Jive Turkey
- Css Darth-Sheol
- Apr 17, 2015
- 2 min read
Jive Turkey is one of the few blaxsploitation movies I've seen, at least as an adult. I started to call it “classic blaxsploitation” until I realized I really don't actually know what a “classic” of that subgenre would be. I suppose I'll settle for just calling it “old.”
Pasha is the black crime lord of Harlem. His big business is “numbers” (gambling), but now the Italians want that racket. It's also election year and the mayor is pushing for better control of crime. So Pasha is getting pushed from two sides at once and fears he is nearing the end of his control.
He's not out of the fight yet, though. He has connections including the police chief and a transvestite assassin. Can he avoid the cops and wrestle with the Italian mob?
I'm not a fan of gangster movies in general. I can't think of any that I like so it comes as no surprise that I'm not fond of Jive Turkey. That said, I did stay moderately interested throughout the movie. The conflicts were interesting even if the overall story lacked. The surprise at the end isn't done very well at all. It didn't make enough of an impact on me.
The acting varies a lot. Some of the actors aren't bad. Others are tolerable while some stink pretty badly. The action isn't great, but I have seen worse.
Generally the criminals are the heroes, and we're supposed to be rooting for a mob boss. Being more of the superhero fan persuasion I don't care much for the criminal “heroes.”
MORALITY:
This is deserving of its R rating. There is plenty of violence even though the bloody makeup isn't realistic at all. I actually laughed at it a couple of times (like the guy that gets shot in the shin and acts like he bumped it on the coffee table).
There is a lot of strong language including frequent uses of racial slurs.
There are a couple of scenes of sex with nudity – one of them being sex in a church..??
We see almost no drug use, but it is talked about often. One of the movie's “heroes” owns an opium den.
SPIRITUALITY:
There's not much of a spiritual element here, but as I mentioned earlier we do visit a church to have a sultry sex scene.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I guess if you like these blaxsploitation movies or low budget mob movies then maybe you'll want to look into this more. It doesn't have a lot to offer anyone else. I wasn't as bored with this one as I have been with similar films, but it's still not worth the time.
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