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One of the better black exploitation pictures to come out of the Seventies was Cotton Comes To Harlem where Raymond St. Jacques and Godfrey Cambridge gave a black twist to the male buddy film that so many white actors had done over the years going all the way back to James Cagney and Pat O'Brien.

St. Jacques and Cambridge play a pair of police detectives assigned to a precinct north of Central Park where they've drawn duty being security for a rally headed by the Reverend Calvin Lockhart who's got a nascent Back to Africa movement going. He's collecting money at his rally and preaching up a storm when some masked bandits armed with automatic weapons take off with the proceeds. The money gets hidden in a bale of cotton and then the bale gets ripped off.

Our two detectives got a whole host of suspects, some white numbers gangsters from Pleasant Avenue, black militants, the good reverend himself who St. Jacques has a passionate dislike for and various and assorted other criminal types. Lockhart is one charismatic preacher and as he says himself, he could be another Marcus Garvey who immediately came to mind before Lockhart mentioned his name during the film.

John Anderson and Eugene Roche are St. Jacques and Cambridge's superiors in the police department, Anderson impatient with them and Roche inclined to give them plenty of room to maneuver. Judy Pace plays Lockhart's mistress and one seductive temptress if there ever was one. And we can't forget Redd Foxx in a delightful performance as an old rummy whose ship might just be coming in.

Cotton Comes To Harlem moves at a very fast pace with absolutely not a wasted frame of film. It holds up very well after almost 40 years even if those fashions and those Afros don't.

This is a great blaxploitation film of 1970, this movie includes witty humor, obviously fake stunts, words spoken that don't match lips, beautiful women, gun wielding cops, a cheating preacha, a dumb white cop, Red Foxx as a junk dealer(pre-Sanford and Son), by the way, just wait for his postcard, This movie is one of my favorites, some great moments of humor from the junkie half way through the film. Check this one out

This is an early blaxploitation flick, that would had probably been considered to be very racist, was it not directed by an African American director and not been a part of the early blaxploitation era.

I mean seriously, just think about it. Here we have a bunch of African American persons who are searching for a bale of cotton, at one point two characters crash into a cart of melons and in an attempt to control a large crowd, one of the characters throws a bunch of chickens into the crowd. But of course the movie isn't racist and is simply a silly black urban comedy, that pokes fun at lots of the prejudices against black society. And as a silly entertaining movie, this movie really works out well.

It by no means is a great movie though. The movie just doesn't always makes sense with its story and also the way it ends seems very random, though the characters all pretend like it was something they planned out. The movie is also often too silly for its own good and the movie really goes over-the-top with its comedy at times.

But luckily this all hardly goes at the expense of its entertainment value. I can definitely see a large crowd having tons of fun with watching this movie.

The movie really has some good characters in it and the two lead cops Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson are great charismatic leading characters. I would had loved to see more movies featuring those two but only one sequel starring Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques in those roles got made. Just imaging Shaft times two and you have Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. Not that the actors playing them are very impressive but they are just some two very charismatic and entertaining characters, who don't necessarily always play by the rules. Calvin Lockhart as the main villain of the movie is also a very good and entertaining villain and Calvin Lockhart is probably also being the best actor of the movie and about the only one who also had a decent acting career before and afterward.

But still biggest name involved with this movie was Ossie Davis, who directed this movie. It actually was his directorial debut and you could tell that this movie was low-key and fairly cheaply made. Considering those circumstance, this movie is even more an accomplishment from Davis. He actually directed a bunch of other blaxploitation flicks, that nobody has ever heard off and are even more obscure and hard to get than this movie already is. A bit of a shame, since he really seemed to be a director who understood and embraced the genre. But oh well, at least he still had an all the more impressive career as an actor though, so you don't have to feel bad for him.

By no means a great movie but it's a very entertaining one!

