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Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Paul Winfield, Richard Roundtree ... see more see more... , Ron O'Neal , Charles Napier , Isabel Sanford , Robert Forster , Wings Hauser , Eddie Bo Smith Jr. , Christopher B. Duncan , Dru Down , Oscar Brown Jr.

Larry Cohen, who directed a number of interesting and subversive exploitation films in the 1970s and 1980s, including Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem, reunited some of the biggest stars of the blax... read more read more...ploitation era for this tough-minded action opus. John Bookman (Fred Williamson) is a successful football coach who was born in Gary, Indiana but now lives in Los Angeles. When Bookman's father is shot, he returns home for the first time in years to discover that Gary has been all but taken over by a number of brutally violent youth gangs. Bookman learns that his father was shot in retaliation for going to the police after a young man was killed by gang bangers outside his grocery store; even worse, the kid who pulled the trigger was a member of the Rebels, the gang that he helped form as a teenager. Outraged, Bookman joins forces with the boy's parents, who also happen to be old friends: Jake Trevor (Jim Brown) and Laurie Thompson (Pam Grier). John, Laurie, and Jake organize the neighborhood against the gangs, with John's old gang brothers Bubba (Ron O'Neal) and Slick (Richard Roundtree) tagging along to show the young gangstas what the old school can do. If Williamson, Brown, Grier, O'Neal, and Roundtree all look a bit older than they did in their glory days, they all still boast charisma to spare, and anyone who liked their older films will have a good time with this one. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

44% liked it

2,191 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

14 critics

R, 1 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Larry Cohen

Release Date: May 10, 1996

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DVD Release Date: May 15, 2001

Stats: 88 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (88)

  • kingmob6
    December 22, 2009
    kingmob6
    How can something with this much promise be so dull? I was hoping for something with the same life and sly humor that you got in so many Blaxploitation flicks, most of which dealt with the same sort of rather depressing subject matter, but this just felt heavy-handed at times an... read mored kinda average at others.

    Maybe worth a rental, but I wouldn't go selling that copy of Foxy Brown quite yet, you'll definitely want to give it another look to get this taste out of your mouth.
  • flynnparadox
    September 19, 2006
    flynnparadox
    Flat action film but the cast is great and I'm sure you've seen *everyone* in something before. Cohen is not always the best director but he can assemble casts better than anyone bar Robert Altman.

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Critic Reviews

Kevin Thomas
February 14, 2001
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Original Gangstas leaves you feeling that more could have been made of this 'blaxploitation' reunion, but it's not bad -- and no more and no less substantial than the films of the original cycle. Full Review

Mary Elizabeth Williams
January 1, 2000
Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com

Where Original Gangstas works is in its understanding that the stars are playing the characters they created 25 years ago as their older selves. Full Review

Susan Stark
January 1, 2000
Susan Stark, Detroit News

Think Boyz N the Hood meets The Mod Squad. Full Review

Hal Hinson
January 1, 2000
Hal Hinson, Washington Post

The purpose is to entertain, and on that score the film delivers impressively. Full Review

Kevin N. Laforest
September 10, 2002
Kevin N. Laforest, Montreal Film Journal

A top notch B-movie. Full Review

Dwayne E. Leslie
June 5, 2002
Dwayne E. Leslie, Boxoffice Magazine

Although the leads are intended to be cool and menacing, the result resembles parody; scenes of drugs, guns and fights are likely to make audiences burst out in laughter. Full Review

Dan Jardine
January 1, 2000
Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide

Despite its good intentions, Original Gangstas isn't very good. Full Review

Leonard Klady
March 26, 2009
Leonard Klady, Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Lawrence Van Gelder
May 20, 2003
Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

May 10, 1996
Entertainment Weekly

Click to read the article Full Review

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