Black Caesar: More of a referance to Little Caesar than Julius Caesar

Black Caesar stars Fred Williamson who I'm familiar with because of his role as Capt. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones in M*A*S*H and who you might know as Frost in From Dusk Till Dawn. I'm sorry, that was presumptuous of me. Maybe you're a big blaxploitation fan who's seen him in The Legend of Nigger Charley, Hammer, That Man Bolt, Hell Up in Harlem and Boss Nigger. Or you could know him from his professional football career where, according to Wikipedia "Williamson became one of football's first self-promoters, coining the nickname 'The Hammer'--because he used his forearm to deliver karate style blows to the heads of opposing receivers" (Seriously?!? You're allowed to do that?). Perhaps you know him from more recent roles in Original Gangstas or Starsky & Hutch. I don't know and I shouldn't assume.

The movie is fairly standard blaxploitation fare (Williamson gets tired of taking shit from the man and decides to start sticking it to him instead) and I really wasn't that engaged for the first hour or so while I was semi-busy transferring my CDs to my laptop. So, I was fairly unprepared for the intense ending to this one. (In case it's not clear, Spoiler Alert) After a failed assassination attempt, Williamson runs across half of New York using his hand to cover a nasty gunshot wound to his gut trying to track down his nemesis, who I'll just refer to as "Whitey". When Williamson finally catches up to his enemy, Whitey is ready and gets the drop on his critically wounded foe. This begins a sequence rife with symbolism as Whitey forces Williamson to kneel before him and shine his shoes in front of an American flag. Williamson then turns the table on his opponent by beating him with the shoeshine kit and telling Whitey that he's "going to die like a field nigger!" Then Williamson picks up the shoe polish and says to Whitey that he's "going to make you look real good" as he gives him a blackface makeover. Finally, Williamson attempts to force him to sing a minstrel tune as he beats Whitey to death. It's an incredibly powerful sequence and it's followed by a poignant sequence where Williamson himself is assaulted by a gang of black youths and left for dead in the wreckage of the ghetto to James Brown's "Down and Out in New York City".


This film taught me that a James Brown soundtrack makes everything way cooler.