9 out of 10 film-goers agree: if you put Jim Brown on screen, whatever film he happens to be in will immediately improve noticeably for as long as he remains on screen. There's just something about the guy's presence and charisma, even in a non-action setting, that makes you want to see what he is going to say or do next. So a film with Jim Brown up front and center for the entire duration is going to be fun to watch even if the surroundings are second rate. That is certainly the case here.
This was a pure blaxploitation flick that doesn't pretend to be anything else, so the audience for it is going to be fairly self-selecting - a title like "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" is not going to pull in the Merchant Ivory crowd or fans of British comedy. The filmmakers knew the kind of film they wanted to make, and they made it: a film about guns, drugs, sex, soul power, cussing, funk guitar and muscle cars...and mostly about Jim Brown and how cool he is. (For a contemporary version of this, think of Matt Damon in "The Bourne Identity", which is all about how cool Matt Damon is.) I was a little bothered by the fact that the Slaughter's supposed soul mates, who went been through hell with him and for him in the 1st "Slaughter" (Don Gordon and Stella Stevens) were nowhere to be seen in this one. Nor was any mention made of their characters...even though the events in this film are directly related to the events from the first film. That detracted a bit from the overall image of Slaughter as a man who inspired loyalty because he gave it. But we all know about the perils of the casting call and agent negotiations (although it's hard to imagine why Don Gordon was too busy to reappear with the highest profile celebrity he'd ever been associated with). So if you don't think about it too hard, it's OK.
One really odd note to the seamless blend of guns, goons, and funk is the appearance of Ed McMahon right in the middle of things as a Boss type. I don't who was mad at him, or how he got talked into it, but he is the goofiest looking twerp you can imagine here. The eras fashions were not kind to him, and he was foolish to appear on screen in anything other than a sack suit or a Hawaiian shirt. Imagine a pale, pudgy lounge lizard in aviator spectacles, leisure suit and long hair parted straight down the middle in a page-boy bob run amok, and you still can't even come close to the horror of his appearance in this film. When Brown finally shoots him, I was praying that he would also call in an air strike to obliterate McMahon's wardrobe, so that it would never sully innocent eye-balls again.
Anyway, "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" might have been OK, or even good, with another actor in the role, but Jim Brown makes it a great period piece. If you enjoy blaxploitation movies, this one belongs in your collection.
This was a pure blaxploitation flick that doesn't pretend to be anything else, so the audience for it is going to be fairly self-selecting - a title like "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" is not going to pull in the Merchant Ivory crowd or fans of British comedy. The filmmakers knew the kind of film they wanted to make, and they made it: a film about guns, drugs, sex, soul power, cussing, funk guitar and muscle cars...and mostly about Jim Brown and how cool he is. (For a contemporary version of this, think of Matt Damon in "The Bourne Identity", which is all about how cool Matt Damon is.) I was a little bothered by the fact that the Slaughter's supposed soul mates, who went been through hell with him and for him in the 1st "Slaughter" (Don Gordon and Stella Stevens) were nowhere to be seen in this one. Nor was any mention made of their characters...even though the events in this film are directly related to the events from the first film. That detracted a bit from the overall image of Slaughter as a man who inspired loyalty because he gave it. But we all know about the perils of the casting call and agent negotiations (although it's hard to imagine why Don Gordon was too busy to reappear with the highest profile celebrity he'd ever been associated with). So if you don't think about it too hard, it's OK.
One really odd note to the seamless blend of guns, goons, and funk is the appearance of Ed McMahon right in the middle of things as a Boss type. I don't who was mad at him, or how he got talked into it, but he is the goofiest looking twerp you can imagine here. The eras fashions were not kind to him, and he was foolish to appear on screen in anything other than a sack suit or a Hawaiian shirt. Imagine a pale, pudgy lounge lizard in aviator spectacles, leisure suit and long hair parted straight down the middle in a page-boy bob run amok, and you still can't even come close to the horror of his appearance in this film. When Brown finally shoots him, I was praying that he would also call in an air strike to obliterate McMahon's wardrobe, so that it would never sully innocent eye-balls again.
Anyway, "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" might have been OK, or even good, with another actor in the role, but Jim Brown makes it a great period piece. If you enjoy blaxploitation movies, this one belongs in your collection.