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Black Eye
Black Eye
	VHS cover
Directed by	Jack Arnold
Screenplay by	Mark Haggard ; Jim Martin
Based on	Murder on the Wild Side; by Jeff Jacks
Starring	Fred Williamson
Cinematography	Ralph Woolsey
Edited by	Gene Ruggiero
Music by	Mort Garson
Production; companies	Pat Rooney Productions; Jerry Buss Presentations
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	May 17, 1974;
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Black Eye^[1] is a 1974 ^[2] American neo-noir^[3] action blaxploitation film produced by Pat Rooney,^[4] directed by Jack Arnold and starring Fred Williamson.^[5] The film was based on the 1971 novel Murder on the Wild Side by Jeff Jacks.^[6]

Plot

A Los Angeles private investigator, Stone, is enlisted to investigate multiple murders that are connected to a cane that was stolen from a deceased silent movie star.^[7] Stone is drawn into intrigues involving a young woman who has run away from home to join a religious cult, and ultimately uncovers a heroin ring.^[8]

Cast

Fred Williamson^[9] as Shep Stone
Rosemary Forsyth^[10] as Miss Francis
Teresa Graves^[11] as Cynthia
Richard Anderson as Dole
Richard X. Slattery as Bowen
Larry Mann as Avery
Brett Morrison as Majors
Susan Arnold as Amy
Frank Ashmore as Chess
Theodore Wilson as Lindy
Belinda Balaski as Mary
Nick Ramus^[12]

Production

Black Eye, originally entitled simply Stone (the protagonist’s name), was conceived as “a Raymond Chandler-style detective story," and is set in Santa Monica and Venice, California.^[13] Director Jack Arnold shot the entire movie on location, none which was filmed in a studio. Arnold’s “speed and efficiency” in executing the picture earned him high praise from producer Pat Rooney, who thanked Arnold publicly in a promotional advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter.^[14]

Release

Black Eye was released in April 1974, and targeted exclusively toward black audiences in order to capitalize on the recent slew of “black exploitation films” such as Shaft (1971) and Super Fly (1972).^[15]

Reception and appraisal

In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles Times, critic Kevin Thomas called the film a "modest, entertaining private detective caper" and wrote: "If 'Black Eye' ... lacks both originality and individuality it is nonetheless serviceable, mainly credible and not unduly violent." Thomas also praised Williamson, who "continues to impress in one of his best opportunities to date."^[16]

Biographer and film critic Dana M. Reemes registered this assessment of Black Eye:

Staging and performances are good, but the film’s major attraction is the excellent location work...The sleazy ambience of the Venice boardwalk is used to great effect, and there is a spectacular car chase over the Venice canals reputedly shot surreptitiously without police permits.^[17]

Reemes adds: “The irony is that Black Eye would have probably made more money for Warner Bros. if it had not been targeted solely at a black audience.”^[18]

References

^ "Black Eye". Monthly Film Bulletin. 41 (480). London: British Film Institute: 219. 1974-01-01.
^ Black Eye, retrieved 2019-04-12
^ Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5
^ "Patrick Rooney". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
^ Black Eye, retrieved 2019-04-12
^ "Jeff Jacks". IMDb. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
^ countelvis (2016-01-10). "Black Eye (1974) Review". Bad Movies for Bad People. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
^ Reemes, 1988 p. 159: See here for a more detailed summary.
^ "Fred Williamson". sydney.primo.exlibrisgroup.com. Bonn: Deutsche Zeitung GmbH. 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
^ "Rosemary Forsyth". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
^ "Teresa Graves". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
^ Reemes, 1988 p. 219: Filmography
^ Reemes, 1988 p. 159
^ Reemes, 1988 p. 160
^ Reemes, 1988 p. 160: “Warners cashed in on the black film craze of the 1970s.”
^ Thomas, Kevin (1974-05-01). "Fred Williamson in a Private Eye Caper". Los Angeles Times. p. 14, Part IV.
^ Reemes, 1988 p. 160
^ Reemes, 1988 p. 160: “...Black Eye has little in common with the run of blaxploitation pictures.”