Yaphet Kotto Movies

In 4 for Texas, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin star as Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett, a pair of rival mountebanks who spend most of the film battling over who will control the gambling and wenching in 1870 Galveston. Though they'd as soon cut each other's throats than cooperate, Zack and Joe are forced to unite against a pair of common enemies: crooked banker Harvey Burden (played by Victor Buono, a favorite of director Robert Aldrich) and cold-blooded outlaw/hired-gun Matson (Charles Bronson, virtually the only person in the film who takes his role seriously). The heroes also battle over the affections of well-endowed heroines Elya Carlson (Anita Ekberg) and Maxine Richter (Ursula Andress), both of whom are sharp-witted businesswomen who match Zack and Joe scam for scam. The Three Stooges show up for a moment, in which they repeat their "point to the right" and "State of Texas" routines, and get into a fracas with feisty little old lady Jesslyn Fax. Also making guest appearances are Arthur Godfrey and Teddy Buckner and His All Stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum play deadly adversaries in this curious mixture of the western and mystery genres. During a poker game in Rincon, Colorado, a stranger in the game is lynched for cheating. One of the gamblers, Van Morgan (Dean Martin), tries to prevent the lynching but is rebuffed and promptly leaves town. Soon a gold rush hits Rincon, bringing all manner of men and women -- including self-ordained preacher, Rev. Jonathan Rudd (Robert Mitchum) and brothel madame Lily Langford (Inger Stevens). Learning that two of the men in the poker game have been murdered, Van returns to Rincon to find out why. Once in town, Van is diverted from his investigation by the attentions of Lily and of Nora Evers (Katherine Justice). But when two more of the poker game's participants are killed, Van must spring into action to track down the killer. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Unbeknownst to Hoss Cartwright, the horse he has just purchased previously belonged to a murdered millionaire. As a result, Hoss is railroaded into jail on a murder-theft charge. Threatened with lynching by a band of townsfolk eager to get their hands on the dead man's missing money, Hoss breaks out of jail with the help of black cowboy Child Barnett (Yaphet Kotto), a man who has spent virtually his entire adult life on the run. Others in the cast are John Marley as Sheriff Millet, Harry Hickox as Mayor Bingham, Henry Beckman as Charlie, Bruce Kirby as Chad, and bandleader Frank DeVol as Brother Stoner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a radical student and a college dean have a heated argument. The trouble really begins when afterward, the dean is found dead. The story was taken from the Name of the Game television series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Will David Janssen never stop being a fugitive? In the made-for-TV Night Chase, he's a Los Angelino on the lam after shooting his wife's lover. Believing he's killed the man, Janssen boards Yaphet Kotto's taxi and orders Kotto to head for Mexico. The film's level of suspense holds up until the end, when the logic holes begin widening. Night Chase went into production with the more appropriate title The Man in the Back Seat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Across 110th Street is a violent urban thriller about a corrupt, older white cop (Anthony Quinn) and an honest, young African-American cop (Yaphet Kotto) chasing three robbers-cum-murderers who ran away with $300,000 that belonged to the Italian mob. The police must find them before the sadistic Mafia henchman Nick D'Salvio (Anthony Franciosa) reaches them first. The film has reached a cult status; the title song, performed by Bobby Womack, was later used in Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino's extended homage to the crime flicks of the 1970s. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

In this biker flick, an L.A. policeman becomes friends with another officer and the tough black leader of a biker gag. Conflict ensues, especially when the biker leader's ambitious and vengeful second in command beats up his girlfriend and abducts the leaders pregnant girl. He takes her on a wild ride that almost kills her and the child. He is pursued by the cop who eventually captures him, but not before the badguy slits his throat. Surprisingly, he does not die. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A young NYPD detective learns (the hard way) about the politics that govern a big-city police department. He kills a lady-detective/colleague whose undercover garb concealed her profession and he gets caught up in a department cover-up. ~ All Movie Guide

