
This is one of those oft-overlooked, dramas that really needs more attention. For one thing, the cast is ridiculously stocked with some pretty amazing talent. The likes of Bernie Casey, Moses Gunn, Antonio Fargas and Rosalind Cash are part of the ensemble and if you don't know these actors, you haven't seen enough 70s black cinema. You couldn't throw a rock during that decade without hitting some blaxploitation film or another that featured one or more of these folks. On top of that, it is billed as the movie that is "introducing" Laurence Fishburne to the world (he's credited as Laurence Fishburne III, which I've never seen before). Fishburne was around fourteen when he made this movie and he is already showing his remarkable ability via this little gem.
My affection for Rosalind Cash started with THE OMEGA MAN and has never waned since. She is one of those actors who doesn't get enough press anymore. She played off of Charlton Heston in all his scenery-chewing glory in that film and in CORNBREAD, EARL AND ME - she's given a much more reasonable dramatic role. Of the many black films of the period, few were sensitive portrayals of inner-city life like this one. Rosalind Cash plays a welfare mother raising a young boy (Fishburne) on her own and trying to keep him out of trouble. The boy looks up to his cousin "Cornbread" who is a very gifted basketball player who is often college shortly with an eye on trying for the pros someday. Antonio Fargas is "One Eye" - a neighborhood hustler who really wants Cornbread to run numbers for him. Cornbread is a good guy, but the neighborhood is dangerous place though and there's always trouble creeping on the horizon. I would put this movie in league with something like COOLEY HIGH (which was also put out on Blu-ray by Olive), though there's less humor here and more drama. Regardless, it is still refreshing to see a story like this with a nearly all black cast and an eye on a different perspective.
CORNBREAD, EARL AND ME can be purchased on Blu-ray here:

IF IT'S TUESDAY can be purchased on Blu-ray here:
http://amzn.to/28Kt7Sn
APPOINTMENT WITH CRIME (1946; John Harlow)
This film noir crime flick has one of my favorite titles in recent memory. It sounds so...organized. Like a gentlemen going down his list of things to do for the week and ticking boxes. Sounds jovial enough. This movie doesn't open in a jovial way though. Nope, it features our main fella smashing the display window of a jewelry store and reaching in to grab his loot - only to have his wrists crushed by a security gate that was triggered. If that's not bad enough, his co-conspirators in the getaway car make a hasty retreat and leave him to take the wrap alone. Pretty shabby behavior, even for crooks. Par for the course in the film noir world though. Our main fella - he goes by Leo - was hooked into this "smash and grab" scheme and it seemed pretty straightforward, but he ends serving time. And what to do when he gets out? Jump on a plan to get revenge on the man who left him in the lurch. He's not shy about it at all. He even talks up his plan to a bunch of local hoods at a pool hall. In fact, Leo is really quite frank about things and makes his dissatisfaction with his old employer known and rather aggressively so. One thing I like about the movie is that Leo doesn't waste a lot of time. This kind of thing often finds the vengeance-seeker taking a while to work up his plan. Sometimes a slow burn is nice, but sometimes I like it when they cut to the chase. There's also something tonally a little different about British noirs versus the American ones. Maybe they aren't quite as dark and grimy or something, I can't put my finger on it precisely. Or maybe this one in particular feels slightly antithetic because it features a lead guy screwing over the dude who wronged him as opposed to being screwed over himself (which happens a whole lot in the noir world). Bonus - see a very very young Herbert Lom (Clouseau's boss in THE PINK PANTHER movies) in a smaller role.
APPOINTMENT WITH CRIME can be purchased here:
http://amzn.to/28PbOSf
APPOINTMENT WITH CRIME (1946; John Harlow)

APPOINTMENT WITH CRIME can be purchased here:
http://amzn.to/28PbOSf
No comments:
Post a Comment