One of the possibly lesser known aspects of early to mid-20th century racism is "race" movies - movies made by African Americans largely for African-American audiences. I can't imagine what it would have been like when this was released in 1940 - about a month after Hattie McDaniel won her Oscar for "Gone With the Wind".
David Davies appeared as a gang boss in the previous years The Frightened. City,which was superior in every respect.
Gang War (1940) ** (out of 4) Another early film from the black cinema, this one directed by Leo C. Popkin.
Gang War (1958) ** (out of 4) A school teacher (Charles Bronson) witnesses a gang killing and turns the gangsters over to the police. In return, the gangsters kill the teacher's pregnant girlfriend, so he goes out for revenge.
In director Gene Fowler, Jr.'s "Gang War," tough guy Charles Bronson plays Los Angeles high school math teacher Alan Avery who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I recently discovered this little British gangster movie; a very good one, indeed, very well done, even without great actors in it.The tale of an owner of fruit machine company, and gangster too, who seeks revenge of his brother's death, shot by a rival gang.
With a 1950's Challenge currently taking place on ICM,I decided to look for flicks which I've been keeping of the side from viewing for too long. Planning to watch two Death Wish flicks soon,I was interested to read that this was part of Charles Bronson's first big push onto the big screen,which led to me joining the gang.
(There are Spoilers) Having trouble holding his splintering crime syndicate together mob boss Maxie Meadows has his henchmen Joe Reno & Axe Duncon get one of his boys Slick, alone in a L.A parking lot, and beat the guy to death.
Because the "all colored cast" or "race movies" of the first half of the 20th century were made on such low budgets, due to systematized racial discrimination in the United States of America at that time, it is not really right to compare their production values with comparable mainstream "poverty row" B-movie crime dramas of the same era. Also, there has been, until lately, little or no attempt to preserve or restore race films, and thus many of the copies circulating as of the early 21st century are taken from scratched 16 mm prints, have garbled sound tracks, or derive from "dupey" videotapes in worse condition than comparable poverty row films of the same era.
