Cobra nero

Okay, this is a VERY low budget thriller. It makes Williamson's 1970s B-films look like "Ben Hur," but if you're a fan of the Hammer, you might find some enjoyment in this Italian import. I picked up the entire Black Cobra series at Big Lots for three bucks, and this first installment is bad, but tolerable. Williamson is a tough cop who rubs nearly everyone the wrong way...except for his cat, Pervis. A gang of not-so-tough looking bikers terrorize the city, and a key witness to one of their murders has the good luck of being in Williamson's custody. Of course, anyone can figure out the rest. The movie looks like it was filmed on the cheapest film stock that was ever produced, and the synth soundtrack is right out of the John Carpenter book of film scores. Still, Hammer is the Hammer. Williamson is not the best actor but he manages to breathe life into this pile of cheese.

Recently the uncut version (Australian VHS, the British is cut by 1 min 20 odd) of this very odd Italian Fred "The Hammer" Williamson film

Fred stars as the repellent Malone, a tough talking cop.

He say's to a girl he is protecting when she begins to speak "shut up, if you need to move your mouth put some food in it" (I would have thought of a coarser line)

He is on the hunt for some camp looking "bad guys" who replete with Bouffant hair and studded jackets look like prime "batchelor's for life" but seem to like killing, shooting and de-fouling who ever they can find.

Quite a good laugh with some grim scenes but at the end of the day in this one Fred has a butt bigger than a bus, his gut is held in by his belt, and when he runs he wobbles. He still kicks them all into the next century though

This is one of the films on the super-cheapo Brentwood 4 movie DVD set called Dealin Dirty.

Fred Williamson vs. a poofy bunch of 5'3" twerps on dirtbikes. I can't think of one good thing to say about this movie. An incoherent steaming pile. Fred is obviously bored by the film, to his credit he doesn't even try to act (...I dont show up 'till the check clears...got it??). Some of the nameless Italian actors do try to act a bit. Not really much point though, because it seems like someone lost the only copy of the script about half way through shooting.

The highlight of the film is the chief bad-guy. He looks like Pete Sampras' little brother after illegal estrogen therapy. He tries to menace, but no one can convincingly menace in bluejeans that are so well ironed.

There are a few unintentionally hilarious lines, like the almost-verbatim rip-off of the "do you feel lucky punk" dialog from one of my favorite Clint Eastwood flicks. It would have been genius if the lines were exactly the

same, but one of the sub-genius writers must have thought that no one would notice that he ripped the lines off if he changed a few words. Good thinking - that was close.

Overall Black Cobra is, poorly filmed, terribly scripted, terribly acted, and generally idiotic. Worst of all it is boaring.

I just thought of something good to say...Black Cobra is a lot better than the film Dealin Dirty (shot on video) that the DVD set is named for. Just the title sequence was enough to make me flip to the Anna Nicole Smith Show.

AVOID THE WHOLE SET!

Stelvio Massi, the Roger Corman of Italy, cranked out an average of 4 films per year from 1954 to his death in 1994. Considering the haste, budgetary constraints and saturation problems this kind of schedule creates, Massi's films are much much better than they have any right to be.

Black Cobra stars a slightly bloated Fred "The Hammer" Williamson as an African American version of Dirty Harry - Detective Malone. Malone disobeys orders, doesn't compromise with people who he judges to be "scumbags" and is more than happy to contribute a little lead to anybody who asks for it. A female photographer has run afoul of a group of sociopathic, but nicely groomed, bikers and Malone is to be her protector.

Though not original, the story is decently told, and the script, although poorly dubbed, is OK. The acting is about what you would expect from a film of this nature, but some of the Italians are actually good. Nevertheless, the film did manage to cure my insomnia three nights in a row before I finally finished it last night and staggered off to bed in a daze.

For Completists Only.

I love B movies and I enjoyed Black Cobra. I wanted something to watch one rainy afternoon (I noticed that another reviewer watched it like that too) and so I gave this a look and I'm glad I did. Black Cobra is low low budget flick that provided enjoyable escapism for 90 minutes and kept me entertained. This is the type of film that you really have to accept on it's own terms or just leave alone. Ripping it apart would be easy but all the things that one could criticize are the exact same things that make Black Cobra the entertaining low budget flick that it is. One last thing: I agree with the other reviews that say the music in this flick sounds like it should be from a zombie movie. The Hammer should fight zombies in Black Cobra 4. I HOPE SOMEBODY READS THIS AND MAKES IT HAPPEN.