User reviews

I first saw this movie at a Blaxploitation Film Festival in 1992. Bhetty Whaldron and Roger Mosley {The Mack was also shown} were among the guest stars. Mosley admitted in the post film commentary the everybody knew that it was a black version of Get Carter. It came under fire at the time of it's release for it's racial stereotypes, but it was a big hit at the drive ins and neighborhood theaters across the country. Bernie Casey was better know at the time for his NFL career but would come to be regarded as a handsome and talented leading man and of course the incredibly beautiful Pam Grier was on her way to becoming a cult movie legend.This is a real guilty pleasure film and is a real time capsule piece to see how black men and women were coming to be regarded in 1970's cinema.

This brutal , austere crime-thriller focuses cheerless Tyrone in the title role (a tough , amoral African-American Bernie Casey) , he's a hit-man who returns home to investigate his brother's death by some mobsters . Two-fisted Tyrone in order to revenge his brother , vows vengeance and spontaneously meets sleazy characters in the middle of sinister bands war and running afoul into underworld . Tyrone Tackett keeps the things moving along until ending vendetta , as he aims to please .

This routine film features thrills , raw energy , adult subject matter with abundant nudism and lots of violence . Plenty of intrigue , funky music , kinky sex , noisy action and grisly killings until finale vengeance . Cool secondary cast filled with African-American actors such as Pam Grier , Roger E Mosley and appears unbilled Paul Gleason . Based on a novel titled 'Get Carter' by Ted Lewis from 1970 original movie and of far superior directed by Michael Hodges and starred by Michael Caine and Britt Ekland . Remade again (2000) by Stephen Kay with Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke . This Blaxploitiation movie was regularly directed by George Armitage . He's a good director with a few movies and expert on action and intrigue genre , such as ¨Miami Blues¨ (with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh), ¨Grosse Point Blank¨ (with John Cusack and Minnie Driver) and ¨Big Bounce¨ (Charlie Sheen, Owen Wilson). Rating : Acceptable and passable ; being rated R for nudism and strong violence .

Largely because I read Pam Grier was in this, I was curious about seeing Hit Man so when I found it at my local library, I snapped it up! She plays a porn film actress who eventually gets on lead Bernie Casey's bad side because of something involving a relative of his she did something bad to. Casey is looking for info on why his brother was found dead but the people he runs into tell him nothing but lies. Plenty of sex and nudity (Yes, Ms. Grier is one of those who unclothe themselves) and some violence sprinkled throughout. I must admit I couldn't keep track on why certain sequences were happening but for the most part, I didn't care. So on that note, Hit Man is worth a look for anyone very interested in these blaxploitation pics from the early '70s.

As a big fan of 'Get Carter,' I watched this on cable TV for a laugh and wasn't disappointed. It is a funky blaxploitation movie to rival 'Shaft' and a pretty fair remake of 'Carter,' much better than the Stallone nonsense of a couple of years back. It was fun matching scenes from the original especially the 'phone sex, which just killed me. Very funny and pretty cool!

Blaxploitation remake of Get Carter about a man (Bernie Casey) investigating the death of his brother. Ample doses of sex, violence, and humor. Colorful language and stereotypical characters might turn easily offended viewers off. Bernie Casey makes for a solid blaxploitation protagonist: tough, cool, and magic with the ladies. Pam Grier is sexy as always and appears in all her glory. The character she plays is scummy and meets a particularly gruesome end. Lisa Moore is amusing as the motel manager with the hots for Casey and has some great lines. Marilyn Joi has a couple of brief but memorable scenes as the aptly-named Rita Biggs. Early role for Paul Gleason as a policeman/hit-man. A good movie that, like the best of the genre, rises above its gritty subject matter and manages to entertain not depress.

A blaxploitation version of GET CARTER ! Maybe I should hate this movie and maybe I do , however it is a very entertaining film in a slightly offensive and highly patronizing way . Did you know director/screenwriter George Armitage is white ? It probably shows as Tyrone Tackett ( At least he`s not called Jefferson or Washington ) arrives at his brother`s funeral wearing a purple catsuit and a floppy hat ( ! ) . Oh and mourners at a black person`s funeral console the bereaved with lines like " Yo , your brother was a real funky dude " ( !! ) and all black people address each other as " Momma " " Cat " and " Bro " ( !!! ) , you really do get the impression that Mr Armitage has never met a black person in real life

Despite all this I wish to repeat this is a highly entertaining movie because of its extremely dated stereotypes and at no time did I feel myself comparing it to the original British gangster classic , unlike the recent Sly Stallone remake

This film shows how taking even a solidly founded film and remaking it with low end rambling dialogue can mutilate what had some promise. Shot almost scene for scene from GET CARTER -based on the 1969 novel Jack's Return Home (which has resonated through multitudes of other film plots successfully). This movie flounders in a horribly almost plot-less screenplay. I dread what the outcome would have been had GET CARTER not been the master mold. In this genre remake the hero is not clear as to his history and drive and floats from place to place. No matter how much spicing up with racy visuals it still falls short.

