Slaughter (1975)

I have to admit, prior to seeing SLAUGHTER, I wasn’t much of a Jim Brown fan. I had only seen him previously in films like THE DIRTY DOZEN, ICE STATION ZEBRA and the ultra-campy MARS ATTACKS, where he didn’t really play the lead role, but a supporting player, so I had yet to be impressed. After watching SLAUGHTER, color me impressed. In fact this movie grabbed me in just the first few seconds with the sounds of a gnarly fuzz tone guitar wail (which Quentin Tarantino would snatch up and use in his film, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS to great effect). It’s such a meaty guitar sound that I wondered if Black Sabbath might be providing the theme song, but after a few more seconds the funk slides in, and I realize it’s none other than the legendary Billy Preston providing the kick ass theme song. I knew then and there that even if the movie sucked, I would enjoy it because of the music alone. Luchi De Jesus, not Preston, provides the score and it's a great one. Also it wouldn’t be the first time De Jesus would make a rather lackluster flick better with his music, see FRIDAY FOSTER and DETROIT 9000--two so-so flicks with kick ass scores.

Once the credits end, the film does starts kind of slow, it doesn’t really start flowing until about 20 minutes in, but after that it becomes pure blaxploitation bliss. Brown plays the title character, a former Green Beret and from what I assume, some sort of Government Agent (I’ll admit this was a little fuzzy, but it didn’t matter. All we need to know is Slaughter is a bad ass). When Slaughter’s parents are killed in a car bomb explosion, he wants revenge for their deaths. Figuring he would be a good man for the job (considering his personal involvement in the case), Slaughter ends up being recruited by the Treasury Department to track down the killers (a gang of drug runners) in a Mexico. Once the film goes south of the border that is when the film picks up and that is also when the ever awesome, Rip Torn makes his appearance in the film as well. Torn plays, Hoffo, the number 2 man to a Mexican drug kingpin named, Mario (Norman Alfe). Torn soon becomes the main villain and he rules the role. Rip Torn is one of those actors that I may not like every movie he’s been in, but I've always liked him in the roles he’s played. It’s a shame he didn’t get any real recognition as a great actor until his role on the Larry Sanders Show in the 90’s. He was my favorite part of that show, but I’ve been a fan since his villainous role as Maax in THE BEASTMASTER.

The gorgeous, Stella Stevens plays the ex-hooker girlfriend of Hoffo and is used as bait for Slaughter, but she ends up falling for him instead. Stevens was slightly past her prime in this movie, but damn if she still didn’t look great in that MILFy kind of way, plus she goes topless a few times in the film and has a killer bod. I had only seen Stevens previously as Jerry Lewis’s love interest in THE NUTTY PROFESSOR which was released about 10 years earlier…I'd say she aged very well in that time. Don Gordon plays Slaughter’s assigned partner for the case and their first meeting ends with the two men falling off a hotel balcony and into a pool below, but soon they become reluctant buddies. Gordon plays the second fiddle role very well (and cool) and gets some good scenes. He’s one of those actors that I’ve seen in a ton of things, but I didn’t really know him by name. Also he looks like a mash-up of John Saxon and Burt Reynolds (sans moustache), which gives him an interesting look. I’ve always been a fan of actors with interesting faces. Speaking of interesting faces, Robert Phillips plays one of Mario’s goons, and he does so well in his role, it's a shame his part wasn't bigger.

Marlene Clark and Cameron Mitchell fill out the rest of the cast. Clark is the star of one of my all-time favorite movies, GANJA & HESS, but she has just a small role here, but she does have a nude scene (don't blink or you'll miss it). Mitchell may be the most famous actor in the film, so I’m not sure why he took such a small role as the head of the Treasury Department that hires Slaughter…maybe he owed the director, Jack Starrett, a favor.

Starrett (also an actor) directs the film, but it’s nothing to brag about. The film has a professional look to it, I will give him that, but the direction is just standard. Starrett would go on to direct the film RACE WITH THE DEVIL with Peter Fonda and Warren Oates. He would bring the same directing skills to that film, which leads me to believe he had a knack for simple exploitation flicks. His only other dip into the blaxploitation pool (as far as I know) would be with the film CLEOPATRA JONES, which is a good flick, but I think SLAUGHTER may be his crowning achievement. I’ve also heard great things about THE GRAVY TRAIN as well. I don’t want to sound like I’m knocking Starrett’s talent at all, but he does seem like a by-the-book type of director, which is fine for these kind of movies. SLAUGHTER has a great formula; a bad ass leading man, sex, violence, titties, and a plot that revolves around revenge—give me all that and honestly I could give a shit about the competencies of the director.

That leaves me where I started, with our leading man, Jim Brown. Is he a good actor? Well, no. Is he good enough for this kind of film? Abso-fucking-lutely! Jim Brown was one of the top male players in era of blaxploitation in the 70’s, the others being, Fred Williamson, Richard Roundtree, and Isaac Hayes—I am huge fans of all those actors, but I have to say, after watching SLAUGHTER, Jim Brown may be the most menacing of them all. Williamson was a bad ass, but he also had a kind of playfulness about him, Roundtree was more ‘cool’ than ‘bad ass’ in the SHAFT films, and Isaac Hayes sang love songs and wore gold chain shirts. Of all these men, Jim Brown seems like the one that you would want to fuck with the least. He has a certain meanness about him as Slaughter, which I feel gives him a leg up in the running for best ‘bad ass motherfucker’in blaxploitation history.

SLAUGHTER trailer