After a fundraiser for a black politician is robbed, Detroit police put two detectives, one white (Alex Rocco) and one black (Hari Rhodes), on the case, who try to work together under boiling political pressure.
Although Orville H. Hampton worked mostly in lower budget films, he actually had an Oscar nomination under his belt by the time he wrote this script. Hampton had written the now-forgotten "One Potato, Two Potato" (1964). Marks was responsible for bringing in Rocco, who he had worked with on "Bonnie's Kids". Although he plays a policeman here, Rocco had actually grown up among Boston's Winter Hill Gang.
Hari Rhodes is a perfect choice for the role here. In a film about racial politics, he is more knowledgeable than most. While any person of color has experienced racism at some point, Rhodes literally wrote the book on it: "A Chosen Few", which was published in 1965.
Scatman Crothers is a pleasant surprise, even if his role is not as large as it could be. And the idea of "Buzz the Fuzz" is awfully clever, perhaps something more big cities ought to think about. This film shows the racial politics between police and the black community, and this certainly has not changed in the forty years since this film debuted. If anything, it is something we are even more acutely aware of now.
Although Orville H. Hampton worked mostly in lower budget films, he actually had an Oscar nomination under his belt by the time he wrote this script. Hampton had written the now-forgotten "One Potato, Two Potato" (1964). Marks was responsible for bringing in Rocco, who he had worked with on "Bonnie's Kids". Although he plays a policeman here, Rocco had actually grown up among Boston's Winter Hill Gang.
Hari Rhodes is a perfect choice for the role here. In a film about racial politics, he is more knowledgeable than most. While any person of color has experienced racism at some point, Rhodes literally wrote the book on it: "A Chosen Few", which was published in 1965.
Scatman Crothers is a pleasant surprise, even if his role is not as large as it could be. And the idea of "Buzz the Fuzz" is awfully clever, perhaps something more big cities ought to think about. This film shows the racial politics between police and the black community, and this certainly has not changed in the forty years since this film debuted. If anything, it is something we are even more acutely aware of now.