Black Caesar

Black Caesar follows Tommy Gibbs, a Harlem man who grows up amid petty crime and hard circumstances. After a run-in with a corrupt police officer named McKinney leaves him injured and then imprisoned, he returns to his neighborhood years later determined to build his own criminal operation and settle scores. His ambitions bring him into conflict with established Mafia interests and with McKinney, and the alliances he forms carry a personal cost.

The film was directed by Larry Cohen, who also wrote the screenplay, and it was produced by Cohen with Kenneth Rive and Benjamin Fisz for American International Pictures and Larco Productions. It is the earliest of the seven features Cohen directed listed here, preceding It's Alive, Q, The Stuff, A Return to Salem's Lot, Wicked Stepmother and The Ambulance. Fred Williamson leads as Tommy Gibbs, with Gloria Hendry, Art Lund, D'Urville Martin, Julius Harris and Minnie Gentry among the twenty credited cast members.

Released in February 1973, the film runs 95 minutes and mixes action, crime, drama and thriller elements. On IMDb and on TMDB, audience ratings both stand at 5.9 from 93 votes. The critics' rating comes in at 5.9 from 14 reviews, a figure consistent with how viewers have received it.