6/10

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One of the most influential pictures ever to shoot onto the screen, "Cotton Comes To Harlem" spawned the beginning of the blaxploitation action boom in 1970 by delivering a refreshingly different detective action yarn with a lot of humor,a lot of hard-hitting drama with a lot of black soul(It was know as SOULPOWER!). An unbeatable mix of fastpaced adventure and sheer comic having spiced with spectacular shootouts and chases with a lot of fast talking and tough repartee with solid performances by Godfrey Cambridge,Raymond St. Jacques and Calvin Lockhart no to mention to comedic timing of Redd Foxx. This picture became a milestone for a genre of action movies that would remain throughout the rest of that decade(including its sequel "Come Back Charleston Blue" two years later).

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows two police officers investigating a case where over $70,000 was stolen from a church. The police believe the reverend of the church is corrupt and something about his illegal activities led to the robbery. The reverend claims to be the voice of the people and wrongfully investigated.

This movie is directed by Ossie Davis (Black Girl) in his directorial debut and stars Godfrey Cambridge (The President's Analyst), Calvin Lockhart (Predator 2), Raymond St. Jacques (They Live), Redd Foxx (Harlem Nights) and Helen Martin (Good Times).

This is a movie with a mediocre storyline but the circumstances and cast make up for it. Red Foxx is hilarious in this movie and there are beautiful women in this with a good mix of nudity thrown in here and there. The movie is a nice combination of comedy and action and contains lots of flying people. The plot is unpredictable and I really loved the ending.

Overall this is far from a blaxploitation classic but is still entertaining and worth a viewing. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

This movie begins with a con-man by the name of "Reverend Deke O'Malley" (Calvin Lockhart) sponsoring a "Back to Africa" initiative and selling tickets to people in Harlem who are naive enough to trust him. However, his plans go awry when he attempts to fleece his partner who stages a heist and makes off with the $87,000 in revenue generated at Reverend O'Malley's benefit rally. This results in two hardened police detectives, "Grave Digger Jones" (Godfrey Cambridge) and "Coffin Ed Johnson" (Raymond St. Jacques) getting involved despite the obstacles put in their path by Reverend O'Malley, his girlfriend "Iris" (Judy Pace) and their own Chief of Police, "Captain Bryce" (John Anderson). Now, rather than disclose the rest of the movie and possibly ruining it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this was a pretty good "Blaxploitation" film. Although the story got a little complicated at first, all of the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit by the end of the movie. And while I liked the performances of the aforementioned Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques, it was clearly Judy Pace who was the main attraction. In any case, while it may not be the best "Blaxploitation" film ever made it still wasn't too bad and I recommend it to those who enjoy movies of this sort.

COTTON COMES TO HARLEM is the adaptation of Chester Himes' 1965 novel of the same title and stars Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques as his two Harlem police detectives "Gravedigger" Jones and "Coffin" Ed Johnson respectively. Their motto: "[We] may have broke some heads, but we ain't never broke no promise." Jones and Johnson are on the trail of "Reverend" Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart. O'Malley is funding a "Back to Africa" cruise by taking donations from the good people of the 'hood. However, before he can make his getaway, a robbery breaks out and the money, hidden in a bale of cotton, gets lost in Harlem. This sends the cops, O'Malley and the robbers on a wild search through the New York area for the stolen loot. Redd Foxx appears as a junk dealer (two years before SANFORD AND SON) who holds the key to the fate of the money.

Oddly enough, the movie is less rough then Himes' novel (which had quite a bit of rough language and sex in it), yet received an R rating back then. It would hardly register as a PG-13 today. COTTON COMES TO HARLEM should be seen to see the true origins of the genre known as "blaxploitation" (black exploitation movies).

COTTON is quite an enjoyable action romp. It is especially light compared to the later "blaxploitation" films that followed it.

Not a bad movie, good for the genre but has aged significantly.

Plenty of good action and a few laughs espcially courtesy of Godfrey Cambridge who at times looks 100 percent like Mister Potato Head its total gold.

