Slaughter's Big Rip-Off | |
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Directed by | Gordon Douglas |
Written by | Charles Eric Johnson |
Produced by | Monroe Sachson |
Starring | Jim Brown Ed McMahon Don Stroud Gloria Hendry Dick Anthony Williams Brock Peters |
Cinematography | Charles F. Wheeler |
Edited by | Kenneth G. Crane Christopher Holmes |
Music by | James Brown Fred Wesley |
Production company | |
Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1 million (US/ Canada rentals) [1] [2] |
Slaughter's Big Rip-Off is a 1973 blaxploitation film directed by Gordon Douglas and written by Charles Eric Johnson. The film stars Jim Brown, Ed McMahon, Don Stroud, Brock Peters, Gloria Hendry and Dick Anthony Williams. The film was released on August 31, 1973, by American International Pictures. [3] [4] It is the sequel to the 1972 film Slaughter .
Slaughter (Jim Brown), a fierce Vietnam veteran and ex-Green Beret, had avenged the death of his parents by killing in Mexico the gangster responsible. He is now relocated in Los Angeles, California, where Slaughter sought to escape the past and try to have a tranquil life.
Slaughter goes to a friend's house for a lavish outdoor picnic and celebration. Meanwhile, a new crime boss, Duncan (Ed McMahon), is now after Slaughter, for having killed ex-Mafia boss Dominic Hoffo earlier. An old World War I biplane is seen flying by the outdoor celebration and then opening fire on the guests at the picnic. It results in the graphic death by headshot of Slaughter's friend, which reignites the old spark of fury and rage that Slaughter had when told of the death of his parents.
Duncan's first assassination attempt in essence is a failure and only succeeds in waking a sleeping beast. Duncan hires a new hit-man named Kirk (Don Stroud) to bring Slaughter to his demise. Rather than being in protective custody under the supervision of Duncan's crooked cops, Slaughter remains on the streets.
Slaughter's new friend is a police official, Det. Reynolds, who warns that his life is in peril. Slaughter also has a girlfriend, Marcia (Gloria Hendry), who is also being targeted by the mob, under Duncan's orders, to further provoke Slaughter.
Slaughter makes an agreement with Reynolds to obtain confidential documents of the Mafia's operations. He coaxes a drug-addicted pimp to assist him in breaking into Duncan's safe house and successfully escape with the documents. After gun fights, Slaughter and his pimp sidekick kill several of Duncan's guards and associates. In response, Duncan sends Kirk to kidnap Slaughter's girlfriend, a fatal mistake on Duncan's part.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [5] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
The album for Slaughter's Big Rip-Off and the songs associated with it were composed by James Brown. [7] On all media versions of the film however, the James Brown score has been replaced by new, generic funk sounds and versions of songs from the "Coffy" soundtrack.
Gloria Hendry is an American actress and former model. Hendry is best known for her roles in films from the 1970s, most notably: portraying Rosie Carver in 1973's James Bond film Live and Let Die; and Helen Bradley in the blaxploitation film Black Caesar, and the sequel, Hell Up in Harlem.
Across 110th Street is a 1972 American neo noir action thriller film directed by Barry Shear and starring Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa and Paul Benjamin. The film is set in Harlem, New York and takes its name from 110th Street, the traditional dividing line between Harlem and Central Park that functioned as an informal boundary of race and class in 1970s New York City.
Leonard Part 6 is a 1987 American spy parody film. It was directed by Paul Weiland and starred Bill Cosby, who also produced the film and wrote its story. The film also starred Gloria Foster as the villain, and Joe Don Baker. The film was shot in the San Francisco Bay Area. It earned several Golden Raspberry Awards; Cosby himself denounced and disowned it in the press in the weeks leading up to its release.
The Mack is a 1973 American blaxploitation crime drama film directed by California native Michael Campus, starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. The film also stars Oscar-nominee Juanita Moore and Tony-nominated actor Dick Anthony Williams. Filmed in Oakland, California the movie follows the rise and fall of Goldie, who returns from a five-year prison sentence to find that his brother is involved in Black nationalism. Goldie decides to take an alternative path, striving to become the city's biggest pimp.
