Leofwine_draca In all respects this is an utterly dull, derivative B-movie with barely anything to recommend it. It's cheap, often laughable when it tries to be serious, and the plot – what little of it there is – is boring and almost free of action. Somewhere there's a statement about the condition of Vietnam veterans and their place in American society after the fighting, but it gets lost amid a terrifying '70s battle field of cheap, incessantly drivelling and dated music, and endless, repetitive shots of Mr. Williamson walking around the streets aimlessly.Interestingly, this is not the first time that Fred Williamson played a character called 'Johnny Barrows'. That was back in '74, in an episode of a crime television series called THE ROOKIES. Now, I've never seen that show, or even heard of it, but I guess that Williamson liked his role so much that he decided to make a film of his own about the character and this is the measly result. It's also Fred's first time behind the camera as director, and I have to say, to put it kindly, that he needs more practice.Now, I like Fred Williamson, or "The Hammer" as he is nicknamed. I think he's great as an actor and he's a minor action star. He was fantastic in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, for instance, he had so much presence. Here, he's the most entertaining thing in the film, but even so he gives a poor performance. All the script requires is of him to walk up and down the streets over and over or sweep the floor. It's weird but the early part of the film – in which he works as a janitor – is more engaging than the hokey gangster stuff that finishes the movie. While Williamson makes a definite presence here, his fight scenes are frankly laughable, complete with sub-Bruce Lee sounds and Williamson striking absurd poses that bear no relevance to real-life fights.The film is packed with plot holes and silly incidents that don't make much sense. The worst bit has to be the ending, involving the twist with the mine; while it might have seemed clever at the time, the question remains, how on earth did it get there? This moment beggars belief but adds a hilarious aside to an otherwise mainly dull production. Strangely, for such a low budget and uninspired film, Williamson assembled some big-name actors to take part. I guess they owed him a few favours, or perhaps he won them around with his charisma. In any case, we get Stuart Whitman as a big-haired gangster and Roddy McDowall as a weird-haired gangster, who gets his leg slashed with a knife in another entertaining moment. Elsewhere, Elliott Gould pops up in an amusing – and head-scratching – cameo appearance as a homeless man, while screen veteran R. G. Armstrong (familiar for his role as the general in PREDATOR) gives one of the best turns as the stuffy garage owner. Elsewhere, Jenny Sherman makes a small impact as the love interest and only female in the film; not because of her acting, but because she's naturally pretty, easy on the eye. As for Fred, well, he's Fred, and he's still cool despite all the nonsense that goes on in this film. Fans of gangster, blaxploitation and action films should steer well clear of this movie, as it doesn't offer much of value. Fred made lots of other cooler films in the 1970s and I recommend tracking one of those down instead of giving this one a go.

lemon_magic This downbeat crime drama fumbles and stumbles as often as it does something right...but there is some decent stuff in this movie along with the dross. Seeing that Williamson directed this, I was impressed at his attempt to portray some complicated issues and relationships in the context of a blaxpoitation movie. He didn't really succeed,but this was an interesting effort. I am not a huge fan of Fred Williamson (too often he coasts on his good looks and charisma and too often he picks roles in crap like "Black Cobra"), but he looks good on camera and he has his moments. He can mosey down a city street with his hands in his pockets and still be at least as interesting as Sylvester Stallone flexing his pecs in any of his action flicks. So the movie has that doing for it. Plus the character is an interesting study in ambiguity - "Johnny Barrows" tries to walk the straight and narrow after being drummed out of the Army in spite of temptation from the Mob...and yet in the final half of the movie he gives in (apparently for the love of a 3rd grade Sunday School teacher) and proves quite effective at taking out the "bad" bad guys (who can be distinguished from the other bad guys because the mobsters Fred works for don't believe in running drugs and prostitution.) There are racist cops, but also decent cops who nevertheless don't do much to help.And the gas station owner who at first seems like a decent fellow and gives "Johnny Barrows" a chance, turns out to be a son-of-a-b*tch who just wants an indentured servant in place of actual slave labor. There's lots of problems with the movie of course. The casting is a weird mix of hard working character actors and obvious amateurs and decent talents who are wildly out of place (Roddy McDowall is absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable here - he must have been desperate for work). The big love interest (the movie's Lorelei figure) is a pleasant looking young woman, but she's utterly wrong for the role and doesn't have the focus, maturity or presence to be believable as the Siren Who Betrays The Hero At The End. And the soundtrack is a major irritant - decent instrumentals support a grating, overwrought soul soprano shrieking lyrics that seem to be there to tell the audience things it already knows. Watch this one if you simply want to see everything Williamson has even been in or every blaxploitation film ever made. Or if you have 90 minutes to kill and don't care how you kill them.

gridoon This is a somewhat atypical role for Fred Williamson; usually he plays a cop, or a bounty hunter, or just a general all-around badass who is always on top of every situation, but here he is a homeless, jobless Vietnam veteran who almost has to resort to eating out of garbage cans, is exploited by other people and, finally, forced to remember the killer instincts that got him a silver star in the army, when he gets involved in a war between two Mafia families (those are rather typical). Despite a plodding first half, the film is mildly interesting. I mean, at least it keeps your attention until the downbeat ending - and the unbelievable, in every sense of the word, last-second "twist". Fred, however, should NEVER do fight scenes, he just looks really clumsy in them. The cast also includes the cutie Jenny Sherman, Roddy McDowall sporting in one scene the fakest fake leg in the history of cinema, and Elliott Gould - for about 2 minutes. (**)

thefountainmenace OK. Just had to put in a comment that those who speak English would fully understand. I don't know about you, but I don't know what "one mean of a dull movie" means. It's a shame when people don't bother to use the language correctly- the other reviewer seems fairly smart in other ways.This is a dull movie, I grant you. I have it as part of a 4-DVD set called, "Mean Muthas & Bad Brothas." Or maybe it's the other way around. I'm not sure - I bought the set of four movies for 4.98. And it was well worth that. The cheapest I've ever seen of a notoriously cheap genre, this film is slow, barely coherent and full of things that don't make sense. On the other hand,it has Fred Williamson (and was apparently directed by him), Roddy McDowall (playing a Fredo-type, actually a pretty out-of-body performance, it was surprising to realize it was him, although I was looking for him) and Elliot Gould in a very strange but brief "special appearance" as a homeless yet extremely dapper fellow. Hey whatever - it's an incredibly bad blaxploitation film. If that sounds funny to you and you don't spend much money, go for it.