Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, Calvin Lockhart

directed by Ossie Davis

97 minutes

New York police officers Gravedigger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge) and Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques) are on the scene when Reverend Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart) runs off with $87,000. He took the money from people in Harlem whom he promised a place on a ship that was going to take them to a better place.

They money is seemingly stolen from O'Malley during a rally he was holding on the street. Gravedigger and Coffin Ed chase the thieves who are themselves being pursued by O'Malley. The chase for the missing cash doesn't end with the car chase that started it.

O'Malley goes missing but Jones and Johnson are on the job searching for him and investigating others who might know something about the theft.

Thoughts

This film felt very by the numbers. The characters lacked depth. It wasn't lacking in humorous moments which seemed to pop up when least expected. The movie felt very much like a product of the time in which it was made.

There are a number of nods to racial issues but in the way that such acknowledgements mere made (if at all) in that era. I don't think that it has aged as well as I had hoped. I might have been more into it if I had seen it much closer to when it was first released. It would have been much more cutting edge at that time.  

Who stole the money? Was it someone O'Malley hired? Was it the mob? The ending felt a little ambiguous and left me wondering if something was missing that might have been in the source material.

I think this movie probably is worth seeing more for the historical value it holds than as a stand alone film. It isn't something that I would recommend to most people.

Notes

This was the first movie that Ossie Davis directed. There were only six others. This is the only one I have seen. I have of course seen him act in numerous films and TV shows including Do the Right Thing (1989) and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002).

There are lots of familiar faces in this movie. I wasn't familiar with Godfrey Cambridge but his screen debut was in an episode of the Phil Silvers Show that I watched a few months ago. 

The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Chester Himes. There is a sequel (Come Back, Charleston Blue) to this movie which also stars Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques but was not directed by Ossie Davis.