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| Images courtesy of Miramax Films |
Prolific television director Arthur Marks was a legendary
film worker having spent time as a sound man and assistant director on films
like The Wizard of Oz and Easter Parade as well as uncredited
reshoots on The Caine Mutiny before working his way towards directing
most of the episodes for Perry Mason.
Despite having a massive resume including but not limited to directing
much of Starsky & Hutch as well as The Dukes of Hazard, Marks
didn’t start mounting his own theatrical features into the early 1970s,
starting out with regional sexy neo-noir thrillers such as Bonnie’s Kids and
The Roommates both from 1973.
Somehow or another cranking out a third feature film in the
same year, Marks made a hard right turn into blaxploitation with the Detroit,
Michigan based action crime thriller Detroit 9000. From here, Marks remained a steady
mainstay of the subgenre with four more blaxploitation gems including but not
limited to the demonic possession gangster flick J.D.’s Revenge beneath
his belt. Though Marks would do two a
female driven crime drama and a science-fiction film, blaxploitation was
primarily Marks’ niche. Like his
contemporary Larry Cohen, Marks was notable for being among the few white
filmmakers regularly directing blaxploitation and is considered among the most important
purveyors of the genre of his time.
After a Detroit City based black fundraiser for
Representative Aubrey Hale Clayton (Rudy Challenger) and hosted by Reverend
Markham (Scatman Crothers) is besieged by masked gunned robbers who make off
with $400,000, the task of investigating the theft falls on street smart white
detective Danny Bassett (Alex Rocco from Bonnie’s Kids and The
Godfather) and his black detective partner Sgt. Jesse Williams (Hari
Rhodes). Amid mounting political
pressure to resolve the case and sweep any prospective dirty laundry involving local
prostitute Roby Harris (Vonetta McGee), the film becomes a gritty street fought
shootout with many extended chase sequences in the heart of Detroit including
but not limited to a now legendary gun battle staged in the historic Elmwood
Cemetery.
Though a bit rough around the edges with certain technical
aspects of the film that aren’t quite up to the bar set by J.D.’s Revenge,
Detroit 9000 referring to the Detroit Police radio code meaning ‘officer
down’ is a solid regional blaxploitation actioner with down and dirty gritty
harshness reminiscent of the underground regional crime epic Shot incidentally
released in drive-ins the same year. Lensed
in 35mm by eventual J.D.’s Revenge cinematographer Harry J. May, the
film captures the highs and lows, spectacular beauty and ugly squalor of the
city of Detroit in one regional smorgasbord.
The funky soundtrack by Luchi De Jesus, the same man behind the scores
for the TV shows The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man,
aids quite a number of the action shootout sequences which take on the feel of
a spaghetti western or even a yakuza flick with brassy saxophones and energized
percussive beats.
Aided by strong performances by the three main leads Alex
Rocco as the beleaguered but wise Lieutenant Bassett, his tough as nails and
perceptive partner Sgt. Williams played by Hari Rhodes, the one audiences won’t
forget who really puts herself through a lot for the movie is Vonetta McGee as
the battered prostitute with a heart of gold.
Though a stock character there to be disrobed, used and discarded by
leering male characters including an important figure, McGee imbues the part
with empathy and heart so her ordeal becomes ours. Take for instance a scene where she’s forced
into rough sex with one of her clients, and the camera closes in on her face as
her eyes widen in horror with the soundtrack providing her silent scream. In a movie full of ample (surprisingly bloody
and brutal) violence coming and going, moments like these with McGee stick in
the mind far stronger than anything leading up to it.
Released in 1973, the film was despite the regional
commercial success a target of critical derision who took umbrage with the film’s
racial politics, the meandering narrative and occasionally jagged editing
including an extended flashback sure to confuse some viewers not paying acute
attention to detail. Despite this, the
film contains a number of now demolished landmarks including the J.L. Hudson
Company and the Fort Street Station as well as hosting local Detroit folk
heroes such as DJ Dick Purtan. The (at
the time) real Detroit Police Chief John Nichols cameos in the film as well as
Soul Train dancer Pat Davis and Detroit radio personality Martha Jean “The
Queen” Steinberg. Years later, Quentin
Tarantino and his Rolling Thunder Pictures company re-released the film both
theatrically and on tape and DVD and even went as far as to include a
soundtrack sample in the album for Jackie Brown.
Though some Detroit based critics look back at Detroit
9000 as a sort of embarrassment that didn’t help the city’s image or
already damaged racial demographic including avoiding filming areas still
recovering from the Detroit riots, on its terms the film is a solid little cops-and-robbers
number set in the blaxploitation subgenre that also is in its manner kind of
progressive in terms of how it frankly regards the difficult position suffered
by the Vonetta McGee character. You
could argue she steals the show from already spectacularly rough and ragged
shootouts between gangsters, detectives and patrolmen.
Far better than its reputation or aggregate
rotten tomatoes score would lead you to believe, Detroit 9000 though
available in high-definition streaming platforms is crying for a disc
release. Maybe Vinegar Syndrome can
right this wrong? Anyway, Michiganders
are urged to look back on this, yes, sleazy and violent exploitation flick with
a fresh pair of eyes. As a resident, I
take pride in knowing one of the best blaxploitation filmmakers of the 1970s
made his start in the subgenre here.
--Andrew Kotwicki
