Starring: Rod Perry, Charles Robinson Jr.

Directed by: Lee Bishop   Written by: Lee Frost, Wes Bishop

The Story: Don't let the title fool ya. This movie has less to do with Nazis than it does with the overall theme of "Power Corrupts".

Its the 70's. The black community in Watts is suffering under the weight of poverty and drugs, and the mob is the cause of it. But there is some hope, since the city has given a grant to a man calling himself "General Ahmed". Ahmed has formed a People's Army in the African American Community. They're not a Paramilitary group, they do charitable deeds, like run food centers for the hungry, clinics for the ill and Detox facilities for people hooked on drugs. However, the mob  makes it hard on them. When one of the mob guys rapes Ahmed's girlfriend, Colonel Kojah, second in command of the Army wants to strike back. He begs Ahmed to allow him to set up 20 men as a protection force. Ahmed is against the idea, fearing Kojah's thirst for vengeance will only cause more violence. But he relents and lets him have six men.

Kojah is played by Charlie Robinson. It took me a few minutes to recognize him as Mac from the TV show Night Court. (most likely because I didn't think Night Court was funny) And Ahmed was right about Kojah. At first Kojah uses his protection squad to stop the mob from collecting money from the store owners, but he also gets pretty bloody in his methods. Vito, the rapist finds out the hard way when Kojah cuts of his balls! (Well, a rapist deserves that, but its still sadistic in the way that Kojah takes pleasure in it.) Kojah also begins to use his new authority to build a power base. Soon he has a literal army of men and uses them to brutally slay any white mobster that gets in his way. He sets up a training camp using the cash he stole from the mob and changes his uniforms from the khaki-colored ones of the People's Army to a black "Gestapo" looking one. Kojah promotes himself to General but instead of cleaning up the city he takes over the mob's operations after chasing them out of town!

How General Ahmed got to be the leader of the People's Army is beyond me. All the time that Kojah is building his power base and wreaking havoc, Ahmed is oblivious to it. He only becomes aware of it when the community....fed up with Kojah and his corruption they firebomb one of the People's Army's clinics. Ahmed goes to see Kojah and is shocked to see that the General has control of what was once the People's army. He vows to stop him.

Ahmed uses what's left of his People's army to thwart Kojah's drug pushing and collection of money, forcing Kojah to try and have him killed. Now, Kojah's men aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. The could have just killed Ahmed easily when they capture him, but their flair for the dramatic gives him an opportunity to escape, although injured. Ahmed then goes after Kojah with the determination of a 70's Rambo. He sneaks into Kojah's camp, sets some traps to incapacitate his guards and then gets ready to rumble with the man himself.

Of course, since Ahmed is the good guy, he wins. The fight wasn't all that exciting by the standards of today. I don't know how this movie did when it was first made, but I can imagine it was viewed with some intrigue. The script is nothing to write home about, but it did have some brutal scenes....like Kojah cutting out Vito's happy sacks. Its not shown in detail., but the scene will make most guys wince a little bit. Also the comparisons to the Nazis are telegraphed to the audience. I guess in the 70's that must have really been an uncomfortable thought for white America. A group of black Gestapo troopers? I don't like the idea and I'm black!

The DVD case tells me that this movie is not for the young or weak of heart since it has a lot violence and sexual situations. Well, the violence isn't anything compared to movies nowadays, but there's a bit of full female nudity thrown in and sex scenes. Interestingly all of the females seen nude save one are white! I don't know why that's always the case in these blaxploitation flicks. Personally, I don't care if the women were black, white or Asian, but I do wonder why Kojah...who says he's taking back the city for the black community...would have a white concubine. But then I don't understand racism, Nazi's or any other rubbish that seems to plague humanity.

Rod Perry gets top billing in this movie as Ahmed. I checked the IMDb and he hasn't been in as much stuff as Charles Robinson....I guess he was a big star back then. It doesn't look like he's been very active lately. (is he still alive...his bio didn't say) At any rate, the Black Gestapo isn't a bad little flick if you're into old 70's movies. It won't rock your world or give you much food for thought, but it was entertaining enough to keep me from getting bored or angry with it. And with some of the crap I've seen lately that's a welcome incident.

Best Lines:  “Throw the gun in the pool, m***** f***** or I'll make you sink!” - Ahmed gets the drop on Kojah.

Are you kidding me?

1.) Once again, I have to ask...where are ding dang cops? Vito and his buddy attack Ahmed's girlfriend in broad daylight on the street! And beat up three other guys, almost killing one of them! And they know who Vito is! Why not just call the police? With that many witnesses and the beating they took how could even a racist cop in Watts not arrest Vito?!

2.) A man in one of the PA's (I'm not typing "People's Army" again) clinics is dying. Begrudgingly Ahmed says to take the man to Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital. Kojah gets mad saying that they're supposed to be taking care of their own without relying on the white Man. If I was the guy in the clinic I'd get well temporarily to knock Kojah's block off. Who cares where the medical aid comes from!? The guy is DYING! Screw that noise. If a life is in danger who saves it is a moot point as long as somebody saves it.

3.) Okay, I really want to know where the police are. Do they not exist in Watts? Vito gets his nuts cut off with a straight razor....and according to dialogue, he at least lives to make it to the hospital. (Kojah actually called an ambulance after..."un-manning" him) But Vito knows who Kojah and his men are! Aren't the cops asking him who sliced off his joy department? then get this...another mobster shoots one of Kojah's men in a store so Kojah shoots the mobster's friend dead on the spot. In the store. Where are they dumping these bodies? Two murders in the same place in  the day time within minutes of each other and the cops are nowhere to be seen! The city shouldn't have given cash to form the People's Army! They should have just built a freaking police station!

4.) I can understand a few of Kojah's main henchmen not minding the corruption that Kojah's coup has caused, but Kojah has a small army of former People's army guys. Are that many of them willing to basically go into crime?

Nudity and Sex: A lot of gazongas are seen, full female nudity is shown and 1 and half sex scenes are in this movie. I won't describe what I mean by half because...well, kids might read this.

Huh?:

How can Kojah keep his organization out of trouble when they have distinctive uniforms....uniforms that look too much like Nazi Gestapo uniforms to not be noticed? You'd think a "Black Gestapo" operating in the city would draw a lot of attention.

I don't like organized crime either, but I thought the mob would be a tougher nut to crack than it is in this movie. The FBI should just make Kojah a field agent. He might have been a little overboard in his tactics but he did get rid of the mob!

Even though this isn't a movie about the military, they do a lot of things right. The parts where we see Kojah training his men he uses actual drill commands correctly! I just wanted to mention that since a lot of movies I've seen screw that up in one way or another.

One thing I figured out from this flick...Nazis suck, no matter what color they are.

Considering that Ahmed is a "good guy" will he turn himself in after he stops Kojah? He just killed about thirty guys.

The Final Judgment: If the idea of a Black Gestapo intrigues you then seek this movie out. Its not a great movie...its really not even a good movie...but it is a unique look back into the way people saw race relations in the movies thirty years ago. And remember, my droogies...Nazis really suck ass.