Red Foxx is lots of fun as the cotton chaser, popping up with some true highlights in the movie.

The plot is a little meh as is the acting of Calvin Lockhart who looks more like he is auditioning for the lead in Dracula.

Still its a bit of rolocking fun that is easy to enjoy. Not for those looking to get offended by the past. Don't take it seriously at all and just enjoy the show :)

As might be inferred from its name, this is a comedy, or was meant to be. Unfortunately it isn't that funny, even for those of us who have some familiarity with the nuances of urban black life in the America of this time, if only from similar films.

"Cotton Comes To Harlem" is also a thriller, and it would have made better viewing if this aspect had been played up, which would have entailed playing down the comic book violence.

The bottom line is that $87,000 is stolen in a blatant robbery, and law enforcement including two black detectives turn Harlem upside down in pursuit of it. That sum was worth considerably more then than in today's money, but not so much this was the Great Train Robbery of New York State. The cotton reference is not an allusion to de old plantation but to the stolen money somehow ending up in a bale of cotton.

One of the detectives is played by Godfrey Cambridge who just six years later was dead from a heart attack at just 43. This film does not make a good epitaph for him or for anyone else.

Cambridge and St. Jacques are one of all time best buddy cop duos. They are hip, sexy, and funny. The mystery is intriguing, and the uncomfortable situations keep the viewer's attention throughout. This is one to be seen uncut, because a lot of the humor is quite racy. It's a time capsule in a way also since the Harlem depicted here no longer exists.

Ossie Davis's early blaxpoitation pic has clearly been made on a shoestring budget and, despite its excellent source material, fails to deliver a coherent or engaging plot. Probably of more interest as a time capsule of Harlem in the late sixties/early seventies, the plot sees a couple of tough-talking police detectives, Coffin Ed (Godfrey Cambridge)and Gravedigger (Raymond St. Jacques) hunting for a bale of cotton containing $87,000. The money has been swindled from Harlem's poor black people by slick Marthin Luther wannabe Reverend Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart). The film is fairly typical of its genre, although it hasn't really nailed down the street smart characters yet (at times it is played like a comedy, which just doesn't sit right with the material): Women get naked and beaten up by the men, and the white characters are either incidental or stupid.

Somebody states that picture was the first Blaxploitation, how l've really love this genre to find it almost unique, all those black hot girls talking in a hard jargon accent, those young black characters running from police, endless night clubs with brightness neon on the 70', it's came to me my early years on São Paulo, many young girls with big black power's hair was fashionably, in this picture has all this, but who stolen the show was a humble old man called uncle Budd played magnificently by Redd Foxx, directed by the great black star Ossie Davis where he imply his fingerprints on this, a casting were so great, having in a leading role an unforgettable black odd face Godfrey Cambridge on a smirking policeman and his intrinsic partner!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: -DVD / Rating: 7.5

I've seen quite a few of the so called "Blaxploitation" films, though not all of them. And I can appreciate most of them for what they are, black cinema intended for firstly a black audience during the early 1970's. This social and historical context is obviously important to bear in mind when watching these films. I don't think any of them are great per se, some are good, some middling, and some bad. These are like modern day urban Westerns in my mind. I think there are similarities between the genres. But these Blaxploitation films seem to want to remind us, the wider mainstream audience, that even one century after slavery and after the recent civil rights movement that African-Americans are still here, still creating art, unique culture, yet still struggling with basic problems centered around urban economic opportunity or lack thereof, safety and violence, drugs and vice, a sometimes racially hostile structure and institutions over them, but also dangers from greedy or seedy elements from within their own communities as well.

