Come Back, Charleston Blue Explained

Come Back, Charleston Blue
Director:Mark Warren
Producer:Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
Starring:Godfrey Cambridge
Raymond St. Jacques
Music:Donny Hathaway
Cinematography:Richard C. Kratina
Editing:George Bowers
Gerald B. Greenberg
Distributor:Warner Bros.
Runtime:100 minutes
Country:United States
Language:English

Come Back, Charleston Blue is a 1972 American crime comedy film starring Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques, loosely based on Chester Himes' novel The Heat's On. It is a sequel to the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem.

Plot

Detectives Ed "Coffin Ed" Johnson and "Grave Digger" Jones are confounded by a string of strange murders in the neighborhood of Harlem, New York. The murders themselves are not nearly as bizarre as the calling card left by the murderer: a blue steel straight razor. Legend has it that this was the calling card of Charleston Blue, a vigilante who tried to rid the neighborhood of all criminal elements using a straight razor. Blue, having disappeared years ago after he went after Dutch Schultz (with his trusty straight razor), was considered dead by all except his girlfriend, who kept his razors locked away until his "comeback."

Soon after the murders start, it is discovered that the razors were missing, and all evidence points to Joe Painter, a local photographer, who has begun dating Carol, the beloved niece of mafia errand boy Caspar Brown. Joe and Brown are at odds over Caspar's refusal to help Joe kick the mafia out of the neighborhood, so Joe enlists the help of a group of brothers and the spirit of Charleston Blue. However, Johnson and Jones discover that Joe's plan does not seem to be exactly what he claimed it was.

Cast

Also appearing in a minor role is Philip Michael Thomas (as a Minister) in his film debut.

Production

The film was shot in Harlem, which required producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. to negotiate with CORE and other groups over their demands for "money, jobs and control."[1]

Reception

This film was a sequel to the film Cotton Comes to Harlem: appearing two years later, it opened to mixed reviews, with critics feeling it was decent, but not riotous like the original 1970 film.

In April 1972, less than three months before the film's release, Time magazine called the film "part of a new Hollywood wave of eminently commercial movies by blacks about the black experience," a wave that included Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Shaft, Shaft's Big Score, Cool Breeze, Buck and the Preacher, The Legend of Nigger Charley, Super Fly, and Blacula.[1]

A.H. Weiler, reviewing the film for The New York Times, called it "only occasionally funny or incisive" with a "convoluted plot and dialogue that is often too 'in' for the uninitiated."[2]

Come Back Charleston Blue
Type:Soundtrack
Artist:Donny Hathaway
Released:1972
Recorded:1972
Label:Atco Records
Producer:Donny Hathaway, Quincy Jones (supervision)
Prev Title:Live
Prev Year:1972
Next Title:Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway
Next Year:1972

Soundtrack

All tracks written by Donny Hathaway except "Little Ghetto Boy" (Earl DuRouen / Edward Howard) and "Come Back Charleston Blue" (Donny Hathaway / Al Cleveland / Quincy Jones).[3]

TrackSongLength
1Main Theme02:20
2Basie03:53
3String Segue00:34
4Vegetable Wagon01:07
5Harlem Dawn01:38
6Scratchy Record03:09
7Explosion00:23
8Hearse to the Graveyard02:46
9Switch "Charleston Blue"00:32
10Come Back Basie02:36
11Detective's Goof00:28
12Grave Digger Jones & Coffin Head Johnson's Funeral03:02
13String Segue00:17
14Little Ghetto Boy03:50
15Hail to the Queen00:21
16Drag Queen Chase00:47
17Bossa Nova01:47
18Tim's High01:30
19Furniture Truck01:18
20Liberation02:52
21Come Back Charleston Blue02:04

In November 2007, Rhino Records released a remastered version of the soundtrack album, which included two new tracks, an alternate version and a live version of "Little Ghetto Boy."[4]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Show Business: Black Market. Time. Time USA, LLC. (Marc & Lynne Benioff). United States. Time Magazine Staff. April 10, 1972. October 30, 2010. subscription.
  2. News: Come Back Charleston Blue, Sequel to Cotton in Harlem. The New York Times. New York City. June 30, 1972. A. H.. Weiler. A. H. Weiler. October 30, 2010.
  3. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=come-back-charleston-blue-r1082023|pure_url=yes}} Come Back Charleston Blue ]. . 2010-10-30.
  4. Web site: Come Back Charleston Blue . . November 12, 2007 . 2010-10-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110615000016/http://www.rhino.com/shop/product/donny-hathaway-come-back-charleston-blue-original-soundtrack-remastered-expanded . 2011-06-15 . dead .