Original Gangstas

• Directed by Larry Cohen
• May 10, 1996

A Gary, Indiana neighborhood is terrorized by a street gang called the Rebels so original members of the gang return to set things right.

Yes, Original Gangstas takes place on the mean streets of Gary, Indiana. Not the first place one would set a gang movie of any kind. That really jumped out at me since it is almost reflexive for any film involving gangs to take place in NYC, LA, and in a nod to the likes of Al Capone, Chicago. Given certain economic and social aspects of the area it makes sense as well as making things a little different for the film.

There is some heavy-handed social commentary based heavily in the times this came out in our story. Urban decay and industrial flight that leave once thriving cities hollow shells is touched on. And it’s also about the police being unable to do anything about the crime either because they do not care or do not have the support. The town of Gary, Indiana has a broken spirit. People use the system. Politicians are disinterested. Those there have given up more often than not.

Original Gangstas does what it does rather unapologetically. And what it does is go heavy on the action and heavy on letting the old school blaxploitation stars shine. While it does aim for social consciousness, its main goal is to showcase many of the stars of that particular genre like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree, and Ron O’Neal in roles of varying size. We also have such stars as the extremely talented Paul Winfield and Isabel “Weezy” Sanford of all people.

Fred Williamson is our star and he plays a former football player/big-time celebrity John Bookman who started a gang known as the Rebels when he was young. The current iteration attacked his father and now he’s come back confronting his actions from a long time ago. He’s turned his back essentially on his hometown and the people that he grew up with and now he must reckon with that. He starts out thinking that flashing some of his star power will fix things but realizes the situation is more difficult than that.

We also have Jim Brown and Richard Roundtree as John’s old gang friends Jake Trevor and Slick respectively. While most of the old guard gets a chance to shine in Original Gangstas, Richard Roundtree’s presence is little more than a cameo. He shows up in a bar and for the climax to add but factors in little. It was a waste of a powerful screen presence and an icon.

The rekindling of the romance between Jake Trevor and his old flame Laurie Thompson (Pam Grier) should have been played up more. After all it was the murder of their son which triggered the second attack on the Bookman Market. It just was not as important as I felt it should be since. Brown and Grier were good together and romantic subplots when introduced need to be explored. And despite his dad being wounded by his old gang who also tried to takeover his family’s store, John was not nearly as developed of a character as I wanted.

Those in the movie are portrayed as older, but not old and beaten. To use modern parlance, it is about people taking back their power and not allowing others to have control power over them. The neighborhood must choose to live under the thumb of the Rebels or control their own destinies. Our heroes must confront what they started and kick the trash out.

The story is a little illogical and occasionally gets a smidge lazy. Our main cast comes up with this audacious plot to put the gangs of the area against each other but that gets tossed aside in favor of just eliminating the one gang that killed Jake’s son. And everything in that situation is solved through a copious amount of machine guns and explosions. There is more muscle than mind in this but that is why you are watching this.

But Original Gangstas is fun viewing by seeing some big names of the blaxploitation genre uniting together. It is just one of those things that fans of a particular genre really want for the big names. Unfortunately these types of movies often come after the glory days of the assorted stars. Expendables is a prime example of that. My point is despite it being a little bit too after the heyday of the genre this is definitely rewarding.

Can I call Original Gangstas perfect? No, but it is entertaining. It’s a solid action movie even if the story has some issues that is a nice homage to blaxploitation films as well. If you’re a fan of action or the blaxploitation genre and those that made it great, this is for you.