The 1970’s saw the rise of the Blaxploitation genre of film,
which fit right in with the rise of a grittier element to all
movies then from comedies to crime dramas. One film
that has been overlooked for quite some time and may
need a revival is Sidney J. Furies’ Hit!, which arrived to
the screens in 1973. Relegated to the occassional viewing
on late night television, this movie has a magnetic appeal
all its own.
The infinitely cool Billy Dee Williams stars here as a
federal agent who has lost his daughter to heroin usage.
Enraged, he makes a bold plan to go after the dealers at
the very top of the chain and assembles an unlikely team
to accomplish the job. The team also includes Richard
Pryor as a demolitions expert. What has to be appreciated
here is the fact that you have two prominent Black stars
anchoring this film in roles that take them out of the
comfort zone you’re used to seeing them in. Billy Dee
plays an agent who works with a seething rage under a
cool exterior. In some moments you find yourself shocked
at this; one particular scene he manipulates a prostitute
with a drug addiction so smoothly that he goes against
his normal casanova role. As for Richard Pryor, you see
the beginnings of the dramatic acting few felt he had
and that he was able to display in later roles in the decade.
The movie is lengthy, and has a few slow moments
especially when dealing with the set-up in the French
locales, but the deliberate pacing and the collection of
perfomances should place Hit! on your movie queue list
along with Soderbergh’s Traffic and other crime noir
fare.