Black Belt Jones is a 1974 American blaxploitation martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and starring Jim Kelly and Gloria Hendry. The film is a spiritual successor to Clouse's prior film Enter the Dragon, in which Kelly had a supporting role. Here, Kelly features in his first starring role as the eponymous character, a local hero who fights the Mafia and a local drug dealer threatening his friend's dojo.
Donald Lee Stroud is an American actor, musician, and surfer. Stroud has appeared in over 100 films and 200 television shows. He portrayed Disabled Stunt Driver Carl in Dukes Of Hazzard Season 2, Ep. 24 and 25 "Carnival of Thrills." 1980.
The Payback is the 37th studio album by American musician James Brown. The album was released in December 1973, by Polydor Records. It was originally scheduled to become the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Hell Up in Harlem, but was rejected by the film's producers, who dismissed it as "the same old James Brown stuff." A widely repeated story—including by Brown himself—that director Larry Cohen rejected the music as "not funky enough" is denied by Cohen. On the DVD commentary track for Black Caesar, Cohen states that executives at American International Pictures were already unhappy with Brown for delivering songs much longer than expected on Black Caesar and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off and opted for a deal with Motown Records instead. Cohen said the absence of Brown's music from Harlem still "breaks [his] heart."
Black Caesar is a 1973 American blaxploitation crime drama film written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry and Julius Harris. It features a musical score by James Brown, his first experience with writing music for film. A sequel titled Hell Up in Harlem was released in late 1973.
Hell Up in Harlem is a 1973 blaxploitation American neo-noir film, starring Fred Williamson and Gloria Hendry. Written and directed by Larry Cohen, it is a sequel to the film Black Caesar.
How Sweet It Is! is a 1968 comedy film starring James Garner and Debbie Reynolds, with a supporting cast including Terry-Thomas and Paul Lynde.
Bob Both is an American recording engineer and record producer, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1970s.
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement, the black power movement, and the Black Panthers spurred African-American artists to reclaim the power of depiction of their ethnicity, and institutions like UCLA to provide financial assistance for African-American students to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting a less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s, the genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters, or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s.
Valda Joanne Hansen was an American actress, known for her performances in a number of B-movies in the 1950s and 1970s.
The Razzie Award for Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst film adapted from some form of previous material. The category covers films that are prequels, sequels, remakes, reboots, spin-offs, film adaptations of other media franchises, mockbusters and "rip-offs".
Slaughter is a 1972 blaxploitation film directed by Jack Starrett and starring Jim Brown as a former Green Beret captain seeking revenge for a murder. Stella Stevens, Rip Torn, Don Gordon and Cameron Mitchell co-star. This film was followed by a sequel the following year, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973).
"Gimme Some More" is a 1971 song written by James Brown and recorded by his band, The J.B.'s. Released as a single on People Records, "Gimme Some More" also appeared on the 1972 album Food for Thought.
"Brother Rapp" is a 1970 funk song written and performed by James Brown. It was first released as a two-part single on King Records (K6285) in early 1970, but was quickly withdrawn from sale. It was released again later that year in a mechanically sped-up version that charted #2 R&B and #32 Pop. It also appeared on the album Sex Machine with overdubbed crowd noise, and Brown later issued it in a faded version with different guitar work, in 1973 for the Slaughter's Big Rip-Off soundtrack album. A live version of "Brother Rapp" is included on the album Love Power Peace.
"Money Won't Change You" is a song recorded by James Brown in 1966. It was released in edited form as a two-part single which charted No. 11 R&B and No. 53 Pop. Both parts of the single were included on Brown's 1967 album Sings Raw Soul.
"Sexy, Sexy, Sexy" is a 1973 song written and recorded by James Brown, for the film Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. The song appeared on the film's soundtrack, and was released as a single in 1973. The song, and wider album, emerged from an era which saw the rise of Blaxploitation films. Such films represented the struggle of African Americans against poverty and crime under a white-dominated society. While Sexy, Sexy, Sexy was received well by contemporary and modern audiences alike, it received negative reviews from critics. Brown used the same backing track and chord progression from his 1966 hit Money Won't Change You when composing the song, which prompted such a poor critical response. Despite Brown's Plagiarism of his earlier work, Sexy, Sexy, Sexy showcased the typical funk hallmarks of his more popular work. The song performed strongly on three separate Billboard charts as well as the Cashbox chart. It appeared in three separate releases under music label Polydor Records and reissued in 2020.