Starring
Jim Hill, Stu 'Large' Riley, Rhonda Ross Kendrick, Andre Walker.
Directed by Paul DeSilva. (1990/92 min).
AVAILABLE
ON BLU-RAY FROM
Review
by Fluffy the Fearless😾
Though
completed in 1990, this grassroots crime drama is only-now seeing the
light of day. A lot has changed since then, such as the inner-city
crack epidemic the entire story centers around. Hence, what was
timely 28 years ago has more-or-less rendered Crackdown Big City
Blues a period piece.
Writer-director-producer
Paul DeSilva has since passed away, so he never got to see this
obvious labor of love get a proper release. A shame, really, because
DeSilva's heart was in the right place when he made this, drawing
from personal experience of seeing the effects of crack on his own
community.
But
while DeSilva's message and sincerity are admirable, the movie itself
is a disjointed, heavy-handed mess. Home-movie production values and
amateurish performances are the least of its problems. Much of the
time, Crackdown Big City Blues wavers uncomfortably back and
forth between social commentary and gratuitous action, often with
little or no transition.
 |
| "You traded our cow for "magic" beans?" |
We
may admire the film's "crack is wack" mantra, but it's
repeatedly delivered with the subtlety of a hammer, shouted by a
variety of angry non-actors, as if sheer volume makes the message
stronger. The rival drug kingpins are little more than clichéd
composites full of chest-thumping bluster. In fact, we learn little
about any character beyond their names and which side they're
on.
Worst
of all, the pacing is terrible. Most scenes seem to go on forever,
long after we've gotten the point. The final act descends into an
unintentionally funny showdown - with martial arts suddenly thrown
in! - exacerbated by glaring budget limitations and an auteur whose
ambition exceeded his abilities.
Because
of DeSilva's admirable intentions, I really wanted Crackdown Big
City Blues to be one of those
overlooked gems from a director who never got his due. Instead, it's
plodding, preachy, poorly executed and not nearly as relevant as it
would have been three decades ago.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
INTERVIEW
with Co-Producer Frazier Prince
KITTY CONSENSUS:
MEH.
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