Black Caesar

Larry Cohen shoots a Harlem rise-and-fall gangster saga guerrilla-style on real streets, and gets a genuine epic sweep out of almost no money. Fred Williamson plays a shoeshine boy who claws his way to the top of the rackets and finds it hollow, and James Brown's score drives the whole thing.

Cohen's stolen-location shooting gives it a documentary immediacy, and the story has real tragic shape under the violence. Williamson is a commanding lead. The ending was reshot and remains divisive.

One of the most substantial films in the cycle, and a Larry Cohen essential.