Storyline

Filmmaker Shirley Clarke ("The Connection") directs this powerful, stark semi-documentary look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto slum life filled with drugs, violence, human misery, and a sense of despair due to the racial prejudices of American society. There is no patronizing of the black race in this cinematic cry for justice. A fifteen-year-old boy called Duke is ambitious to buy a "piece" (a gun) from an adult racketeer named Priest, to become president of the gang to which he belongs, and to return them to active "bopping" (gang fighting) which has declined in Harlem. It is a clearly patent allegory of an attempt by Duke to attain manhood and identity in the only way accessible to him - the antisocial one.—alfiehitchie

Plot Keywords

new york city, based on play, based on novel, inner city, harlem manhattan new york city, ghetto, violence, racial tension, poverty, high school, criminal, cinema verite, anger, blaxploitation, train, rebellion, religion, street gang, national film registry, teenage boy

Short Review

Clarke's images endow the characters' energies with a sculptural grandeur and embrace street life with a keenly attentive, unsentimental avidity.

Trailer

Streaming Service

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