Cotton Comes to Harlem
Cotton Comes to Harlem is a 1970 film from the USA, directed by Ossie Davis, running 97 minutes. reelscum files it under blaxploitation.
- Year
- 1970 · 1970s films
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 97 min
- Director
- Ossie Davis
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (41/100)
Defined in the glossary: Blaxploitation
Two Harlem detectives chase a stolen fortune hidden in a bale of cotton. The one that opened the door.
Ossie Davis directed this adaptation of Chester Himes's novel, and its box-office success helped prove the audience for Black-led films that the whole blaxploitation cycle then exploited. Two street-smart Harlem detectives, Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones, chase a fortune hidden in a bale of cotton amid a fake back-to-Africa scheme.
It is funnier and more grounded in real Harlem than the crime pictures that followed, closer to a caper comedy than an action film. Its success at the box office is a genuine turning point in the commercial history of Black American cinema.
Trailer
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The cycle in depth
- Blaxploitation, 1971 to 1975
Melvin Van Peebles caught gonorrhea on his own set, filed a workers' comp claim, and bought more film stock with the settlement. Four years later the studios had mined the audience out and moved on.
Filed alongside
Black Mama White Mama
The Defiant Ones with Pam Grier, shot in the Philippines by a Filipino who actually knew the terrain.
Black Belt Jones
Jim Kelly karate-chops the mob to save a Watts dojo. Blaxploitation meets kung fu, joyfully.
Hell Up in Harlem
Larry Cohen's weekend sequel to Black Caesar, rougher and more berserk than the original.
Black Caesar
Larry Cohen shooting Harlem guerrilla-style. James Brown scores it.
Cleopatra Jones
Tamara Dobson, six feet two, government agent. Shelley Winters overacts gloriously.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
The most political film the blaxploitation boom made, pulled from cinemas and buried for thirty years.
Across 110th Street
Grim, well acted, and the best film in the cycle by some distance.
Scream Blacula Scream
The rare sequel that adds Pam Grier and a shred of dignity.
Super Fly
Curtis Mayfield's score critiques the film it's in. Remarkable object.
Trouble Man
Cool to the point of refrigeration, scored by Marvin Gaye the one time he ever bothered.
Truck Turner
Isaac Hayes in front of the camera for once, and Nichelle Nichols swearing.
Abby
The blaxploitation Exorcist. A minister's wife is possessed by a sex demon. Warner Bros sued.