In this detective move, a black sleuth in Manhattan breaks up a drug ring and catches a psycho jewel thief. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A woman looking for adventure finds romance, excitement and danger in her viewfinder in this action-packed comedy-drama. Friday Foster (Pam Grier) is a beautiful and ambitious young photographer who is working as an assistant at Glance Magazine, edited by the hard-boiled Monk Riley (Julius Harris). When Riley can't get in touch with his first-call photographer, he calls Foster with a very important New Year's Eve assignment -- reclusive billionaire Blake Tarr (Thalmus Rasulala), often called "the black Howard Hughes," is expected to be coming to Los Angeles, and Riley wants pictures of Tarr's arrival. But Foster gets more than she bargained for when Tarr is ambushed by a gang of assassins disguised as security guards. The next day, Foster is helping to shoot a fashion show introducing new creations from flamboyant designer Madame Rena (Eartha Kitt) when Clorils Boston (Rosalind Miles), a model who has known Friday since childhood, is stabled to death. Colt Hawkins (Yaphet Kotto), a private detective who is on the scene, offers to help Friday track down Clorils' killer after she notices that the same mysterious man (Carl Weathers) was present at both crimes. Foster and Hawkins discover the two killings are connected by a plot hatched by an underground group called "Black Widow" to kill off powerful and influential African-Americans. But who is behind the conspiracy, and can they be stopped in time? Also starring Godfrey Cambridge, Paul Benjamin, Scatman Crothers and Ted Lange, Friday Foster was based on the comic strip by Jim Lawrence and Jorge Longeron; running from 1970 to 1974, it was the first syndicated strip with an African-American woman as the leading character. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An inner-city Chicago community comes together to save their neighborhood from destruction in this '70s era blaxploitation-comedy. The construction of a proposed expressway would tear up their urban home, so a massive block party is planned to protest the action. Meanwhile, fast-talking scam artist Daddy Foxx (Yaphet Kotto) has taken a group of unemployed young men under his wing and is teaching them the tricks of his trade. Foxx's best pupil is 14-year-old Baby D (Kirk Calloway), much to the chagrin of his older brother, Win (Randy Brooks), a drummer who can't land a decent gig. After Win's drum kit and apartment get trashed, he finds no recourse but to join up with Foxx himself, so the gang proceeds to pull various cons on other local crooks. This annoys fellow street hustler Goldie (Rudy Ray Moore), but ultimately everyone has to put their differences aside and cooperate to make sure that their neighborhood isn't demolished by the city's bulldozers. It takes a lot of funky music, cream pies in the face, and petty theft, but together they stand their ground. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Paul Schrader's directorial debut examines the trials of Detroit autoworkers living at the mercy of a heartless corporation and a corrupt union. Surviving from paycheck to paycheck, Checker Cab assembly linemen Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel), and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) scrape by and take pleasure in a few rounds of beer or bowling (and occasional illicit amusements). But when their money troubles pile up, Jerry and Smokey join Zeke in a desperate plan to steal cash from their local union office. Along with a piddling $600, they unexpectedly swipe evidence of union corruption. Deciding to use it for blackmail, the men discover instead how powerfully malevolent the union can be in a system that counts on petty divisiveness to keep the larger power structure intact. Inspired by stories of real-life disillusionment, Schrader and his brother/co-writer Leonard Schrader took on politically difficult issues of race and corporate labor, infusing the indictment of unions with a suggestion of post-Watergate paranoia about forces beyond the union that keep workers in their place. From the opening sequence of the assembly line to the final evocative freeze-frame, Schrader maintains an atmosphere of gritty realism, with the lead trio lending low-key dramatic force to a situation beyond their control. Too downbeat for a late '70s audience increasingly drawn to happier fare, Blue Collar flopped, yet it did earn Schrader critical accolades. Although he has reportedly since disowned the film, Blue Collar remains one of Schrader's best works, with Zeke and Jerry powered by the same sense of simmering frustration that would explode so effectively in Affliction two decades later. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Husband, father, rapist. All three succinctly describe the character portrayed by David Soul in the made-for-TV Rage. Though he would seem to be a hopeless case, Soul is subjected to prison therapy sessions, on the theory that he might be curable. As the sessions continue under the guidance of therapist James Whitmore, Soul pours out a lifetime worth of anger, revealing the deep psychological wounds that have formed his warped personality. Contrasted with Soul is Yaphet Kotto, as an allegedly rehabilitated prisoner. Based on several case histories as recorded by New Jersey's Avenel Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center, Rage was originally telecast September 25, 1980 ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide