Slaughter's Big Rip-Off

Plot synopsis:
Slaughter (Jim Brown), a fierce Vietnam veteran and ex-Green Beret, had avenged the death of his parents by killing the gangster who was responsible for their death in Mexico. He is now relocated in Los Angeles, California, a place that Slaughter sought to escape the past events and begin his attempt to have a tranquil life.
Slaughter goes to a friend's house for a lavish outdoor picnic and celebration. Meanwhile, a new crime boss, Duncan (Ed McMahon), is now after Slaughter, for having killed ex Mafia boss Dominic Hoffo earlier. An old World War I biplane is seen flying by the outdoor celebration and then opening fire on the guests at the picnic. It results in the graphic death by headshot of Slaughter's friend, which reignites the old spark of fury and rage that Slaughter had when told of the death of his parents.
Duncan's first assassination attempt in essence is a failure and only succeeds in waking a sleeping beast. Duncan hires a new hit-man named Kirk (Don Stroud) to bring Slaughter to his demise. Rather than being in protective custody under the supervision of Duncan's crooked cops, Slaughter remains on the streets.
Slaughter's new friend is a police official, Det. Reynolds, who warns that his life is in peril. Slaughter also has a girlfriend, Marcia (Gloria Hendry), who is also being targeted by the mob, under Duncan's orders, to further provoke Slaughter.
Slaughter makes an agreement with Reynolds to obtain confidential documents of the Mafia's operations. He coaxes a drug-addicted pimp to assist him in breaking into Duncan's safe house and successfully escape with the documents. After gun fights, Slaughter and his pimp sidekick kill several of Duncan's guards and associates. In response, Duncan sends Kirk to kidnap Slaughter's girlfriend, a fatal mistake on Duncan's part.

Tags: violence, murder, blaxploitation

Review:
Don't ask me how it happened, but I suppose having the film feature Ed "I'll Sponsor Anything" McMahon as a tail-chasing crack hustler had a bit to do with it.Frankly, I was disappointed with Slaughter's first outing in 1972.
Big Jim Brown seems stronger as Slaughter here than in the first.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that one year later he had something to work from, instead of his simple "Be like Shaft" motivation before.The most outstanding part about the film is the soundtrack provided by pimp-daddy number one, James Brown.
I should also point out this film is also an excellent period film to represent a time in motion picture history when Jim Brown and Ed McMahon could actually GROW hair.Double the chicks, double the blow, triple the body count, and factor in Ed McMahon and James Brown.
For my money, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off can play ball with any Blaxploitation film ever made.
The movie itself is pretty good - but only the ORIGINAL version with the awesome soundtrack by James Brown.
Jim Brown kicks ass effectively, Gloria Hendry proves again that she can bring life to even the poorest roles, and Brock Peters is decent as The Cop Who Plays By the Book.
Of the two Slaughter movies, this is the better and even though its hardly a Schindlers list in complexity it is bloody funny.
Jim Brown also proves hes a private dick for all the chicks and again he kicks whitey ass in every direction.
This sequel to the original Jim Brown "Slaughter" vehicle is similarly bad ass entertainment, with big Jim showing off plenty of cool as always.
There's a fair amount of violence to enjoy, and a bit of sex, too - even some full frontal nudity courtesy of the delectable Judith Brown.Slaughter is now being hunted by mafioso types who want to get back at him for his activities in the first film.
Determined police detective Reynolds (Brock Peters) soon ropes Slaughter into stealing important documents from Duncan - to be precise, a list of people who've received payoffs."Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" isn't wall to wall action, but it is enjoyable, particularly for seeing Mr. McMahon in a film of this type.
There's a bunch of familiar faces in the supporting cast, among them Gloria Hendry as Marcia, Slaughter's gal pal, Dick Anthony Williams as flamboyant pimp Joe Creole (a pimp who's also talented in the art of safecracking), Art Metrano as the sleazy Mario Bertoli, Hoke Howell as one of the Parker brothers who make the foolish mistake of not cooperating with Slaughter, Russ Marin as top cop Crowder, the always lovably genial Scatman Crothers (you wish he was in the film longer) as Cleveland, Pamela Des Barres in a sexy bit part, George Gaynes as the ill-fated Warren, and an uncredited Adam Roarke as Harry.The pacing is mostly efficient, the action when it happens is always viscerally effective, and there are some good laughs to be had as well.
It's just a shame that the original James Brown soundtrack got replaced for the DVD; the new score is adequate but hardly inspired.Seven out of 10..
Here's another another golden oldie, a well made feature film, blaxploitation tale, with some thrilling action, especially the start, with the fake orange and reddy gore.
We too, have hot broads, as well as the big black dude you don't mess with, as referenced by other black dudes: The one and only Jim Brown (Fireball in The Running Man) who makes most men look small.
Some people want Slaughter dead, where he must of crossed some really bad guys, half the fun in the story, that has us, wondering if he'll survive, which we probably know he will.
Stella Stevens is off on the Poseidon Adventure, so Slaughter has to find a new girlfriend in this sequel in his battle with the mob.
Of course, Gloria Hendry is working hard to keep him on a leash.It was a treat to see Ed McMahon and Don Stroud, and Scatman Crothers, along with Brock Peters.
They definitely made the sequel more interesting.Dick Anthony Williams plays a classic pimp with the jive talk and flashy threads who joins Slaughter in a rip off scheme.
Stroud makes a classic mistake, however, and Slaughter is ready for action.The cool dude just does the job..
Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) * 1/2 (out of 4) Violent sequel sees a mob boss (Ed McMahon) taking a hit out on Slaughter (Jim Brown) who of course has to seek vengeance when a couple of his friends are killed instead.
This sequel to the 1972 hit comes as a major letdown because we've got a pretty good cast here but sadly they're given very little to do and this film runs out of gas before we even hit the thirty-minute mark.
Not only do we have Brown and McMahon but we also have a brief appearance by Scatman Crothers and Don Stroud as well as Brock Peters who most will remember from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
The biggest problem with this film is that the entire set up is just boring and never really gets us interested in what's going on.
As soon as the movie starts we witness this hit and we have no reason why it's happening or who the people are that are getting killed.
What we do get are a few fun performances with Brown once again delivering the good lines and kicking enough heads in for some slight entertainment.
It was very funny seeing McMahon playing the womanizing gangster and Peters turns in a good performance as a cop helping Slaughter.
If you are looking for a bad-ass, funky film to watch some night, this is just right.
In addition to Jim Brown in the lead part, this movie is filled with some of the biggest names the blaxploitation scene has to offer.
How about Scatman Crothers, Dick Anthony Williams, Gloria Hendry and Brock Peters.
Brown returned to his role from the year before (in "Slaughter") for this rough follow-up film.
When the first assassination attempt fails, Brown is back in action once more, kicking gangster butt all over the place while trying to protect his new girlfriend Hendry.
While the original film was, overall, a better and more coherent movie, this one delivers all the exploitation aspects in far heavier doses, making it more pleasing to fans of the genre.
Stroud makes an impression as an intense, racially-bigoted hit-man while Peters adds just a tinge of class as an upright police detective who enlists Brown's aid.
Sadly, no mention at all is made of Brown's original sidekicks Don Gordon and Stella Stevens.
The film spends a lot of time in the sewage of organized crime, drugs, prostitution and other vices, but it retains interest through the creativity of its action scenes and the now-startling lack of political correctness.
9 out of 10 film-goers agree: if you put Jim Brown on screen, whatever film he happens to be in will immediately improve noticeably for as long as he remains on screen.
There's just something about the guy's presence and charisma, even in a non-action setting, that makes you want to see what he is going to say or do next.
So a film with Jim Brown up front and center for the entire duration is going to be fun to watch even if the surroundings are second rate.
That is certainly the case here.This was a pure blaxploitation flick that doesn't pretend to be anything else, so the audience for it is going to be fairly self-selecting - a title like "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" is not going to pull in the Merchant Ivory crowd or fans of British comedy.
The filmmakers knew the kind of film they wanted to make, and they made it: a film about guns, drugs, sex, soul power, cussing, funk guitar and muscle cars...and mostly about Jim Brown and how cool he is.
So if you don't think about it too hard, it's OK.One really odd note to the seamless blend of guns, goons, and funk is the appearance of Ed McMahon right in the middle of things as a Boss type.
When Brown finally shoots him, I was praying that he would also call in an air strike to obliterate McMahon's wardrobe, so that it would never sully innocent eye-balls again.Anyway, "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" might have been OK, or even good, with another actor in the role, but Jim Brown makes it a great period piece.
(SPOILERS ALERT) After knocking off a number of top mobsters from the L.A Syndicate down Mexico way Slaughter-no first name necessary-played by Big Bad Jim Brown, the baddest dude on the planet, becomes a marked man with the mob having a contract put out on his life.
By being blown away by him by the time the movie is finally over.In between we have Slaughter have some action with the ladies who ends up either dead or beaten into a pulp, by the mob, for associating with him.
There's also Slaughter's two top adversaries in the film mob boss Duncan played by a buffoonish looking Ed McMahon and his top hit-man Kirk played by real life hero, who lost the sight of one eye breaking up a mugging in NYC, Don Stroud.
To make things even worse for Stroud or Kirk is that he ends up beaten into raw hamburger meat by a gun-less Slaughter and then shot to pieces by him when he obviously had broken his fists banging them against the helpless man skull.
That's without Kirk, who looked either drunk or on sleeping pills, never even bothering to throw a punch back in return in trying to defend himself!Slaughter of course has no trouble slaughtering anyone who gets in his way and on top of that the local police don't even bother arresting and questioning him for all the slaughtering he's done in the movie that must have push the body count higher then the body count of 1992 L.A riots!
With his job now done after wiping out the entire Southern Califronia Crime Synadicate Slaughter who had unearth a list of all the politicians and police higher ups working for the syndicate is then allowed to leave town on an all expenses paid vacation, courtesy of the LAPD, to Paris France to continue his slaughtering exploits there!P.S I was bracing myself for a sequel to the movie "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off", which incidentally was a rip-off of the original "Slaughter", to follow in it's blood splattered and bone crushing footsteps.
Sure, Slaughter is a tough, gun-toting, Black man but it's more of an action picture regardless of the color of the leading man or the bad guys--and a very good action picture at that.For the second and final time, Jim Brown plays the title character.
Now, in a horribly bungled and clumsy attempt, the guys in the plane kill and injure quite a few people but miss Slaughter.
And, because the job was bungled so badly, the mob boss (Ed MacMahon!!) orders the pilot and gunman killed by his brutal assassin (Don Stroud--in a very typical sort of role for him).
So, to help him along in his own private vendetta, Brock Peters (who plays a cop) tells him who the mobsters are who ordered the hit and got Slaughter to agree to help by doing some illegal undercover work.
So, Slaughter and his pimp friend break into the mobster's mansion and steal a list of payoffs to key government and police officials.
And, naturally, there is a lot of shooting and bloodshed in the process.Stroud isn't about to let Slaughter get away with this and kidnaps Slaughter's girlfriend.
Being a tough but gallant man, you might just be able to guess much of what happens next.The action is very good in the film and Jim Brown is menacing and tough.
A Slight Improvement Over the 1972 Film "Slaughter".
Although the former Green Berets soldier by the name of "Slaughter" (Jim Brown) is not killed, several of his friends lie dead and dying all around him and he immediately vows to kill those responsible.
Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be a fairly decent "Blaxploitation" film with good action and solid acting all around.
Likewise, the addition of Judith Brown (as "Norja") and the aforementioned Gloria Hendry certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either.
Even so, I thought that this sequel was a slight improvement over the 1972 film "Slaughter" and I have rated it accordingly.
Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. A mob kingpin(Ed McMahon) murders Slaughter's(Jim Brown) associates and he seeks to get even.Duncan(McMahon)puts a hit out on Slaughter, but his friends get shot instead while the gunner flew over his party in a Spearman.
A revenge actioner where big Jim Brown takes out a mobster's goons as Kirk targets him for extermination.
Duncan is in bed with the chief of police(..and other city officials) and Slaughter must secure a list with his name on it for detective Reynolds(Brock Peters).Fans of Jim Brown and blaxploitation should enjoy this, but the plot itself really isn't anything to write home about.
Brown, built like a mack truck, makes both black and white women swoon and kicks a lot of ass..a tailor made vehicle designed specifically to make him look cool while defeating those who wish to kill him.
Dick Anthony Williams steals the film as a sneering pimp, Joe Creole, who also has a reputation as a safe cracker and is enlisted by Slaughter to lift the list from a safe in Duncan's mansion.
Stroud inhibits the usual heavy role of Kirk, a ruthless, cold-blooded henchman who has obviously eliminated a lot of Duncan's competition.The yummy Judith M Brown has a minor role as a former squeeze of Slaughter's who negotiates with him over information regarding those he is after in return for sexual favors(..and, we get to see her fabulous nude body as she disrobes for Slaughter, who didn't need too much coaxing).
Gloria Hendry(Live and Let Die) is Slaughter's girlfriend, Marcia, her life soon threatened as Kirk desires the list for his boss.
Hoke Howell has a funny cameo as a plane mechanic who, at first, doesn't give out the name of the person who hired the Spearman which flew over gunning down Slaughter's friends.
Plus, the whole opening sequence doesn't properly set the stage for the revenge of the movie(..shouldn't we get to know Slaughter's comrades a bit before they are murdered?).
It does deliver the violence, though, as Slaughter lives up to his name, blowing away quite a many of Duncan's men, with blood all over the place.
It's too bad the film doesn't use McMahon more because he is fun to watch as the mafioso with those big shades and ugly suits..
Slaughters Big Ripoff could be called junk, but that is like calling Birth of A Nation Junk.Is it a good film,no.
However it is an interesting film to analyze.Unlike the first Slaughter movie, this one is different in tone.
Slaughter has no well meaning white partner like Don Gordon.
In fact, except for the beginning, there is no good white male in the entire film.
Here, an elderly white man, the only good white man in the whole film, who has just lost a close horse race to Jim Brown as Slaughter, is killed by this plane, as is another black person.
Even here, it is implied somewhat that while blacks and whites can be polite, they cannot be together.Later on, we will meet African American Brock Peter, who at first appears to be antagonistic to Slaughter, while his white boss, who appears to be a "nice guy", we will later learn is corrupt and dealing with the mob, led by all people Ed McMahon (I guess Johnny Carson show didn't pay him enough.
Brock Peters however, will help Slaughter, and they form an alliance.The "White World" is shown to be decadent and in decline.
The only good white person from here on end, is a white woman, who just wants to have sex with Slaughter, somewhat suggesting that for her white men are of no use.
Slaughter complies, but in no way does he seem to love this woman, while he is making love to a black woman later on, and we feel that he certainly cares more for her.
Also a black pimp, who appears to be a sleaze, is allowed to show courage, and that even he, has more good character qualities than "the white man".Don Stroud makes an interesting villain.
But in the end, when Slaughter faces him, he will be no match for Jim Brown's Slaughter.
As Jim Brown faces the bad white gangsters in the end, I am struck by his getting his guns ready to put the massacre on these white baddies.
However, metaphorically, one could see Slaughter getting his guns ready, to go after the people behind James Earl Ray who wanted King dead.This is no classic, it is not even good cinema, but Slaughters Big Ripoff is none the less an interesting movie for what it is saying..
Big, bad Jim Brown encores as rugged ex-Green Beret Slaughter, who finds himself targeted for termination by a bunch of vicious mobsters who are angry at Slaughter for killing a bunch of Mafiosa off in the first movie.
Soul brother number one James Brown delivers a supremely funky score.
The first-rate supporting cast really carries the day: Gloria Hendry as Slaughter's concerned loyal gal pal Marcia, Don Stroud as blithely brutish racist hit-man Kirk, Richard Williams as flamboyant pimp Joe Creole, Brock Peters as hard-nosed detective Reynolds, Scatman Crothers as a kindly old pimp, the foxy Judy ("The Big Doll House") Brown as a sexy informant who has a steamy interracial love scene with Slaughter, Art Metrano as a freaky, greasy coke-snorting hoodlum, Hoke Howell as a charter plane pilot, and AIP biker film regular Adam Roarke as an ineffectual assassin who Kirk strangles in a pool.