Slaughter's Big Rip Off (1973)

Wonderful character development!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

While enjoying a cook out on a ranch with several friends, a bi-plane appears out of nowhere and begins spreading the area with bullets. Although the former Green Berets soldier by the name of "Slaughter" (Jim Brown) is not killed, several of his friends lie dead and dying all around him and he immediately vows to kill those responsible. But first he has to find out who issued the contract on him and why. But before he can initiate an investigation he has to find a safe place for his girlfriend "Marcia" (Gloria Hendry) and somehow get the police off of his back as well. Unfortunately, this process becomes more problematic the closer he gets. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be a fairly decent "Blaxploitation" film with good action and solid acting all around. Likewise, the addition of Judith Brown (as "Norja") and the aforementioned Gloria Hendry certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. On the other hand, I have to admit that it loses points on the "realism scale" due to a couple of scenes which defied reality. Even so, I thought that this sequel was a slight improvement over the 1972 film "Slaughter" and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Here's another another golden oldie, a well made feature film, blaxploitation tale, with some thrilling action, especially the start, with the fake orange and reddy gore. We too, have hot broads, as well as the big black dude you don't mess with, as referenced by other black dudes: The one and only Jim Brown (Fireball in The Running Man) who makes most men look small. We have great villains, of course of being the eternal Don Stroud, plus a surprising well acted, and genuinely authentic performance by Ed Mcmahon. Some people want Slaughter dead, where he must of crossed some really bad guys, half the fun in the story, that has us, wondering if he'll survive, which we probably know he will. Recognize a voice and face right at the start. Sounds and looks like a very familiar Police Academy regular. How Slaughter survives a drowning, with his car catapulting off a towering cliff into the seas, had me flummoxed where his girl wasn't so lucky. If you like the attributes of what I've just mentioned, and you're a serious 70's action fan, this will make your night.

Stella Stevens is off on the Poseidon Adventure, so Slaughter has to find a new girlfriend in this sequel in his battle with the mob. Judith M. Brown's audition was certainly a nice start, but she's no Stella. Of course, Gloria Hendry is working hard to keep him on a leash.It was a treat to see Ed McMahon and Don Stroud, and Scatman Crothers, along with Brock Peters. They definitely made the sequel more interesting.Dick Anthony Williams plays a classic pimp with the jive talk and flashy threads who joins Slaughter in a rip off scheme. Unfortunately, Stroud takes him for a ride. Stroud makes a classic mistake, however, and Slaughter is ready for action.The cool dude just does the job.

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.