Come Back, Charleston Blue

Come Back Charleston Blue
Come Back Charleston Blue
Soundtrack album by Donny Hathaway
Released	1972
Recorded	1972
Label	Atco Records
Producer	Donny Hathaway, Quincy Jones (supervision)
Donny Hathaway chronology

Come Back, Charleston Blue
Come Back, Charleston Blue
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Warren
Written by	Peggy Elliott; Bontche Schweig
Based on	The Heat's On; by Chester Himes
Produced by	Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
Starring	Godfrey Cambridge; Raymond St. Jacques
Cinematography	Richard C. Kratina
Edited by	George Bowers; Gerald B. Greenberg
Music by	Donny Hathaway
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	June 29, 1972;
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Come Back, Charleston Blue is a 1972 American crime comedy film starring Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques, loosely based on Chester Himes' novel The Heat's On. It is a sequel to the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem.

Plot

Detectives Ed "Coffin Ed" Johnson and "Grave Digger" Jones are confounded by a string of strange murders in the neighborhood of Harlem, New York. The murders themselves are not nearly as bizarre as the calling card left by the murderer: a blue steel straight razor. Legend has it that this was the calling card of Charleston Blue, a vigilante who tried to rid the neighborhood of all criminal elements using a straight razor. Blue, having disappeared years ago after he went after Dutch Schultz (with his trusty straight razor), was considered dead by all except his girlfriend, who kept his razors locked away until his "comeback."

Soon after the murders start, it is discovered that the razors were missing, and all evidence points to Joe Painter, a local photographer, who has begun dating Carol, the beloved niece of mafia errand boy Caspar Brown. Joe and Brown are at odds over Caspar's refusal to help Joe kick the mafia out of the neighborhood, so Joe enlists the help of a group of brothers and the spirit of Charleston Blue. However, Johnson and Jones discover that Joe's plan does not seem to be exactly what he claimed it was.

Cast

Godfrey Cambridge as Detective "Gravedigger" Jones
Raymond St. Jacques as Detective Ed "Coffin Ed" Johnson
Peter Deanda as Joe Painter
Percy Rodriguez as Captain Frederick J. Bryce
Jonelle Allen as Carol
Maxwell Glanville as Caspar
Minnie Gentry as Her Majesty
Dick Sabol as Jarema
Leonardo Cimino as Frank Mago
Toney Brealond as Drag Queen
Tim Pelt as Earl J
Marcia McBroom as Girl Barber
Darryl Knibb as Douglas
Joseph Ray as Bubba
Adam Wade as Benjy
Dorothi Fox as Streetwalker

Also appearing in a minor role is Philip Michael Thomas (as a Minister) in his film debut.

Production

The film was shot in Harlem,^[1] which required producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. to negotiate with CORE and other groups over their demands for "money, jobs and control."^[2]

Reception

This film was a sequel to the film Cotton Comes to Harlem: appearing two years later, it opened to mixed reviews, with critics feeling it was decent, but not riotous like the original 1970 film.

In April 1972, less than three months before the film's release, Time magazine called the film "part of a new Hollywood wave of eminently commercial movies by blacks about the black experience," a wave that included Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Shaft, Shaft's Big Score, Cool Breeze, Buck and the Preacher, The Legend of Nigger Charley, Super Fly, and Blacula.^[2]

A.H. Weiler, reviewing the film for The New York Times, called it "only occasionally funny or incisive" with a "convoluted plot and dialogue that is often too 'in' for the uninitiated."^[1]

Soundtrack

All tracks written by Donny Hathaway except "Little Ghetto Boy" (Earl DuRouen / Edward Howard) and "Come Back Charleston Blue" (Donny Hathaway / Al Cleveland / Quincy Jones).^[3]

Track	Song	Length
1	Main Theme	02:20
2	Basie	03:53
3	String Segue	00:34
4	Vegetable Wagon	01:07
5	Harlem Dawn	01:38
6	Scratchy Record	03:09
7	Explosion	00:23
8	Hearse to the Graveyard	02:46
9	Switch "Charleston Blue"	00:32
10	Come Back Basie	02:36
11	Detective's Goof	00:28
12	Grave Digger Jones & Coffin Head Johnson's Funeral	03:02
13	String Segue	00:17
14	Little Ghetto Boy	03:50
15	Hail to the Queen	00:21
16	Drag Queen Chase	00:47
17	Bossa Nova	01:47
18	Tim's High	01:30
19	Furniture Truck	01:18
20	Liberation	02:52
21	Come Back Charleston Blue	02:04

In November 2007, Rhino Records released a remastered version of the soundtrack album, which included two new tracks, an alternate version and a live version of "Little Ghetto Boy."^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Weiler, A. H. (June 30, 1972). "Come Back Charleston Blue, Sequel to Cotton in Harlem". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Time Magazine Staff (April 10, 1972). "Show Business: Black Market". Time. United States: Time USA, LLC. (Marc & Lynne Benioff). Retrieved October 30, 2010.
^ "Come Back Charleston Blue". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
^ "Come Back Charleston Blue". Rhino Records. November 12, 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2010-10-30.

External links

[nyt72-1] Weiler, A. H. (June 30, 1972). "Come Back Charleston Blue, Sequel to Cotton in Harlem". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved October 30, 2010.

[time72Apr-2] Time Magazine Staff (April 10, 1972). "Show Business: Black Market". Time. United States: Time USA, LLC. (Marc & Lynne Benioff). Retrieved October 30, 2010.

[3] "Come Back Charleston Blue". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-10-30.

[4] "Come Back Charleston Blue". Rhino Records. November 12, 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2010-10-30.

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