Now we go from a million eyes to one eye. Black Eye, which premiered today in 1974, stars Fred Williamson in his eighth leading role, and though you may not have heard of the film, it’s one of those rare blaxploitation flicks in which you can see a bit of money on the screen. We’re talking in terms of lighting, framing, locations, night shooting, and more areas where cheaper movies were forced to cut corners. Despite the high production value and the gloss it produces, movies depend mainly on acting and that’s something that only talent can solve. Williamson does mostly okay, but he’s stretched to a few lengths that prove difficult for him to reach, with a predictable effect on the movie’s overall quality. He plays Shep Stone, an erstwhile police lieutenant drummed off the force for killing a drug dealer. He finds himself involved in the murder of his girlfriend’s upstairs neighbor, which had something to do with a silver-tipped cane stolen from a casket in the movie’s opening minutes. Naturally the case unfolds to reveal more than just theft and murder. Expect the expected.
However, Black Eye also has some unusual elements. Williamson is annoyed that his girlfriend Teresa Graves has indulged in a lesbian fling, but gets schooled by her in a very modern way on sexuality, male expectations, and labeling. Graves: “I’m not a lesbian. It just so happens that somebody I find very interesting and have a great deal in common with happens to be a woman.” And speaking of sexuality, some viewers may enjoy this flick a little extra thanks to an unihibited beachfront display by Williamson—we’re talking big-dick-in-a-Speedo action. In slow motion, too, so you can get a really good look. We imagine Williamson at the premiere, nudging people in the ribs: “You see that? That big old thing flopping around? That’s all me. It’s a grower too.” Graves, for her part, offers some lovely buttcrack in the same beach sequence. She’s really beautiful, so it’s a good thing. It’s the two of them, in their second screen pairing, that make Black Eye worth watching. You can’t help but be charmed, just a little.
