Surprisingly good late Blaxploitation flick in which Calvin Lockhart plays an aspiring film producer who has only days to repay the mob the $300,000 he borrowed to make a movie. Richard Lynch is great fun as the psycho mob boss after his money, and so is Charles McGregor as the drug dealer who neglected to inform Lockhart that the loan was mob money.
"The Baron" really is quite the mess. This was included in a cheap package with a bunch of other "urban" films.
A decent early comedy from Mack Sennett for Biograph. He was yet to develop the frantic slapstick style for which his shorts would come to be known, and so this is a more restrained comedy about a sacked waiter posing as a Baron in order to wed a society woman.
I know that my mark is nostalgia-influenced, but I really can't mark down any of the 60's ITC escapist adventure series as they were such a fun part of my childhood, watching classic shows like The Avengers, The Saint, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased, The Champions, Man In A Suitcase, Department S, The Persuaders and this.Yes, The Baron is a minor-league Simon Templar, a globe-trotting adventurer with an unlikely cover as an antiques dealer who invariably ends up in some foreign intrigue, yes, the production values are fairly low, with studio-bound sets and stock footage of international airports dropped in to futilely attempt to convince the audience the locations are authentic but it's all shot briskly and efficiently, routinely delivering 50 minutes of easily digestible thrills and spills before the stirring theme music comes around again to signal the end (almost every ITC show and certainly the ones I mentioned above all had memorable theme tunes).
Calvin Lockhart shines as Jason, a struggling black filmmaker in New York City who has to resort to borrowing money from the mafia to finish his latest movie. Even though this movie rips off the same plot as Hollywood Man, another low-budget movie starring William Smith, this movie actually is buoyed by great supporting performances by Richard Lynch, Charles MacGregor, and special guest star Raymond St.
Recently, I have been watching 'The Baron' episodes on DVD. 'The Baron' is actually better than I had expected.
I also remember this from the 70s - well at least I vaguely remembered his rather nice assistant, David Marlowe, being kidnapped and then stabbed by a particularly svelte and nasty villain: I even went to library to get out a few of the books because that episode made such an impression on me. On re-watching I have to say I felt much as a previous reviewer - shame the US forced out the David character and brought in Cordelia (Sue Lloyd may be eye candy for the boys, but Paul Ferris was definitely eye candy for the girls and his character could at least stand up for himself, while his relationship with the Baron is rather that of a father-son type, and could have been developed further) Am now giving the DVDs to my 13 year old as I have to say I prefer this type of show for someone of his age, than more modern, graphically violent ones.
A man who dislikes his desk job has visions of his boss being terrorized by a dark force known as the Baron.The film made an appearance at some festivals, but it will probably be seen mostly by people who purchase the Blu-ray to "The Ghoul", the next project from Gareth Tunley and Tom Meeten.
Jason (Calvin Lockhart) has borrowed $300,000 from the Cokeman (Charles McGregor) who in turn borrowed it from mafia guy Joey (Richard Lynch) to make a movie. He needs another $40,000 to finish it, but the debt is being called back.
