The Slams

Jim Brown was such a stud. Retired as the NFL's all-time leading rusher, falling short of 1,000 yds/season only twice in 9 years and both times only barely. And that was back when they only played 12 (and then 14) game seasons.

He quit after one of his best seasons (and was named NFL MVP for the 3rd time) and headed to Hollywood. Everybody knows he was Jackson in The Dirty Dozen. But how many people have seen this little gem?

Heist goes wrong. Accomplices die but Brown manages to escape long enough to hide the loot before getting arrested and landing in jail. There rest is prison-drama fun between the whites, the blacks, the corrupt prison captain and the jailed mafioso. There are a bunch of good fights and some really good performances. It all climaxes in a clever escape attempt, which isn't a spoiler because Brown is hatching it from the get-go.

Doesn't make any big statements, but it sure is fun.

A year before directing Isaac Hayes in the violent yet breezy blaxploitation TRUCK TURNER, director Jonathan Kaplan put Jim Brown in prison for a more sparse and serious THE SLAMS, mostly taking place behind bars, and without relying on melodramatic prison tropes, since everything that goes down... from bullies to shiv-fights to mean guards... is tightly connected to the plot...

Where Jim Brown, an idealistic criminal from a groovy heist prologue, stole and hid loot from the mob, and, once in prison, a locked-up gangster hires gigantic convict Jack Cassady to attempt getting the formidable Brown to confess...

Making the more cerebral than physical, fast-talking prison captain Roland Bob Harris a far more effective villain (better than a typical tyrannical warden or henchman guard), connecting to Brown's newscaster girlfriend Judy Pace while working with pimp Paul Harris (also a pimp in TURNER), to either locate the money or plan a mutual escape...

And while the predictably safe and self-contained Jim Brown's tough enough from any interior adversary, Jonathan Kaplan's creative 70's-style direction keeps the suspense on par with the non-stop action.

Jim Brown, plays a slick robber named Curtis X. Hook who helps two other thugs rob the mafia of both their cash and their dope. The two double crossing thieves are thwarted by the savvy action hero Jim Brown, who then hides the money stash, before he gets sent to prison for a vehicle theft but not for any robbery that went unreported by the Mafia, and not for any of the murders of the drug dealing Mafia mobsters or for the murder of his double crossing robbery partners. Oh and who doesn't like to see the six (6) foot nine (9) inch actor Ted Cassidy as the bad guy fighting Jim Brown in prison? Cassidy kind of reminds me of the seven (7) foot (2) two inch Richard Kiel who was the James Bond villain in (1977) The Spy Who Love Me and (1979) Moonraker. There is also the hip, sleek and petite love interest of Curtis X. Hook who is Iris Daniels played by the well known Judy Pace.

So with a deep cast of crime makers, hot girls and our former grid iron action hero Jim Brown what's not to like? I just felt that the film was a low budget entry that must have all been filmed on the first take whether the actors stuck to the script or adlibbed their parts. The musical score was so reminiscent of all those 1960-70's TV crime series that I thought I would have time to go out and refresh my drink and popcorn during the commercial break. No luck though, I sat through the film waiting for more, but I got less.

I give this Jim Brown entry a barely passable 5 out of 10 IMDB blaxploitation rating. It's an okay time waster, nothing more, nothing less.

A robbery crew steals drugs and money from criminals. Curtis X. Hook (Jim Brown) beats his comrades to the double-cross and is the final survivor. He dumps the drugs and hides the money in an abandoned dock. He gets locked in prison and has to deal with many different sides. It's black against white. Others want him to work for them. Everyone who knows about the money wants it.

I'm not sure if this is considered blaxploitation. It's produced by Gene Corman, brother of B-movie legend Roger Corman. Blaxploitation is intended for a black audience. This is a more general B-movie. Legendary football player Jim Brown is not that great as an actor. He has some natural charisma and his size gives him just enough command. His amiability makes him a functional lead. This is undeniably a B-movie and it's a functional one.

Jim Brown is at his coolest as Curtis X. Hook, a criminal who rips off the mob and stashes his loot ($1.5 million) in a structure at an abandoned amusement park. But he is soon nabbed by the cops and sent to prison; there he gets caught up in various power plays by characters such as Macey (Frenchia Guizon, "Friday Foster") and white mobster Capiello (Frank DeKova, 'F Troop'). He learns that the park is scheduled for demolition, so he knows that he'll have to escape sometime very soon. Taking an interest in him is cheerfully corrupt captain of the guards Stambell (Roland Bob Harris, "Ray").

"The Slams" marks another capable effort by talented journeyman director Jonathan Kaplan, who handled a bunch of excellent exploitation flicks during the 1970s and graduated to major features such as "Heart Like a Wheel" and "The Accused" in the 1980s. The cast is filled with familiar faces: Judy Pace ("Cotton Comes to Harlem") as Hooks' lady, Paul Harris ("Across 110th Street"), Ted Cassidy ('The Addams Family'), John Dennis ("Soylent Green"), Quinn K. Redeker ("Spider Baby"), Robert Phillips ("The Dirty Dozen"), and Charles Cyphers ("Halloween"). The always welcome Dick Miller ("A Bucket of Blood") pops up briefly as a cabbie whose vehicle is briefly commandeered by Paul Harris as part of the escape plan. Brown and his co-stars are certainly easy enough to watch, although there's only so much they can do with a so-so script by Richard DeLong Adams ("I Escaped from Devils' Island"). The movie is certainly decently paced and competently made, but in the end "The Slams" is a rather standard prison movie. Roland Bob Harris and DeKova deliver the standout characterizations. Director Kaplan has a cameo as a port-a-potty delivery man.

Best of all is the tense, climactic prison escape, with a surprisingly grisly fate in store for one of the characters.

It's worth noting the variety of familiar names with technical credits: future director Andrew Davis ("Code of Silence") as the cinematographer, Luther Henderson as the composer of the music score, Jack Fisk as the art director, and actor Thalmus Rasulala ("Blacula") as an assistant director.

Six out of 10.