''Gordon's War'' is a 1973

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

written by Howard Friedlander and Ed Spielman, and

directed Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), a ...

by Ossie Davis. It stars Paul Winfield as Gordon Hudson. ''Gordon's War'' was made at the height of

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

films popularity from the early 1970s featuring some of the racial stereotypes of the genre.

Plot

A Vietnam veteran returns home to find drug dealers and addicts now rule his old neighborhood, and that even his own wife has fallen victim to drugs. Together with three of his buddies from Vietnam, he fights back. Using tactics borrowed from war that involve them not using the cops, they find that the culprit to all of the trouble is a couple of white salesmen.

Cast

* Paul Winfield as Gordon Hudson * Carl Lee as Bee Bishop * David Downing as Otis Russell * Tony King as Roy Green * Gilbert Lewis as Harry "Spanish Harry" Martinez * Carl Gordon as Luther "The Pimp" * Nathan Heard as "Big Pink" *

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

as Mary * Jackie Page as Bedroom Girl * Chuck Bergansky as White Hitman * Adam Wade as Hustler * Hansford Rowe as Dog Salesman * Warren Taurien as "Goose" * Ralph Wilcox as Black Hitman * David Connell as Hotel Proprietor * Rochelle LeNoir as Gordon's Wife * Charles McGregor as Jim, Drug Dealer On Subway Station Platform (uncredited)

Soundtrack

The music heard throughout the film has become a well-respected album in its own right, performed by Badder Than Evil, Barbara Mason, New Birth and Sister Goose And The Ducklings. Most songs were composed and performed by Badder Than Evil, a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

/ R&B project of Albert Sahley Elias (credited as Al Elias) and Angelo Badalamenti (credited as Andy Badale). Their track ''Hot Wheels (the chase)'' has been sampled by scores of artists including

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

, Coldcut and

Blade A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it an inconclusive film, one that had a "format and substance—a black theme dramatized, for practical, constructive purposes—remain exceeded by its goal." Jacob Knight of '' Birth.Movies.Death'' called it "one of the most valuable works to come out of '70s Blaxploitation."

References

External links