So I view a film like "Cotton Comes to Harlem" thru this sort of lens. This is one of the first films of its genre, making it an important one both artistically and culturally. I also see a lot of elements used in the James Bond film "Live and Let Die" which copied or capitalized, or paid homage to, depending on one's perspective, the Blaxploitation genre. "Live and Let Die" is a good film worth seeing in my mind, as is "Cotton Comes to Harlem." But I am only ratting Cotton a 6/10 because the embedded racial awareness and consciousness just becomes too much weight for the film to bear. And by the end the film feels leaden and sinks under the weight of all the quips and gibes. While this film is well made technically and has an interesting story to tell, it just almost feels too absurd at times to even exist, like I'm watching something paradoxically weighty yet ephemeral. In fact the whole Blaxploitation genre which really only last five years from 1970-75 feels that way, like some unstable artificially created radioactive isotope or something which will invariably disappear. Yet it stills feels like much can be learned or gleaned from watching films like this today. Just go in with a thick skin and don't expect to much, but it's worth a watch.

Continuing to review movies featuring people of color in chronological order for Black History Month, we're still in 1970 when director Ossie Davis helps adapt Chester Himes' novel of the above title name with Arnold Perl co-writing. So it's with this film that we're introduced to the main characters of Gravedigger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge) and Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques), Harlem detectives bent on protecting their own people. The villain here is the Rev. Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart) who's swindling many of the city's poor residents of their money which is hidden in a bale of cotton. Among his accomplices is an Iris (Judy Pace). I'll stop there and just say that there are many witty lines and some funny scenes especially when they concern a dumb white fellow officer named Jarema (Dick Sabol). His scenes with the sexy Ms. Pace are highlights here. Also, Redd Foxx-in a role that anticipates his later TV character Fred Sandford-is Booker Washington Sims a.k.a. Uncle Bud who amusingly tries to sell the bale before attempting taking it back. Also amusing is Helen Martin-later of the TV series "227"-as a church sister. Davis also provides many exciting action set pieces. Does the whole thing make sense? Well, if you think too much about it, no. But it's a whole lot of fun nonetheless. So on that note, Cotton Comes to Harlem comes highly recommended.

Over the years, I've seen this movie on old, grainy, scratchy prints with runny color and muffled sound. I just viewed the DVD of this movie, and it's the first viewing I've had of a decent print with a decent video transfer. This has led me to revise what I long thought of the film.

First revision: I hadn't before realized how good the cinematography is. The images are detailed, well-composed, and carefully lit; the editing is sharp without being obvious.

I also hadn't recognized how good the acting is; the actors are all energetic without chewing up the scenery, they are clearly working hard to capture the right tone for the piece without looking like they're working hard.

Finally, now that I can hear all the dialog clearly, I realize, first, just how funny it is, and second, just how true to the source novel it is. Although Davis adds touches here and there, and of course some of the novel gets left out, Davis is really making a strenuous effort to remain true to the spirit of Chester Himes, one of the finest American novelists writing in the crime genre.

Because Davis pushes his characterizations perilously close to stereotypes, the film will probably never receive the recognition it deserves. I think Davis manages to restrain the stereotyping at all the right moments, and the whole film comes together beautifully. In short, this is a true classic.

Save your money and read the book. The movie was childish and stupid and horribly written and directed. Just juvenile garbage.

The biggest compliment I can give this pretty nondescript entry in the Blaxploitation genre is that early on, around the ten, maybe fifteen minute mark, there's a pretty damn sweet car chase scene. Apart from that, there's nothing to really highlight. Your shamelessly standard ill-gotten-money-gets-ripped-off-now-let's-scramble-to-find-it racket, handled way better in the likes of 'Across 110th Street.'

Based on a novel by Chester Himes, Cotton Comes to Harlem boasts sharp dialogue and super performances from top to bottom. Cult favorites Calvin Lockhart and Redd Foxx are great, but the real fire belongs to the sublime Godfrey Cambridge as wise police detective Gravedigger Jones. The colorful story follows Gravedigger and his partner Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques) as they keep tabs on charlatan evangelist Lockhart during his high-octane revival campaign. The film has solid action, but is also very funny. Upon seeing it, one will wonder why Cambridge never became a much bigger star.