{"id":5960,"date":"2010-02-27T00:48:04","date_gmt":"2010-02-27T07:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/main\/?p=5960"},"modified":"2010-02-27T00:48:04","modified_gmt":"2010-02-27T07:48:04","slug":"lack-of-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/lack-of-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Lack Of Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Murder<\/p>\n

[THE CHALK-OUTLINE]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Black Heat a.k.a. The Murder Gang a.k.a. Girl’s Hotel (1976): Breakdown by Kain424<\/span><\/h3>\n

A Las Vegas cop tries to shut down a criminal organization running out of a sleazy hotel.\u00a0 Funky music, cheap sets, and bad lighting ensue.<\/p>\n

[THE EXECUTION]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

As the 70s progressed, the blaxploitation genre regressed.\u00a0 Rather than expand, the style quickly began sputtering into self parody and over-saturation.\u00a0 What was cool and unique only a few years before was quickly becoming silly and overdone.\u00a0 As young black filmmakers attempted to replicate what Gordon Parks had done with Shaft<\/a>, it became apparent the genre was losing credibility.<\/p>\n

\"Buddy-cops?\"<\/p>\n

Black Heat<\/strong> is one of the cheap knock-off type flicks produced during this era.\u00a0 Seeing how popular former NFL player Jim Brown had become in the genre, another former NFL player (and also a co-star of Jim Brown’s in Black Gunn<\/strong>), Tim Brown, was hired to play the lead.\u00a0 Brown had starred in Dynamite Brothers<\/strong>, and though that film hadn’t performed especially well, these types of movies were now being produced quickly and without regard to quality. Brown isn’t too interesting a lead, but I suppose he does alright.<\/p>\n

The story is actually a bit more complicated than one would assume, with many characters and revelations.\u00a0 Brown plays a cop with an attitude (of course), who’s partner is killed in action.\u00a0 Partly for revenge, but mostly out of duty, he tracks down the baddies, going through every level in the villains’ organization on his way to the top.<\/p>\n

\"Double<\/p>\n

The Action is clunky and amateurish, all shot poorly and frequently in too little light.\u00a0 The lack of care this movie has received over the years means no decent transfer is yet available.\u00a0 This, naturally, only adds to the visual impairment.\u00a0 Every turn of events is seen miles ahead of its occurrence and while the story (simple as it should be) is coherent, it’s done with such dragging, one wants to turn the thing off half way through.\u00a0 Things are not assisted by the woefully inappropriate funk soundtrack.\u00a0 I should not be bobbing my head to the soundtrack during a rape scene.\u00a0 Ever.<\/p>\n

\"Finally<\/p>\n

That being said, there are some nice things to say.\u00a0 There is a bit of a buddy-cop aspect to the first quarter of the movie, with our black and white heroes playing off each other in a way similar to the Mel Gibson and Danny Glover archetypes from Lethal Weapon<\/a>.\u00a0 We are treated to a few decent explosions and some cheap-but-ok shootouts.\u00a0 Also, it’s funny to see West Side Story<\/strong>‘s Russ Tamblyn (he played Riff) be such a slimy prick of a bad guy.<\/p>\n

[HOW BAD-ASS IS THE MAIN CHARACTER?]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Tim<\/p>\n

Tim Brown is Kicks Carter<\/span><\/h3>\n

He’s pretty tough with his partner around, and even dual-wields a couple of revolvers in a gunfight.\u00a0 But while he can be cool at times, he’s barely able to hold his own in a one-on-one against a chunky Riff from West Side Story<\/strong>.\u00a0 So not exactly a bad-ass.<\/p>\n

\"Bang!\"<\/p>\n

You could argue that he’s awesome because he takes down an entire criminal organization, but I would counter that he gets the help of a group of prostitutes, a lounge singer, a gambling addict, and a reporter.\u00a0 Not to mention the cooperation of the entire police department.\u00a0 Plus, the bad guys are running drugs and guns by plane in the middle of broad daylight, so they weren’t too bright to begin with.<\/p>\n

[THE BODY COUNT: 15]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

While not too great an experience, one can’t argue the film isn’t violent.\u00a0 People are shot and killed frequently enough to keep things going, and women are beaten often as well.\u00a0 Most of the deaths are caused in the shootouts, but there are also deaths from being run-over, impaled, and blown up.\u00a0 Tim Brown kills around 7 and almost all of the rest are bad guys killing other people.\u00a0 But it’s split pretty evenly, except for a deranged man who accidentally blows himself up with his hostage.<\/p>\n