Not trying to short change any film, I watched it a second time and nothing changed, no nuance to be found (no fault of Bernie Casey). This is a typical low grade band wagon production from MGM of the time. With dialogue like "That just ain't in his head. I'm the freak of the family", when pondering whether his brother's death could have actually been a suicide you have a long haul to the end of this one.

Better use of the "out for revenge" plots of this era and genre have been seen in Welcome Home Brother Charles and Gordon's War.

George Armitage's "Hit Man" is a blaxploitation version of Ted Lewis's novel "Jack's Return Home", more famously filmed as "Get Carter" starring Michael Caine. It's got what we expect in one of these movies: afros, wide-collared shirts, and lots of smooth talk. There's nothing particularly serious about the plot; it's all about the fun stuff. Bernie Casey as the main character is a cool dude, while Pam Grier isn't as tough as in most of her roles. But the movie delivers what it promises. It turns out that Armitage also directed "Grosse Pointe Blank". Tyrone aims to please (to reference the movie's tagline), and he succeeds.

I might eventually read "Jack's Return Home", but it could be decades, considering how long it takes me to get through books.

Love this flick! Not bad at all. They easily could have taken the guy out early but chose not to and suffered the consequences haha. Oh and Pam........... hot hot hot hot.

"Hit Man" from 1972 was a new film to me, I was not familiar with it. But for being such a now obscure film it is actually rather good, and surely better than it has any right to be. I thought that it was even better than "Get Carter" on which it was based; however, that said, both films can be tough to watch as they are seedy and joyless at times. But this film is well directed and produced, flows well, acted well, and is probably one of the better films in its genre. But I only rate it a 5/10 as there are some rough scenes and content that may offend some (you know who you are). So I would only recommend to those who like this sort of thing. Probably on par with "Bucktown".

Blaxploitation version of Get Carter is a lot of fun.

Bernie Casey is super cool as the lead character. Roger Mosley (RIP "TC") is his main antagonist. And everywhere you look there are hot women.

The plot, such as it is, revolves around Casey coming to L. A. from Oakland to sort out who killed his brother. He's bent on revenge but he manages to find a lot of time for the ladies, one of whom is none other than Pam Grier.

Casey was a pretty good actor considering he was an ex-NFL player - and he hit all the right notes during the big ''reveal" scene. So did Grier, for that matter.

I don't know whether the director was more competent than most or the budget was higher than usual, but the performances and scenery are wel above average for the genre. I'm surprised this movie isn't more highly regarded.

(1972) Hit Man ACTION MYSTERY THRILLER

Again, this is yet another "unique" compelling version of the 1971 movie called "Get Carter" based on the novel by Ted Lewis called "Jack's Return Home", but anyone can tell by watching this that it's a remake. Hit man, Tyrone Tackett (Bernie Casey) had just come back from Oakland to Los Angeles to be a part of his brother's funeral. According to some, Tyrone's brother died from too much alcohol, leaving with him is his only daughter behind. But as the movie is progressing, it's much more serious than that, resorting Tyrone to go against the mob and seek the people responsible for his brother's demise and the people who employed him. If viewers are unable to adapt to low budget "Blaxploitation cinema" then this film isn't for you, since, besides it being low budget, it also has many cheesy dialogue and violent action scenes. And if viewers haven't noticed, every girl Tyrone comes to contact with, whether she's black or white have at least one nude scene, including Pam Grier herself who is a natural standout. Also memorable is the fact that it's not really a scene-for-scene copied version of "Get Carter", therefore making this version to be unpredictable, calling this version the "Blaxploitation version of Get Carter".

Oakland hard-case Tyrone Tackett (Bernie Casey) heads to LA to investigate the death of his brother and gets mixed up with honkeys, gangsters, gangstas, 'hos, pimps, and the porn industry. The story is based on the novel 'Jack Returns Home', which had been filmed the previous year as 'Get Carter' with Michael Caine (one of the most 'cold-blooded' films I have seen). The jive-urban-funk-hip-brother-Black Power vibe is great but so permeating that the film almost comes off as a parody of the genre. For an exploitation flic, the cast, which includes Pam Grier as a statuesque but repellant porn-star, is quite good and the fashions are outstanding (Tyrone's 'fro is large, his hat awesomely rakish, his plaid pants fly, and his lapels are like the wings of a condor). The blood-letting is over the top (but not particularly real-looking), the nudity abundant, and as a bonus, there are no horribly choreographed martial-arts fights. Although both ethnically and chronologically far removed from the film's original target audience, I thoroughly enjoyed it (but I have a weakness for vintage blaxsploitation, of which TCM seems to have plenty). Solid, brother!

"Black Dynamite" is a wonderful action-filled comedy parody of blaxploitation films of the 1970s. ..and I strongly recommend it. In many ways, the plot to "Hit Man" is similar but since it's not a comedy, there are no laughs. But what is unforgivable is that there really isn't much in the way of action and the film is amazingly dull. Even with the nudity (and there is a LOT of gratuitous nudity), the film is much duller than it should have been and it seems to take forever for the hero to spring into action!

