D'Urville Martin Movies

Aimed primarily at American football fans, this dramatized biography of Paul Bryant, a celebrated football coach nicknamed the "Bear," focuses on the man's early career as a player and his later work as a coach in the locker rooms and on the field with his own players -- in Kentucky, Texas, and Alabama. While the Bear's personality is clearly brought forward in Gary Busey's interpretation -- he is alternately caring and verbally abusive, depending on the situation at hand -- the people who must have meant a lot to him in his life outside of football are underwritten here, and a sense of unfolding drama -- outside of his career and the football field -- is missing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Despite an amusing premise -- five blind men commit a bank robbery -- this Filipino crime film fails to rise above its low-budget blaxploitation look. D'Urville Martin (Dolemite) and Fred Williamson are the main draws, but only devoted fans will want to sit through this one. After 1974's outrageously silly The Killing of Satan, this was a letdown from director Efron C. Pinon. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Fred Williamson returns as L.A. detective Jesse Crowder in this loose sequel to the previous year's No Way Back. This time, Crowder must escort a government witness (Bernard Kuby) across the country to New York, dodging homicidal gangsters at every stop along the way. Blaxploitation fans will recognize D'Urville Martin (Dolemite) among the cast. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

After a series of violent, sexy blaxploitation films like Coffy and Foxy Brown, Pam Grier returned in this more sedate PG-rated actioner. Grier plays Chicago P.I. Sheba Shayne, who returns to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky to save her father's loan business from vicious gangsters. Austin Stoker co-stars with D'Urville Martin (Dolemite) and Charles Kissinger, who appeared in all of director William Girdler's films. Highlights include a chase through a carnival funhouse, but without the usual exploitation elements, there's little to recommend this film except for Grier completists. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

A black cowboy saves a frontier town from both the law and the bad guys in this western written by and starring Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. Boss (Williamson) is an African-American bounty hunter traveling though the Wild West with his best friend and sidekick Amos (D'urville Martin), gunning down wanted men and claiming the rewards when they make their way into town. When Boss bests a man in a gunfight, he discovers the victim had an invitation to become sheriff of San Miguel, a town under the control of notorious outlaw Jed Clayton (William Smith). Boss and Amos head to San Miguel, hoping to claim the hefty reward for capturing Clayton, but they discover the corrupt and venal Mayor Griffin (R.G. Armstrong) has to be bullied into making a black man sheriff. When Boss shoots two of Clayton's henchman during a barroom brawl, it brings the outlaw out of hiding, but it also makes life dangerous for anyone who dares to side with Boss, including Clara Mae (Carmen Hayworth), a beautiful woman he rescued from an ambush that claimed her father. Boss also finds time for a romantic assignation with Miss Pruitt (Barbara Leigh), the town's pretty schoolmarm, and Amos's new career as deputy allows him to interpret certain laws to his own advantage. Boss Nigger was also distributed under the less controversial title The Black Bounty Hunter, and has been released on home video simply as Boss. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Five on the Black Hand Side was released at a time when most black-oriented films were bloody action fests. In contrast, this low-budget effort, coproduced by actors Brock Peters and Michael Tolan, eschews exploitation for humanity and domestic drama. Leonard Jackson plays a barber who is also the domineering head of a middle-class African American family. Jackson is forced to rethink his values when his previously docile wife (Clarice Taylor) joins their three children in rebelling against her husband's retrogressive behavior. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Fass Black owns the Disco 9000, a neon-lit penthouse dance club that's one of the top nightspots in Los Angeles. He also owns Disco 9000 Records, a successful label that provides the music for this venue. A rival mogul ascertains that his company can't get a hit record in the Los Angeles market without exposure at the Disco 9000, but he fails to convince Black to play his company's records at the club. So his goons make life difficult for Black: they smash cars in the club's parking lot, destroy the Disco 9000 recording studio, ransack his office, steal the tape of his label's latest recording, and even attack the club while people are dancing. Meanwhile, one of Black's associates tries to get out of debt by providing information on Black; this leads to a woman's accidental death when she's hit by a car. The rival mogul offers to "help" Black as he struggles to overcome the damage to his business, but Black refuses the offer. Instead, he fights back by researching his rival's financial records. ~ Todd Kristel, Rovi

Raymond St. Jacques both directs and stars in The Book of Numbers. St. Jacques and Philip Thomas play depression-era African Americans, barely making out an existence as waiters in a deep-south community. Both men decide that there's more money to be had on the shadier side of the law, so they set up a successful rural numbers racket. All goes well until the operation attracts the attention of white crime boss Gilbert Greene. Though no one is particularly admirable in The Book of Numbers, the audience remains firmly on the side of the black characters, if only by default. The film was based on a novel by Robert Dean Phaar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set in the pre-Civil War South, this western adventure follows three escaped Virginia slaves on their journey into the West. The already arduous journey is made worse by the dogged bounty hunter who pursues them. Along the way the fugitive trio add others to their group, doing good wherever they go. A sequel The Soul of Nigger Charley followed this blaxploitation western. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Shot during a jewelry-store holdup, Sgt. Ed Brown (Don Galloway) owes his life to a man (Michael Callan) who rushed to his aid--and then disappeared into the crowd. It soon develops that the good samaritan is actually an AWOL Vietnam veteran who may or may not have killed a comrade in arms. Convinced that the soldier is blameless, Ed puts his life on the line--again--to clear the man's name. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) gives African American FBI agnet Harry Dane (Booker Bradshaw) plenty of latitude as Dane combs through a tough ghetto neighborhood in search of athlete-turned-criminal Nate Phelps (Billy Dee Williams). Meanwhile, Nate turns to his former girlfriend Lenore (Lola Falana), hoping she'll summon his underworld buddies for help in escaping the FBI agent. But none of Nate's cohorts want anything to do with him: He's a cop killer, and that's bad for business all around. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Roman Polanski's first American film, adapted from Ira Levin's horror bestseller, a young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and only elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castevet (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon) soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building; despite Rosemary's reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, Guy starts spending time with the Castevets. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Minnie starts showing up with homemade chocolate mousse for Rosemary. When Rosemary becomes pregnant after a mousse-provoked nightmare of being raped by a beast, the Castevets take a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castevets' circle is not what it seems. The diabolical truth is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth, and the baby is taken away from her. Polanski's camerawork and Richard Sylbert's production design transform the realistic setting (shot on-location in Manhattan's Dakota apartment building) into a sinister projection of Rosemary's fears, chillingly locating supernatural horror in the familiar by leaving the most grotesque frights to the viewer's imagination. This apocalyptic yet darkly comic paranoia about the hallowed institution of childbirth touched a nerve with late-'60s audiences feeling uneasy about traditional norms. Produced by B-horror maestro William Castle, Rosemary's Baby became a critically praised hit, winning Gordon an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Inspiring a wave of satanic horror from The Exorcist (1973) to The Omen (1976), Rosemary's Baby helped usher in the genre's modern era by combining a supernatural story with Alfred Hitchcock's propensity for finding normality horrific. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Davy quits the Monkees when a shady boxing promoter named Vernon (Joseph Perry) decides to groom the long-haired Britisher as the next champ. But when it turns out that all of Davy's fights have been fixed, the other Monkees try to rescue their pal from a pre-arranged pummelling by The Champ (D'Urville Martin. Songs: "Laugh", "I'll Be Back Up On My Feet". First telecast on January 30, 1967, "Monkees in the Ring" was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi