Black Caesar (film)

Black Caesar
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Larry Cohen
Produced by	Larry Cohen Benjamin Fisz Kenneth Rive
Written by	Larry Cohen
Starring	Fred Williamson Gloria Hendry D'Urville Martin Julius Harris
Music by	James Brown
Production company	Larco
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date	February 7, 1973
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2 million (US/ Canada rentals)

Black Caesar (released theatrically in the UK as Godfather of Harlem) is a 1973 American blaxploitation crime drama film, starring Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry and Julius Harris. The film was written and directed by Larry Cohen. Black Caesar is a remake of the 1931 film Little Caesar. It features a musical score (Black Caesar) by James Brown (with heavy input from his bandleader Fred Wesley), his first experience with writing music for film. A sequel titled Hell Up in Harlem was released in late 1973.

Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) is an African-American who grew up in Harlem, New York City. As a kid, he was brutally assaulted by a cop named McKinney. The incident led him to a life of crime. As an adult, he joins New York mafia and becomes the head of a black crime syndicate in Harlem. He wages a gang war with the Italian mobsters of New York City and begins to establish a criminal empire, keeping a ledger book of all his dealings as leverage over his business associates, including McKinney.

He meets and falls in love with a singer named Helen (Gloria Hendry) and marries her. She is unhappy as he is violent and rapes her. Eventually his enemies conspire with her, leading to an attempt on his life that leaves him shot and wounded. Killing his would-be assassins, he returns to his office to retrieve the ledger book. McKinney meets him there, and attempts to humiliate him before killing him. Tommy overpowers McKinney and beats him to death. Retrieving the ledger, a badly wounded Tommy returns to the house where he grew up, but a street gang attacks, robs and, presumably, kills him.