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Cotton Comes to Harlem Reviews

1970
1 hr 37 mins
Drama, Comedy
R

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A disgruntled pair of Harlem cops seeks out a plan to expose the local reverend, whose scheme of selling trips to Africa is taking advantage of the poor and naïve locals. When a bale of cotton stuffed with money is discovered after the reverend's truck is hijacked, the perfect opportunity presents itself for justice to prevail.

One of the first of a wave of action comedies, not for delicate tastes. Ossie Davis made his directorial debut in this gaudy blaxploitation crime comedy, filmed on location in Harlem. St. Jacques and Cambridge are, respectively, Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, a pair of Harlem plainclothesmen investigating a "Back to Africa" campaign run by shady preacher Lockhart. A huge success, it inspired an inferior sequel (COME BACK, CHARLESTON BLUE) as well as a new genre for the 1970s.