Bernie Casey plays Tyrone Tackett, a tough guy who is from Oakland but arrives in Los Angeles looking for answers concerning his brother's murder. But it's amazing how slow this all is and you keep expecting this anti-hero to spring into action and deliver some much needed butt-kicking. In the meantime, again and again, Tyrone appears just about to go ape on gangsters...but doesn't! In particular, two jerks keep threatening him and attacking him...but he doesn't deliver justice. Of course, he eventually does SOMETHING...but it just seems to take forever...and by then I was incredibly bored. I know Bernie Casey can be a fine actor in films...but here it's as if he's on downers...lots and lots of downers.

The bottom line is that there are many wonderful blaxploitation films which clearly deliver on the action, such as "Truck Turner", "Shaft", or "Black Caesar"....so why watch this one?

By the way, there is a lot to offend people in the film...not just the nudity but the violence, language and a semi-realistic dog fight make this a movie which is a tough sell to many.

This blaxploitation styled second filming of Ted Lewis's novel "Jack's Return Home" - filmed just the previous year as the crime classic "Get Carter" - is an acceptable diversion. It has a good cast playing a variety of seedy characters, and a lot of hip dialogue. It's anchored by the cooler than cool Bernie Casey, the former football player who segued into a respectable career as an actor. It's all familiar enough for those who've seen "Get Carter", although it comes up with some different settings for the action, such as a wildlife preserve and a dog fighting ring.

Casey plays a character named Tyrone Tackett, a tough as nails dude who travels from Oakland to L.A. to investigate the death of his brother Cornell. To do this, he must navigate the criminal underworld, including the adult entertainment business, making the acquaintance of people such as porn star Gozelda (a typically radiant Pam Grier).

"Hit Man" isn't anything special, but it's reasonably fun, with a script written by the movies' director, George Armitage. Produced by Roger Cormans' brother Gene (who was always more of a hands-on producer than his more famous sibling), its soundtrack (music by H.B. Barnum) is as engaging as anything else done for the blaxploitation genre. The cinematography is by future director Andrew Davis, who shot four features for Corman. There is some pretty potent violence near the end as well as a serving of female nudity.

Casey, who has a solid presence on screen, is well supported by Ms. Grier, Sam Laws as used car salesman Sherwood Epps, Candy All as Tyrones' niece Rochelle, Don Diamond as white mobster Nano Zito, Ed Cambridge as porno theatre entrepreneur Theotis Oliver, Roger E. Mosley as muscle man Huey, and Marilyn Joi as the aptly named Rita Biggs. Paul Gleason, a fixture in Armitages' filmography during this time, appears uncredited as a crooked cop.

Casey's Tackett does exhibit some of the same ruthlessness as Michael Caines' Jack Carter, and is overall enjoyable to watch.

Six out of 10.

I had a bad feeling about this one going in when Pam Grier basically told Ben Mankewiecz, in the TCM intro, that it sucked. But I decided to go ahead and watch it because I like the work of its writer/director, George Armitage, (whom Ben immediately dissed by stating that this was "really a Roger Corman film", an erroneous statement which really ticked me off).

Bad decision. 'Cause this thing is pretty awful. At least the thirty some odd minutes that I could take. Just an uninspired remake of "Get Carter", transposed to LA, which captures very little of the sleazy, bleak atmosphere of the original and absolutely none of its menace. And comparing Bernie Casey to Michael Caine is like...well, similes fail me.

Throw in too little Pam G, along with paint by the numbers dialogue and gratuitous animal cruelty (the dog fight scene which is where I pulled the plug) and you can see that this film is as far from Armitage's later"Miami Blues" and "Grosse Point Blank" as, say, Los Angeles is from bloody Newcastle. Give it a C minus.

"Tyrone Tackett" (Bernie Casey") is a hit man for the mob in Oakland who flies back to his old hometown of Los Angeles to investigate the mysterious death of his brother. Once he arrives he gets very little cooperation from those who knew his brother and this causes him to dig deeper. Eventually clues turn up which indicate a possible Los Angeles mob connection to the pornographic film industry with friction coming from the local mob boss who doesn't like outsiders snooping around on his turf. Now, from what I understand there are a number of people who consider this to be a blaxploitation version of the movie, "Get Carter" which was filmed a year earlier. Having never seen that particular film I can't really comment one way or the other. What I can say, however, is that I found this movie to be enjoyable due in large part to the way this film kept me guessing as to what would happen next. Likewise, I thought Bernie Casey put on a pretty good performance. On the other hand, there were a number of good characters who I thought should have been given more screen time and I was rather disappointed that one of the ladies: "Gozelda" (Pam Grier), "Laurel Garfoot" (Lisa Moore) or "Rochelle Tackett" (Candy All) weren't given a more graceful exit. There were also some sex scenes and nudity which lacked any real passion or sensuality. It was just there. Even so, the film overall wasn't too bad and I rate it as slightly above average.

Unpleasant revenge melodrama rehashes the storyline of "Get Carter" (only the very last scene is different), but does it with no drive, no zest and no originality. Abundant violence (though the red stuff they use for blood looks NOTHING like blood) and nudity (Pam Grier...yeah....but it's awkward seeing a fine actor like Bernie Casey being promoted as a male sex symbol) should please blaxploitation fans, but it's still a too-routine movie. (**)