Hell Up in Harlem Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Hell Up in Harlem Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 22, 2017

Larry Cohen's "Hell Up in Harlem" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film as well as an audio commentary with Larry Cohen and filmmaker Steve Mitchell. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Tommy Gibbs a.k.a. The Black Caesar

The ‘wrong’ attitude was what made these genre films special and it is really too bad that political activism killed them off. There was a very good logic behind the things they did. They exaggerated and flipped clichés precisely so that people start to feel uncomfortable and then begin to rethink the bad and ugly that our society had become comfortable with. You don’t seriously believe that what the blaxploitation films showed which now gets discarded through the filter of political correctness no longer exists in our society, do you? It is still there, but you are simply denied the opportunity to see it.

The Black Caesar (Fred Williamson) nearly gets whacked when a group of assassins ambush him in the heart of the city. Covered with blood, he somehow manages to stay on his feet and get away, and later on his men transport him to Harlem Hospital where the doctors immediately start working on his wounds. The Caesar then urges the shady District Attorney DiAngelo (Gerald Gordon) to convince the cops that have surrounded the hospital to let him and his men leave and drop all criminal charges against them. If DiAngelo fails to do so, the Caesar will make sure that the compromising information he has gathered about many of the city’s high-ranking officials, including him, will be leaked to the press. DiAngelo quickly realizes that the gangster isn’t bluffing and does what he is asked, but later on dispatches a few of his lap dogs to rough up his father (Julius Harris) and see if he might have the ledger with the compromising information. Eventually the Caesar recovers, kills some of his direct competitors and gives a big part of his turf to his father. For a while there is peace on the streets and father and son rack up hefty profits. But then right before Caesar ties the knot someone whacks his former mistress (Gloria Hendry) and one of his confidantes (Tony King) informs him that his father might have ordered the hit. Shortly after, all hell breaks loose.

Two-thirds of the film is essentially colorful but very silly exchanges and posturing that make the frequently glorified gangster lifestyle look beyond grotesque. The Caesar and the men around him also emerge as walking targets whose lives are worth less than a pack of cigarettes. So the initial cool atmosphere very quickly is replaced by a sense of hopelessness and desperation that transforms the macho stars into doomed losers. Frankly, the film ridicules just about every major cool gangster stereotype that you can think of.

The action looks cheap and even kitschy at times and this is almost certainly because the film’s budget was modest, but it actually works quite well for its message. There are a couple of sequences in which random bystanders are caught by the camera looking at the gangsters and the contrast between them is so striking that the latter basically appear unhinged. In other words, these are hardly the dangerous inspirational visuals that years ago some of the film’s critics apparently discovered in it.

It is a shame that the film does not have a couple of feisty ladies like Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown and have them go after the bad boys. The ladies would have spiced up things quite a bit and made it painfully obvious what the film’s creators were trying to accomplish.

*Hell Up in Harlem is the sequel to Black Caesar, but familiarity with the latter is not necessarily required to enjoy the former.

Hell Up in Harlem Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Larry Cohen's Hell Up in Harlem arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The release is sourced from an older master that was likely used for the DVD release of Hell Up in Harlem from the Soul Collection. So in terms of depth and clarity there is certainly room for improvement, with the darker/indoor footage predictably revealing the most obvious limitations of the master. However, even during the daylight footage it is frequently easy to see minor density fluctuations that a new master from a recent scan would have eliminated (see screencaptures #8 and 13). Fortunately, there are no traces of problematic digital adjustments, which means that despite some unevenness the film actually has a fairly decent organic appearance. Colors are stable, but ideally saturation should be better and the range of nuances a lot more impressive. A few minor specks are present, but there are no large distracting damage marks, cuts, stains, or warped/torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Hell Up in Harlem Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clean and stable. During one particular sequence I felt that the balance is somewhat unconvincing, but this may well be how the audio was initially mixed. It is really quite difficult for me to tell. Other than that, I think a fresh remix could potentially introduce some cosmetic improvements in terms of balance and fidelity, but dynamic intensity will almost certainly remain unaffected.

Hell Up in Harlem Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Hell Up in Harlem. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, director Larry Cohen and filmmaker Steve Mitchell ( King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen) spend a great deal of time discussing the history of Hell Up in Harlem as well as the prequel, The Black Caesar; the edgy look of the film; Fred Williamson's appeal as a blaxploitation star; the ad-libbed material; the on-location shooting and how now it is virtually impossible to shoot a film like Hell Up in Harlem, etc. The audio commentary was recorded exclusively for Olive Films.

Hell Up in Harlem Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've always looked at the various blaxploitation films as over-the-top satire meant to force people out of their comfort zones and have them compare their reality with that of the blaxploitation stars. Some films were more effective than others, but they all had a fearless attitude and unshakable confidence that basically made them unique. Sadly, these were also the qualities that eventually killed them off. Olive Films' upcoming Blu-ray release of Hell Up in Harlem is sourced from an older but decent master and has a surprisingly good exclusive new audio commentary with director Larry Cohen. RECOMMENDED.