What about the late Ron O’Neal? [3] Did you enjoy working with him?
Yes, very much. Ron was a very accomplished actor. He had a great history of working off-Broadway in New York City, although a lot of people only seem to remember him for Superfly. That’s rather unfortunate as this guy had a lot of talent. Besides doing Superfly, Ron had done a lot of serious and diverse work. Of all the cast members in Original Gangstas, he was by far the best actor in my opinion. As a matter of fact, I asked Ron to do the narration at the beginning of the picture because I liked his voice and the way he delivered dialogue. I like the opening of Original Gangstas, actually. I think Ron’s narration and the shots of the city established the urban decay and the social plight of the town very concisely. I should also add that Gary itself was in very sad shape. There wasn’t even a bank in the entire town. If you had a cheque and you wanted to cash it, you had to go to a cheque-cashing store, where they would charge you something like 10% of the value of the cheque just to cash it for you! So, if you had a cheque for $100 you had to pay $10 to cash it, if they would cash it for you at all. There were no banks, no economy, no employment, nothing. The whole town was just devoid of any hope or sense of optimism. There was no future for anybody living there except to engage in criminal activities.
Were there any ego problems or professional jealousies simmering amongst the principal members of the cast?
Fred Williamson and Jim Brown always had a little bit of a competitive edge to them. Both of them had been famous football players, but Jim was certainly the foremost football player of the two. Fred had enjoyed a secondary career in football and he never came anywhere close to the level of success Jim had achieved. Jim was the undoubted king, and so Fred was always a little bit jealous of him. But by the time we did Original Gangstas, Jim was in bad health. He was having a lot of physical problems due to the injuries he’d sustained playing professional football. Jim had a lot of trouble moving around, particularly when he was required to run. So, I tried to minimise the amount of running his character would have to do because he would be in such pain. The only time Jim ever got mad at me during the shoot was when I had him running down an alley in one scene. He asked me, “How far do I have to run?” I said, “Until I tell you to stop.” Well, Jim did not like that at all! He turned to me and was suddenly furious. I calmed him down, quickly apologized, and said, “No, just run to the end of the alley.” I thought I was being funny, but Jim didn’t take it that way. That one altercation was our only run-in and must have lasted all of thirty seconds. I think Jim is in even worse physical shape today, as his old football injuries have really caught up with him. But back when we were shooting Original Gangstas, Jim was a good fellow and he tried his best at all times. He was a pretty good actor, too, although he had the strange habit of clicking his teeth as he delivered his dialogue. This clicking sound would be picked up on the soundtrack and we ended up having to carefully edit out all these clicks, as it was very distracting. I also wrote that scene for Jim and Pam — that long scene they have together — and they both did a beautiful job of playing it. Jim was very complimentary towards me and my work. He told me that It’s Alive was his favorite horror movie. He claimed to have been more scared watching It’s Alive than any other film he’d ever seen. I’m certainly proud of being the man who terrified big Jim Brown! [Laughs] Of course, Jim had co-starred in El Condor, and after I’d reminded him that I’d written that movie, we got to be quite friendly. However, as far as Fred and I were concerned, we were at each other’s throats throughout the whole production — arguing over the locations and the money.
Aside from his casting, did Williamson have any other strengths as a producer?
Oh, sure. Fred had arranged for us to have an entire street of abandoned houses, which we eventually exploded for the film. These homes had been empty for years, and it was Fred that made it possible for us to actually blow up the entire street and burn it down. Let me tell you, that was no small feat. We had crew people come in and decorate the windows with curtains and furniture, and we placed bicycles and chairs outside on the front lawn. We made that derelict area look like it was an inhabitable neighbourhood before carefully mining the place with explosives. I had strategically positioned a bunch of cameras at various points and angles to cover the explosion. I was two blocks away when I finally shouted, “Action,” and we literally blew the whole damn place up. It was an incredible thing to witness. We had put more explosives inside those houses than I — or anyone else, for that matter — were expecting. I’m telling you, the resulting blast looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off! We destroyed the entire city block at once. Although I was far away, I can distinctly remember that when the explosives detonated, the heat swept over me and actually gave me sunburn. It was simply enormous, and the stuntmen who were standing on the front lawn got blown through the air for real. They didn’t need a catapult for that effect, as the force literally knocked them off their feet. That was a good sequence, and Fred was the one who engineered the whole thing. It was Fred who cleared everything with the city officials, and I didn’t have anything to do with it. He should rightfully be credited for what he did contribute to Original Gangstas and, of course, there would not have even been a movie if it weren’t for Fred.