[MOST SATISFYING DEATH]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ziggy, played by Russ Tamblyn, gets the best death.\u00a0 Not that it’s especially harsh, but because he’s so unrepentant even at the end.\u00a0 After a chase across rooftops and through a junkyard, Carter knocks Ziggy off a platform and onto a pile of junkyard rubble, where he is impaled upon a metal spike.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Despite dying, Ziggy grins and gives Carter the bird until he finally collapses.\u00a0 I thought it was pretty funny.<\/p>\n

[DUDESWEAT AND MACHISMO]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Our two cop characters aren’t necessarily gay, but they have an unusually close relationship.\u00a0 They pretty much ignore several poolside women just to look at each other and talk about everything but<\/em> women.\u00a0 When the white guy dies, it’s up to Kicks Carter to avenge him, ignoring the guy’s former girl like she was just a side thing anyway.\u00a0 But that’s about it.<\/p>\n

[EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Can<\/p>\n

At first it seems like we’ll have a decent female side character in the black news reporter, as she straight up dismisses our hero early in the film.\u00a0 She’s cocky, resourceful, and even has her own backstory.\u00a0 This all comes to a halt about twenty minutes after she rejects Tim Brown’s advances.\u00a0 They bang and she slowly disappears from the film’s narrative afterward.<\/p>\n

\"College\"<\/p>\n

There’s another woman addicted to gambling, who bets her body in a poker game and loses her ass to four guys in an awkward rape sequence.\u00a0 She also gets raped by a lesbian later.\u00a0 Both times to uncomfortably fun funk music.\u00a0 Yay.<\/p>\n

[EPIC MOMENT AND BEST ONE-LINER]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

I’ve searched high and low for a one-liner in this (jive?) turkey, but to no avail.\u00a0 But here is my epic moment:<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

The bad guy is getting away, money, drugs and weapons in tow.\u00a0 He steals a plane and begins to take off.\u00a0 Kicks jumps into the passenger side of an unmarked squad car and is in hot pursuit, firing at his target all the way.<\/p>\n

\"Stock<\/p>\n

Finally, he hits the fuel tank, which starts a fire in the plane’s cabin, right where the weapons and ammo are stored.\u00a0 The blaze ignites the ammunition, which blows the plane up.\u00a0 Easily the coolest part of the whole movie.<\/p>\n

[THE MORAL OF THE STORY]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Don’t run your illegal operations out of a known whorehouse or swap guns for drugs in broad daylight.\u00a0 These are stupid choices and you will get caught.<\/p>\n

[THE CHECKLIST: 10 outta 25]<\/span><\/h2>\n

[X] Athlete(s) Turned \u201cActor\u201d
\n[\u00a0 ] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle
\n[\u00a0 ] Crotch Attack
\n[\u00a0 ] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is\/Are
\n[\u00a0 ] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket or A Towel
\n[X] Factory\/Warehouse
\n[X] Giant Explosion(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Heavy Artillery
\n[\u00a0 ] Improvised Weapon(s)
\n[X] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation
\n[X] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Manly Embrace(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting
\n[\u00a0 ] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage
\n[\u00a0 ] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)
\n[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property
\n[X] Shoot Out(s) and\/or Sword Fight(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)\/Death(s)
\n[X] Stupid Authoritative Figure(s)
\n[X] Substance Usage and\/or Abuse
\n[\u00a0 ] Tis The Season
\n[\u00a0 ] Torture Sequence(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Unnecessary Sequel
\n[X] Vehicle Chase(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Vigilante Justice<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Damn!\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Abs.\u00a0 She has them.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[THE CHALK-OUTLINE] Black Heat a.k.a. The Murder Gang a.k.a. Girl’s Hotel (1976): Breakdown by Kain424 A Las Vegas cop tries to shut down a criminal organization running out of a sleazy hotel.\u00a0 Funky music, cheap sets, and bad lighting ensue. [THE EXECUTION] As the 70s progressed, the blaxploitation genre regressed.\u00a0 Rather than expand, the style … Read moreLack Of Heat<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1095],"class_list":["post-5960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-murder-gang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}