THE STORY: This movie could be called "The Annihilators in the 'hood". It shares the same basic plot as that movie, but it is a better flick. (then it would almost have to be a better movie than the Annihilators.) Before I get started on the plot I'm going to tear a page from Greywizard's book. Greywizard the genius behind the Unknown Movies also reviewed The Annihilators. A big bone of contention in his review was the inability of the police to do anything about the gangs terrorizing the city even though the criminals were so inept the three stooges could have dug up enough evidence to convict them. Its the same in this movie. I just don't see how the bad guys, who aren't smart or clever at all, could  NOT get caught. The police catch me every time I park my car illegally, but in this movie you can stage a drive by shooting in broad daylight with a million witnesses watching you and get away with it!

A drive by shooting is what sends the chain of events moving in this flick. Kenny, a young brother in Gary, Indiana has gotten himself a basketball scholarship to UCLA. But before he goes off to school he decides to make a little extra cash by hustling the local gang, the Rebels at basketball. He wins $300.00 and the gang isn't pleased about it. Realizing that they've been suckered, Spyro, the Rebel's leader (actually Spyro is kind of the co-leader. He shares authority with Damien) sends a few knuckleheads after Kenny. They gun him down on the street right in front of a grocery store owned by Marvin Bookman. Bookman gets the plate numbers of the car and against Gracie, his wife's, better judgement informs the police. A punk kid overhears Bookman helping the cops and tells the Rebels. The Rebels then send some thugs over to kill Bookman. The punk that shoots Bookman doesn't kill him, he just wounds him. It seems he didn't have the heart to kill the old man.

Enter John Bookman. John, the son of Marvin is a former pro football player. He returns to Gary from LA to find out who put his pop in the hospital. John and his old friends created the Rebels in the days of their youths, but back then they didn't murder people. Maybe a few thefts and fights, but all in good street thug fun, huh? Well, John ain't none to happy with the rebels so he kicks some street punk ass every time he encounters one of them. John wants to eradicate the Rebels and he seeks help from the mayor to do it. The mayor however is simply the most useless mayor on the face of the earth. John's friend's Jake and Lori want revenge too. Kenny was their son. Reverend Dorsey, a local minister, tries to negotiate with the gang but to no avail.

Isn't it amazing how movie police just can't resolve these situations? The Rebels hang out in an abandoned building that EVERYONE knows about. Amazingly this abandoned building has electricity in it, too. The Rebels don't even bother to cover their tracks very well. Since the cops can't seem to muster the ability to use the mountains of evidence the Rebels leave behind doesn't mean that John and his friends can't. I don't particularly agree with vigilante justice, but the cops in Gary are pitiful. the mayor is pitiful. Damn, everyone is brainless about what to do until John comes up with a plan.

With help from Dorsey, Lori, Jake and a little street punk kid, (The same kid who told the Rebels about Marvin Bookman ratting them out...he had a change of heart) John gets some illegal weapons. He and Jake steal Damien's car and use it in a drive by shooting attack on the Rebel's rivals, the Diablos. They then return the car before anyone notices its gone. The idea is to spark a gang war and let the two gangs wipe each other out. It almost works, but Spyro and Damien discover that they've been set up. Angry, they do what any sadistic, brainless bastards would do. They send the Rebels out to torch the neighborhood. They inform Reverend Dorsey to tell John to hand over the weapons or there'll be more trouble.

Once again I bring attention to the lack of police involvement. The Rebels torch an entire street of houses! They even kill the street kid and leave his body out in some garbage. Aren't the cops interested in this widespread destruction and mayhem? I guess not, so John and his friends switch to plan B. They turn over the guns, but John has sabotaged them so they explode in the gangs faces. Then he, Jake, Lori and two other old buddies of theirs, Slick and Bubba start gunning down Rebels. Why not? the police are conspicuously absent even though the streets have erupted into utter anarchy. Average citizens, spurred on by the Original Gangstas ass kicking techniques take to the streets and start whooping on gang members.

With their gang defeated, and mostly dead, Spyro and Damien decide they'd better go see Blood, leader of the Diablo's and try to explain that John and his friends did the hit on them and the Rebels are innocent. Good idea, and only a lack of reasoning skills made them come to it this late. They know that the Diablos want them dead for the attack...wouldn't it have been smarter to tell Blood the truth first, while they still had a gang? John and Jake give chase though, and catch the two criminals just outside of the abandoned steel mill where the Diablos hang out. A fight to the finish begins with Blood and his gang merely watching. Thankfully, after Spyro gives Jake a half assed speech about how "Jake made him a criminal" (?) Jake doesn't do the usual movie thing like beat him up but let him live. Oh, no...not the Original Gangstas. Jake kills him, and not by accident either. He does it with both anger and purpose. Meanwhile, John is busy stomping on Damien, but Blood shoots the thug in cold, er, blood. The Rebels are finished. Most of them are dead, and what's left are running or hopefully being arrested. John and Jake warn Blood that just because the Rebels are gone the Diablo's had better stay off of their streets. Then they walk away, even as the police finally arrive.

The sorry ass police I might add. I'm assuming that none of the Original Gangsta's are going to be any trouble. Even though they killed a lot of gangbangers. The cops don't even stop John and Jake as they walk away from TWO dead bodies! If I take up a life of crime I'm moving to Gary, Indiana.

A lot of people slammed this movie becuase of its lack of values. I can understand that. Th movie awkwardly tries to address the issues of urban violence, parenthood and community. It fails in all of those respects because the main characters resort to violence and with little cajoling. But a lot of movies, including the blaxploitation flicks that this movie is based off of are based off of violent action. I don't poo-poo the movie for that.