In what ways do you think Black culture and society has changed since the days of the blaxploitation era?
Culturally, it’s plain to see the influence of Black culture on White people in the last few decades in terms of music, fashion, and even everyday speech and language. Politically and socially, you would immediately think that Black culture had changed over the years due to the inroads that have been made in terms of education, opportunities for Black people, and the rise of the Black middle class. But you know what? I don’t think it’s really true. On the surface it may have seemed true, but when you got right down to it, the reality was very different. I think the perfect illustration of the recent divisions and ill-feeling that exists between White people and Black people was the O. J. Simpson trial. When we were shooting Original Gangstas, the Simpson trial was in progress, and you could plainly see the split between Whites and Blacks. White people believed that this guy had committed murder and he should be punished for it. Black people didn’t seem to care less about whether or not Simpson had committed the murder; they just didn’t want him to get convicted because he was their hero. It turned out that the jury assembled for the case was a mixed jury and there were a number of Black people in it. By having a Black jury, the likelihood of ever securing a conviction was remote, to say the least; because after the guilty verdict would have been announced, those Black jurors that had condemned him would then have to return to their communities and answer to their friends and neighbours for it. They would have been held accountable for sending their Black hero to jail for a murder he may or may not have committed.
Were these differing opinions and divisions also apparent on the set?
Incredibly, during the entire shooting of Original Gangstas, not one word was ever uttered about the O. J. Simpson trial. Remember, this case was a huge media event and was being televised. It seemed that the trial was being discussed and dissected in every home, every street, every city, and every state in America. Back in Hollywood, it was the only subject people were talking about. But down in Gary, Indiana, there was not one single murmur about it. Then, one day, I was riding on the back of a camera truck, and it was very cold. I looked around and said, “Has anybody got a pair of gloves?” Somebody found a pair of workmen’s gloves and tossed them over to me. As a bit of a joke I held up my hand and said, “Hey, this glove doesn’t fit!” Of course, that was in direct reference to Simpson’s situation in court, where he had tried on the glove that had been found at the murder scene and it didn’t fit him, or apparently didn’t fit him. The attorney representing him then made this piece of evidence a big thing by saying to the jury, “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.” My little joke immediately got a huge laugh from all the g
ang members. They understood what it meant and they thought it was funny. It also showed that every person on that set knew exactly what was going on, but they never once mentioned the Simpson trial. Not a word, not a peep, not once. Isn’t that remarkable?
It really is. How do you account for their reticence?
I have no idea. The trial just seemed to exist outside the realm of their conversation for whatever reason. The gang members never brought the subject up. They never asked me for my own thoughts on the case and I never offered them.
Fred Williamson’s character, John Bookman, is an ex-football player and former gang-banger, who returns to his hometown in time to see it crumbling under his old gang’s reign of terror. However, Bookman initially urges residents to get up and leave, surrendering their community to these thugs.
At first, Bookman believes that people should just get out in order to save themselves, but then he comes to believe that the town is actually worth saving and fighting for. When he arrives back home, he wants to move his elderly parents out of there and avoid all the social problems. This is what many of us often do — we simply ignore the poverty and the inequity that surrounds us in order to insulate ourselves. But Bookman’s mother does not want to abandon her town. She and her husband have their home and their store there, even though the fact that the father has been beaten up and shot would seem an obvious motivation to go. This terrible thing that has occurred makes Bookman want to pull out, but now that his mother won’t leave; he has to stay, stand his ground, and fight. With the aid of his friends, he finally does something about the problems in the town. So, there was some character development and a story arc in Original Gangstas that was good, I think. The basic idea of Aubrey Rattan’s screenplay was that Fred’s character comes back and fights the gang, but in my revisions, I tried to get more inside Bookman’s head. I wanted to explore his feelings and fears concerning his family and community.
For all his macho posturing and kung fu chop-socky, there is a nice sense of self-deprecation in the moment when Ron O’Neal’s character suggests that Bookman “better suck that gut in, man”.
Well, it would have been very easy for Fred — as both producer and star — to somehow make Bookman this impervious hero. But that moment was a nice acknowledgement that we were all now much older and we weren’t young men anymore. The whole idea was to humanise the guys and let them play their real age instead of trying to hide it. Every character in there was already past middle-age, and the young gang members referred to them as “old guys” and pointed out their age periodically. The basic story of Original Gangstas is the pitting of old against young; experience and wisdom against vitality and strength.
The theme of social responsibility is also present in the narrative. Bookman and Trevor [Jim Brown] started the gang back in their youth, so they are in effect responsible for the current problems in the town.
