a Nixon type pardon!" | + | |
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| - | Perhaps Cohen’s most complex film, as well as his darkest, is ''[[God Told Me To]]'' (aka ''Demon'', 1976), in which a troubled [[Catholic]] detective is faced with an epidemic of murders carried out by apparently normal people who claim, with quiet satisfaction, that God told them to do it. The film mixes [[science fiction]] and horror with religious satire. | + | |
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| - | In 1987, Cohen made an unofficial sequel to [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Salem's Lot]]''. With typical chutzpah, Cohen threw out all of King’s characters and kept only the basic premise of a small American town inhabited by [[vampires]]. ''[[A Return to Salem's Lot]]'' starred [[Michael Moriarty]] (a Cohen regular) and [[Samuel Fuller]], and satirises small-town snobbery and hypocrisy: a little old woman vampire refers coyly to her drinking problem while the evil king-vampire is shown to be, at bottom, little more than a rather nasty [[Conservatism|conservative]] politician. | + | |
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| - | Besides monster movies, Cohen has also made thrillers such as ''The Private Files of [[J. Edgar Hoover]]'' (1977), which portrays the [[FBI]] chief as a sexually repressed, paranoid megalomaniac; ''Special Effects'' (1984), the twisted tale of a policeman, a murderous film director, and the woman who gets turned into the double of his leading lady; and ''[[The Ambulance]]'' (1990), a [[Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock]]-style entertainment in which [[Eric Roberts]] investigates the sudden disappearance of a young woman. | + | |
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| - | Because of their frequently hurried production and their bargain-basement budgets, Cohen's films are sometimes murkily shot or messily edited, but Cohen’s freewheeling approach (and independence from studio interference) enables him to attack a number of satirical targets that often get off lightly in the mainstream: Christianity in ''God Told Me To'', nice little towns in ''A Return to 'Salem's Lot'', family values in the ''Alive'' trilogy, consumerism and greedy, ruthless food companies in ''The Stuff''. In the third film of the ''Alive'' trilogy, Cohen even manages to work in some telling swipes against American demonisation of [[Cuba]]. | + | |
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| - | Cohen was influenced by director [[Sam Fuller]] and now lives in a house formerly owned by Mr. Fuller. In recent years, Cohen has curtailed his directing and producing activities, and has focused mainly on writing. His work was primarily for low budget films and television until 1998, when Cohen's spec script ''[[Phone Booth (film)|Phone Booth]]'' triggered active interest and aggressive bidding from major Hollywood players. [[Joel Schumacher]] directed the resulting 2002 film, starring [[Colin Farrell]]. Cohen was also credited with the story for the 2004 release ''[[Cellular (film)|Cellular]]'', another thriller with a telecommunications theme. | + | |
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| - | In 2003, Cohen was at the center of a contentious lawsuit against 20th Century Fox. Cohen and his producing partner Martin Poll claimed that 20th Century Fox had intentionally plagiarized Cohen's work and that the film ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' was inspired by Cohen's pitch entitled ''Cast of Characters''. Comic book writer [[Alan Moore]], the author of the graphic novel upon which ''League'' was based, was forced to testify. Moore forcefully denied allegations from Cohen's camp suggesting that he had been involved in a scheme to steal Cohen's story. | + | |
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| - | ==Partial filmography== | + | |
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| - | * ''[[Pick Me Up|Masters of Horror - "Pick Me Up"]]'' ([[2005]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Air Force One: The Final Mission]]'': A documentary ([[2004]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Original Gangstas]]'' (AKA Hot City) ([[1996]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[As Good As Dead (TV movie)|As Good As Dead]]'' (TV Movie) ([[1995]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Ambulance]]'' ([[1990]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Wicked Stepmother]]'' ([[1989]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Deadly Illusion]]'' ([[1987]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[It's Alive III: Island of the Alive]]'' ([[1987]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[A Return to Salem's Lot]]'' ([[1987]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Stuff]]'' ([[1985]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Special Effects (movie)|Special Effects]]'' ([[1984]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Perfect Strangers (1984 film)|Perfect Strangers]]'' (AKA Blind Alley) ([[1984]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Q (1982 film)|Q]]'' (aka ''The Winged Serpent'') ([[1982]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[See China and Die]]'' (AKA ''Momma the Detective'') (TV movie) ([[1981]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Full Moon High]]'' ([[1981]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[It Lives Again]]'' ([[1978]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover]]'' ([[1977]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[God Told Me To]]'' (AKA ''Demon'', AKA ''God Told Me to Kill'') ([[1976]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[It's Alive (movie)|It's Alive]]'' ([[1974]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Hell Up in Harlem]]'' (sequel to ''[[Black Caesar (film)|Black Caesar]]'') ([[1973]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Black Caesar (film)|Black Caesar]]'' (AKA ''The Godfather of Harlem'') ([[1973]]) | + | |
| - | * ''[[Bone (1972 film)|Bone]]'' (AKA ''Dial Rat for Terror'', AKA ''Beverly Hills Nightmare'', AKA ''Housewife'') (Starring [[Yaphet Kotto]]) ([[1972]]) | + | |
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Revision as of 09:21, 4 November 2016
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Black Caesar (released theatrically in the UK as Godfather of Harlem) is a 1973 American blaxploitation crime drama film, starring Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry and Julius Harris. The film was written and directed by Larry Cohen. Black Caesar is a remake of the 1931 film Little Caesar. It features a musical score (Black Caesar) by James Brown (with heavy input from his bandleader Fred Wesley), his first experience with writing music for film. A sequel titled Hell Up in Harlem was released in late 1973.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Black Caesar (film)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
