Cool Breeze Reviews

A remake of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE with an all-black cast. Well done but totally unnecessary, COOL BREEZE was made to pander to the black audiences that had been flocking to see the SHAFT films. Rasulala is a cool-dude crook out on parole. His plan is to steal three million in baubles, sell the stuff, and use the proceeds to start a bank that will aid black businesses. Watkins and Pace are his confederates in the plan--along with Taylor as Watkins's half-brother and Challenger as a preacher who doubles as a thief. The man behind the whole deal is St. Jacques (in the Calhern role). His wheelchair-ridden wife, Wallace, is the reason he's taken up with mistress Avery, looking absolutely scrumptious and doing a very convincing job as a black Marilyn Monroe (same role in the original). The local cops are scrutinized by director-writer Pollack and are shown off to good advantage. The picture would have made some had it not been a remake. To the production's credit, nothing was made of the fact that the entire cast was black, and there were absolutely no racial over- or undertones. Some fine music by Solomon Burke helps convey the mood of the film, and all technical credits are good.