‘Black Eye’ Warner Archive Blu-ray (review)

Fred Williamson is a unique film star.

Originally a football player in the 1960s, he started out in small acting parts on shows like Star Trek and Ironside, moved on to a supporting role in the sitcom, Julia, then hit the big screen in the original M*A*S*H. All along the way, he was paying close attention to every aspect of the Hollywood machine and before you know it, he was top billed in his own movies.

Not long after that, he could be found producing, writing, and directing them, too, outlasting the “Blacksploitation” era by decades!

Unfortunately, he was often burdened with low budgets so while his movies were inevitably entertaining, many of them tended to look pretty cheap. He was never a great actor but he always exudes that magic movie star charisma. As big screen action heroes go, he deserves to be up there with the best of ‘em.

One of my favorite Fred Williamson pictures is Black Eye.

It’s not really a Blacksploitation movie at all, just a tough PI flick in the Bogart mode that just happens to have a handsome black man in the lead. There are fistfights, car chases, and a lot of sneaking around.

Directed by Jack Arnold, best known for his science fiction hits of the 1950s including The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Incredible Shrinking Man, the PG-rated Black Eye feels like a TV movie except for a lesbian subplot and some sex and drug references. Even the level of violence and language isn’t particularly extreme.

Also like a 1970s TV movie, there’s an impressive and eclectic list of recognizable guest stars. These include Rosemary Forsyth, Richard X. Slattery, the venerable Cyril Delevanti (in his final role), Larry D, Mann (Yukon Cornelius in the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special), Teresa Graves (Get Christie Love), Richard Anderson (Oscar to TV’s Bionic heroes), Teddy Wilson (The Sanford Arms) and, of all people, radio’s Brett Morrison (the Shadow!) in his most significant film role. There’s even a musical interlude!

Our hero is Shep Stone, an ex-cop turned private investigator. He gets involved in two cases when an acquaintance is murdered for a fancy wolf-headed walking cane owned by a recently deceased silent film star. More bodies turn up as Stone also attempts to track down a missing woman for her father, all the while dealing with his own complicated love life. As one might suspect, all three storylines become entwined.

Unlike the Blacksploitation flicks, which leaned into the cliches, tropes, and stereotypes of African-American life of the times, Black Eye has little of that on view, and Stone could just as easily have been played by a white star of the day. Unfortunately, the film was marketed almost exclusively to black audiences in its day, only to be later discovered streaming and now on Blu-ray by wider audiences.

Black Eye is intriguing, with likable characters, some good location shooting, a plot that holds the viewers’ interests, and a solid ending. The Big Bad, though, is easily predictable if one is familiar with what I call “Mrs. Fletcher’s Law.” This personal observation is that more often than not in mystery television, the killer will be the biggest name star with the least amount to do before the third commercial. For example, if Peter Graves is introduced to Jessica Fletcher at the beginning of a Murder, She Wrote episode, and then isn’t seen again until two breaks later, he done it. Yes, that applies here, depending on how one defines “big star.”

It’s Fred Williamson, though, that you watch Black Eye for, just as in most other Fred Williamson vehicles.

Think Mitchum, Powell, Bogart. In a better world, Williamson would be counted among them. He hasn’t yet perfected his ultimate ultra-cool persona here, but instead comes across as a tough guy, a good guy, and a guy who just wants to help out.

You’ll like him.

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