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Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
In the opening moments of Cotton Comes to Harlem, legendary actor-turned-director Ossie Davis telegraphs a set piece to come by resting his camera on The Apollo’s façade.
This adaptation of Chester Himes’ 1964 novel is a witty tilt-a-whirl of a crime caper—more anthropologically minded than the cool-fueled Harlem movies about to follow (Shaft, Black Caesar, etc.). But even more, Cotton is about the kind of cultural theater that takes hold when a community is starved for direction and hope.
That’s how the charismatic Reverend Deke O’Malley (Calvin Lockhart) coaxes $87,000 out of the neighborhood, hawking seats on his “Back to Africa” arc. Almost immediately, the cash is stolen, purportedly winding up inside a thematically dense bale of cotton that seems to float around Harlem. Two Black police detectives (Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques) serve as the film’s outsiders’ insiders, trying to navigate judicial politics and return the money to an ensemble delightfully led by Redd Foxx.
Cited by some as a proto-Blaxploitation film, Cotton Comes to Harlem screens on Monday, May 8, at the Hollywood Theatre.
5th Avenue: Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017), May 5-7. Academy: Stalker (1979), May 5-11. Taxi Driver (1976), May 5-11. Cinema 21: Citizen Kane (1941), May 6. Man With a Movie Camera (1929) with live score by Montopolis, May 6. Cinemagic: Blood Diner (1987), May 5. Horror Express (1972), May 5 and 7. The Land Before Time (1988), May 6. Girls Nite Out (1982), May 6. Re-Animator (1985), May 6 and 11. Django (1966), May 6 and 9. 12 Monkeys (1995), May 7 and 8. The Millionaires’ Express (1986), May 10. Clinton: The Witches of Eastwick (1987), May 7. Hollywood: Party Girl (1995), May 5-7. Seven Samurai (1954), May 6 and 7.