Woodyanders Tough and determined ex-con Tyrone Tackett (a strong and commanding performance by Bernie Casey) infiltrates a sordid Los Angeles criminal underworld so he can exact revenge on the folks who killed his brother. Writer/director George Armitage relates the gripping story at a swift pace, maintains a hard-hitting gritty tone throughout, further spruces things up with inspired touches of dark humor, and presents a vivid depiction of a seamy milieu replete with choice seedy locations and a delightfully degenerate rogues' gallery of colorful lowlife characters. Moreover, Armitage makes a potent and provocative point on how revenge can strip a man of his humanity and reduce him to the level of a scary and savage monster. The fine acting from an on the money cast keeps this movie humming: the ever-foxy Pam Grier as brash porn starlet Gozelda, Lisa Moore as saucy motel proprietor Laural Garfoot, Bhetty Waldron as shifty prostitute Irvelle Way, Sam Laws as amiable used car salesman Sherwood Epps, Candy All as the bitter Rochelle, Don Diamond as slimy mobster Nano Zito, and Ed Cambridge as the irascible Theatis Oliver. Popping up in nifty bits are Marilyn Joi, John Daniels, and Paul Gleason (as a corrupt cop). The abundant tasty gratuitous female nudity provides lots of extra sizzle. H.B. Barnum's funky-chilling score hits the groovy jazzy spot. The sharp cinematography by Andrew Davis rates as another plus. Well worth a watch.

sol1218 ****SPOILERS**** Better then you would have expected Blaxploitation version of "Get Carter" made a year after the original Michael Cain release has Okland ex-con and mob enforcer Tyrone Tackett travel to L.A to find out the reason behind his brother Cornell's mysterious death. The straight laced and tea toting Cornell was killed by crashing his car over a guardrail and smashing into the Pacific Ocean below where he drowned. At the autopsy Cornell was found to be drenched from head to toe with over a paint of cheap whiskey at the time of his death!Heading straight to Candi Lilly's whorehouse in suburban L.A Tackett isn't interested in having a good time there but to track Cornell's latest squeeze hooker Ivelle Way who was last seen with him before he was killed. As Tackett puts the squeeze on Irvell he find out that Cornell's out of control teenage daughter Rochell may have been the reason behind his tragic death or as Tackett suspects murder. As Tackett goes into the underbelly or belly of the beast, the LA porno industry, he uncovers his niece's's sorry life as a kid on the streets who was exploited by local pimps and porn peddlers that eventually later lead her murder. That despite all of Tacketts's efforts to get her on the straight and narrow road to both drug and prostitution rehabilitation.The usually mild mannered and soft spoken Bernie Casey is really convincing here as the no holds barred take no prisoners butt kicking dude Tyrone Tackett: A guy that you or anyone else wouldn't want to mess with. Casey is incredibly far more effective as well as convincing then his better known fellow ex-football Blaxpoitation actors Jim Brown & Fred Williamson in his action scenes. As well as him being, he sure got the build for it, far more overpowering when dealing with the bad guys in the movie! In that Casey never seems to be even as much as threatened by those he dukes or shoot it out with who never stand a chance against him. It takes a while but Tackett finally gets to the truth to who had Rochell murdered and by pretending he doesn't know he tricks him into meeting him outside L.A. That's to get paid off in order to keep the heat off of his boss who's had Rochell murdered. And the person, or in between, who's to pay Tackett off is the very hit-man who did in Rochell L.A mob boss Nano Zito's chauffeur & enforcer Shag Merriweather! ***SPOILERS*** Blood splattering final with Tackett tricking L.A porno king Theotis Oliver's gang into icing Mafia Don's Nano Zito, who Oliver worked for, and his men after an all day and night sex and drunken orgy at his playboy like mansion. With the Zito mob canceled out Tackett finish off Oliver who had Rochell murdered, to keep her from talking, and his boys with only hit-man Shag, who had no idea that his boss Oliver was history, left alive! Whom a by now totally out of control bull in a China shop Tyrone Tackett saved for the very last!

sanderant It appears Roger Corman's brother Gene had an idea, black films are hot, you can get actors on the cheap and use plots from old crime movies. The results were this movie and a remake of the Asphalt Jungle called Cool Breeze. Now Get Carter wasn't known for having a great plot, more of a character study, so there's not much of a story here. Trying to follow it will only make your head hurt so just look at the scenery, dig the groove and don't worry about the details like the black ninja death squad. If your familiar with Get Carter you can practically see Armitage going through the original dialog "blacking it up". While I'm usually Bernie Casey fan, he's only with the program half the time here, but I'd put the blame on director/writer Armitage as a number of scenes are poorly written, some bordering on ridiculous. That said Casey, who's usually more of a straight man, has some good turns a stone killer. Despite the second billing, "Pamela" Grier only has a small role here, but if your a fan of her looking to see all of her, in her prime, you won't be disappointed. Overall the movie's no hidden gem like Detroit 9000, but if you're a fan of the era/genre like I am, it's well worth watching. It is has decent production values, there's a lot of on location shooting in LA, and enough interesting scenes and characters to make up for the movie's numerous failings. All you have to do is compare this to the Stallone remake to realize how far the low end has fallen, Hit Man hearkens back to an era when even bad films had some value. Maybe Fox will see it's in their interest to release it some day in the interim would be customers will have send our money elsewhere.

vulture75 An excellent version of the Ted Lewis book, Jack's return home. Although the style and acting is below the high standard of Hodges' classic Get Carter, it conjures up some novel death scenes and some cool dialogue. Caine said "You're a big man, but you're out of shape. Me, it's a full time job." Bernie Casie said, "You're a big cat, but don't be selling me no wolf ticket." Quality. If you liked Carter, you'll like Hit Man.