The credits for this movie is kind of like a who's who of the old 70's blaxplotation movies. Well, this flick was supposed to be just that. Fred Williamson was John Bookman and Jim Brown was Jake. Pam Grier, Richard "Shaft" Roundtree and Ron O' Neal were Lori, Slick and Bubba. Reverend Dorsey was Paul Winfield. John's mother was Isabel Sanford..."Weezy" from the Jeffersons. I get the idea that had they been available there would have been parts for Red Foxx, Flip Wilson and Richard Pryor. There are some white people in this movie though. Charles Napier was the mayor and Wings Hauser was just some lackey for the mayor. Frank Pesce was the highly ineffectual Detective Waits.

Best Lines: "You're a dead man...a DEAD MAN!"-  Jake threatens Spyro. Uh, Jake, if you plan a revenge killing don't announce it to your target in front of two dozen witnesses.

"[unwrite] the Bookmans!!"- Two scared dudes when the gang threatens them over helping the Bookmans.

1.)  Its difficult for me to use my usual style of smart-ass remarks in this movie. I know that there's lots of violence in some inner city neighborhoods, but a smidgen of common sense would have saved people a lot of grief in this flick. After all, if Kenny lived in this gang infested place, wouldn't he know its not to smart to hustle the gang in a game of basketball? I mean, when he wins fair and square members of the gang are ready to kick his ass on the spot. If it were yours truly, and I could see that the gang is quite willing to whoop on me for just winning a game of basketball I 'd make the logical conclusion that they're probably prepared to kill me if I take their money.

2.) Y'know, this movie shouldn't even NEED Original Gangstas. It needs Sherlock Holmes or a reasonable facsimile! When the Rebels exact revenge on Mr. Bookman for ratting them out they wear no masks, they leave fingerprints all over the place, etc. They don't even succeed in killing Bookman leaving him to ID them! A competent police department should be able to bust the gang by dinner time! (Maybe they should just call on the Annihilators!)

3.)  I spoke too soon in Number#2! (serves me right for typing as I watch this flick) John finds some scumbags raiding his father's store and proceeds to [unwrite] their [unwrite] up. When the gangbangers don't believe he's serious when he holds one of them in front of him as a human shield he shoots half the guy's foot off with no hesitation! That's what I'm talking about. most movie heroes in "gang" type flicks always try and talk the bad guys out of a life of crime. "You don't wanna do this." and "You can be somebody! Put the gun down and go back to school." Funk Dat! John just decides to bust their asses.

4.) What the hell kind of rounds does john fire at the rival gang? John and Jake stage a drive by in order to set the Rebels and their rivals upon each other. But as John fires several cars explode into huge ass fireballs! What did he use, Robocop's gun? For the love of Pete, if cars explode that easily, quickly and violently the gang must have soaked the upholstery in gasoline! If weapons that powerful are available on the street its a miracle that Gary, Indiana isn't just a smoking hole in the ground!

5.)  Talk about overkill. The rebels strike out at the neighborhood and burn a whole buncha houses down with firebombs. Oookay....keep in mind that one person is seen running from a house on fire. So we see one guy injured...but then other people must be hurt or burned to death in this arson spree. You don't need the Original Gangstas now to solve the gang problem. Hell, in any normal city the police would go ape[unwrite]. They'd round up all the gang members they could find and start monkey stomping them. A crime spree like that would attract national attention! With blatant moves like that how can the rebels possibly survive? Not one crime they commit is done with enough skill or finesse to be untraceable! To make matters worse, the rebels pretty much admit everything they do to Reverend Dorsey. I sure hope that there's some kind of Reverend-Client vow of silence on the books. Why doesn't Dorsey tell the [unwrite]ing police!? Is he that scared that gang will kill him and he'll be condemned to the eternal bliss of heaven?

NUDITY AND SEX:  none

HUH? : So what's this little strret kid gonna do? Ride his [unwrite]ing scooter from Indiana all the way to Seattle? And Bookman lets him? He can't be more than maybe 14!! If he doesn't have any family why hasn't someone taken him to the authorities? I just can't believe that Bookman lets him ride off like that.

The rebels hangout seems fairly well known. So how come the police just don't raid it? Logically there's would be drugs, illegal weapons, etc in it. Its not like any of the gang members are rocket scientists. The only thing this proves is that there aren't any rocket scientists in the police force of Gary, Indiana. It would be so simple to just stamp out the gang menace at the roots!

The mayor of Gary is a real dick. When the gang war heats up he plans on being out of town and says he doesn't want any police officers to get caught in a gang firefight. Huh? Well, if the cops do nothing doesn't that mean widespread pandemonium is going to ensue? And if that happens people are going to get hurt and killed, businesses will dry up and move away and the city will be in even worse shape than it is now! What kind of mayor is that? Wouldn't the state authorities be kind of pissed at him? Man, Gary is one [unwrite]ed up town. Also, the mayor has one of the UGLIEST office I've ever seen.

THE TALLY:  Not a bad movie. If you're a fan of blaxploitation flicks this should whet your appetite. If you're just looking for an action flick, its not a bad pick for that. I enjoyed it. Sure, it had its flaws...there just can't be a police department that useless in real life....they were almost anti-police...but then I enjoyed the Annihilators on a "it sucks so bad its fun to watch" level. This movie doesn't suck, get some popcorn and just roll with it.