“How would you like your coffee this morning?” — beat cop at murder scene
“Like my women. Black and sweet.” — arriving Lt Frank Savage (Austin Stoker)

A white man in blackface and afro wig terrorizes San Francisco with what first appear to be random killings until the clues start to lead directly to a mysterious connection with the black Lieutenant on the case.

From the moment I went to see that double feature of iconic nature-gone-amuck exploitationers Grizzly and Day of the Animals in my early teens (I still shake my head in amusement that both those movies somehow managed a PG rating — I mean that young child gets his arm clear ripped off by that grizzly!), I fell in love with the work of the died-tragically-and-way-too-young 70’s indie drive-in style filmmaker who made them, William Girdler. From his Blaxploitation Exorcist knock-off Abby (1974), which had a TV trailer of the shrieking possessed Abby running down a hallway with arms extended in slow motion that scared the living shit out of me, to his (unfortunately) last film, the totally wonked out, pseudo-philosophical Omen-influenced The Manitou (1978) which had that eye-popping, body-horror, adult-demon-birth-out of-the-back-of-Susan-Strasberg scene, man, did Girdler have the right chops for this type of sensationalistic cinema. So, suffice it to say, I was really excited to finally catch up with the only effort of his that I’ve never gotten around to seeing (as it’s one of those odd obscurities that never seems to have gotten the proper distribution deal anywhere along the way).

There’s plenty to enjoy in the film — including the gritty milieu of the tough police world, the catchy repeated action motif in the score and the appropriately bonkers (if under-developed) racist killer. And may I say — as with so many great Blaxploitation films of the time — the liberal and casual use of the ‘N’ word, not only as a harsh reminder of racial tensions but often as an acknowledgement by the characters in the world of racial difference, that plays out throughout the film (playing out somewhat less interestingly, ironically, with the killer in obvious blackface, making him disconcertingly look more than a bit like C. Thomas Howell in Soul Man), without it having to be expressed in practical CAPITAL LETTERS and have the word be cast out and ‘dealt’ with in some modern frankly disingenuous, pat-on-the-shoulder bullshit ‘feel good’ way — is, may I say, entirely refreshing… and, more importantly, adult. The film and its makers clearly understand the impact of the word yet don’t feel the need to protect the audience (or provide some modern-style trigger warning)… which becomes even more revealing when you realize a large percentage of the target audience for the film WAS African American.

The main problem with the film, probably my least favorite Girdler, is there is an odd listlessness and irresponsible negligence to our main protagonist Lt Savage’s approach to the case. I didn’t mind so much his being openly rude and obnoxious to his superior without much provocation (I mean I know it’s par for the genre course to have fighting words between the cop and his supervisor, but here the Captain kinda seems like a decent guy), but it was the stubbornly resisting help on the case when he clearly needs it, the not calling back-up at a crucial moment that leads to not only the death of an innocent civilian but the escape of the main baddie and the barely bothering to investigate the obvious dangling clues to the killer’s identity that are being left for him until almost the end of the film! Now, Austin Stoker as Lt Savage is a likeable enough actor (and who can forget him fending off the marauding zombies — I mean, gangbangers — in John Carpenter’s classic 70’s urban siege film Assault on Precinct 13), but his befuddling lack of urgency over his character’s wife getting kidnapped at around the 30 minute mark by the leering baddie (with the gloating psychopath even threatening to rape her!) left me wondering if I had the story wrong somehow — until even his partner has to be reminded at one point that Savage’s wife has been taken. It’s more than likely these narrative/character problems came from those familiar uber low budget short schedules that allowed little in the way of anything other than shooting what they could rather than what they always needed, but, where in certain cases that quick decision-making ends up being a strength and/or a charm of the film, in this case it unfortunately hampers the narrative.

Still… I’m more than glad to have seen it. And if Combat Cops is the worst on your filmography? You’ve clearly done something right.

Buck A Review