I must admit, that idea was intrinsic in Rattan’s original screenplay — responsibility and acceptance that something must be done. The fundamental core of Original Gangstas is that the old gang members must return and reform in order to take the town back from the new gang members. Over the years, the gang has changed its personality and motivations. Street life, or gang life, has basically escalated into something that is much more violent and dangerous than the old days.
An idea encapsulated by Slick [Richard Roundtree] when he tells Trevor: “It ain’t about throwing bottles and stones anymore …it ain’t about breaking fingers anymore.”
Exactly. The gang has now become something evil and abhorrent. It has evolved into this monstrous organization that is too violent, destructive, and cruel to be allowed to exist any longer. In effect, the older characters must slay the monster that they themselves created and I thought that was an interesting element. Also, it’s a difference in values between the generations. There is no honor or loyalty anymore, and, as a result, no hope of reconciliation through peaceful means. When the gangs first started, they were there to offer their members a shield against the police, who were very racially prejudiced. The gang was always about protecting the streets and the people. Individuals joined the collective because they needed to feel safe and were no longer isolated, alone, and vulnerable. You wanted to be a member of a strong organization, who were looking after you, so you could walk the streets unafraid. If you were in a gang, nobody would attack you, because they knew that the gang would then immediately retaliate. What was originally created to ensure self-preservation and support then became something else entirely in the ensuing years. The gangs got into the drug business and things began to change as they were competing for customers, money, and territory. This inevitably resulted in violence, ruthlessness, and death. Various gangs devolved into criminal outfits that would murder anybody who got in the way and restricted their profits. The downward progression of the gang — not only in Gary but everywhere else — just became almost unbearable. This is the same situation you are now seeing in Los Angeles and Chicago. In fact, there is tremendous gang warfare going on in Chicago. [4] There have been more killings there this year than anybody could have ever imagined. It’s because the two gangs are just at each other constantly and Chicago is not too far away from Gary, Indiana.
Were you happy with how the action scenes in Original Gangstas turned out?
Well, let me first say that I directed all the action in the picture. What was unfortunate was we only had a limited amount of stuntmen available to us, which was another problem that I had with Fred. Instead of giving me seven or eight stuntmen, I think we only had four. This meant that we had to constantly keep dressing the stuntmen up, changing their appearance, and using the same people over and over again. This was rather difficult, and we had to limit the action scenes in certain ways for that reason. Fred simply wasn’t going to pay for more than four stuntmen, so that’s what we had to work with. I had to do the best I could, but it did affect some of the bigger action scenes we had originally planned. I’d have liked to have had more production value in one or two sequences, but we couldn’t do it because we didn’t have enough stuntmen.
How actively involved were you in selecting the music and songs that were featured in the film?
I wasn’t involved at all. I just let Fred take care of all that. He wanted to do the soundtrack and he seemed to know more about that genre of music than I did. The Chi-Lites [5] also make an appearance in the movie and, again, that was all Fred’s doing. He brought them in for that one scene.
How hands-on was Williamson as producer? Did you receive final cut?
I edited Original Gangstas, yeah. There were almost no adjustments made afterwards and Fred left the film exactly the way I cut it. Fred trusted me and he seemed to be pleased with the movie. Orion Pictures, the company that released Original Gangstas, also seemed to be very satisfied with the film.
What kind of business did Original Gangstas do?
The movie did pretty well. Of all the independent films that were made that year — and I’m talking about independent films which are made outside the system — we were probably number six or number eight in terms of box office receipts. Of course, a sizable portion of the industry do not consider an independent film to be an independent film if the cast is Black. For some strange reason, it falls outside the category of independent films if it’s a blaxploitation movie. So, a lot of people did not give us credit for the success of Original Gangstas. If it had been strictly considered an independent film, then we would have been higher than the number six position in terms of box office for the year. We could have done much better business except Orion made the mistake of moving the opening date of the picture. There was another “Black picture” opening and they did not want to open on the same day as it. That other movie turned out to be a flop anyway and I forget what it was right now. [6] Anyway, they moved our picture ahead by two weeks but, unfortunately, Original Gangstas then opened on the very same day as Twister, which was a huge blockbuster that cost something like $200 millio
n. That movie was actually moved back two weeks and landed on the same release date as us. Twister was probably the biggest opening of the year and it simply buried us. I mean, it was produced by Steven Spielberg and had a huge budget and outstanding special effects. It quickly became a huge hit, and we came in at second place. So, we still had the highest box office success of any film that week other than Twister. If we hadn’t have had Twister on our ass, we would have done twice as good, but there was nothing we could do about that.
Larry Cohen Page 58