Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

By the late 1960s, Hollywood's long-standing habit of either ignoring Black American life entirely or filtering it through a white perspective was beginning, slowly and not without resistance, to crack. Cotton Comes to Harlem arrived in 1970 right at the front edge of that shift, a full year before Shaft is typically credited with kicking off the Blaxploitation wave. Produced by Formosa Productions, the film is based on Chester Himes' 1965 novel of the same name, part of his celebrated series of Harlem crime fiction featuring detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones. Himes, a Black American writer who spent much of his later life in Europe, brought a sharp, sardonic eye to Harlem's streets, and his source material gave the film a grounding in genuine community observation that sets it apart from the more formulaic genre pictures that would follow in its wake. It is a crime comedy at heart, with two Harlem plainclothes cops pursuing a stolen fortune in cash hidden inside a bale of cotton, while a slick preacher, a cast of neighbourhood characters, and half the city scramble to get there first. At 97 minutes it moves at a clip, never outstaying its welcome.

Behind the camera, Ossie Davis was already a well-respected figure in American theatre and film, known as much for his civil rights activism as for his work as an actor and writer. Cotton Comes to Harlem was his feature directorial debut, and the choice of material was clearly personal as well as professional: shooting on location in Harlem itself rather than on studio backlots gave the film a texture and authenticity that feels earned rather than performed. In front of the camera, Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques take the lead roles as Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed, and they are surrounded by a supporting cast that includes Calvin Lockhart as the charismatic, morally flexible Reverend O'Malley, Judy Pace, and the comedian Redd Foxx in an early film appearance. Cambridge, familiar to audiences from stage and television work, and St. Jacques, a polished but energetic screen presence, together give the film much of its forward momentum. For fans of early 1970s American cinema, the whole enterprise sits neatly alongside other films from the period that were finding new ways to put Black stories and Black humour at the centre of the frame rather than the margins. If you enjoy this corner of cinema history, it's worth having a look at some of the other films from the era covered here, including A River Called Titas (1973) and Futureworld (1976), both from the same decade.

The film has occasionally been compared, in spirit if not in style, to other action-comedies built around street-level energy and practical filmmaking, films where the absence of modern effects budgets actually works in their favour by forcing the action onto real locations with real consequences. If that kind of kineticism appeals to you, it's also worth checking out what we made of Hardcore Henry (2015) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), two very different but equally physical action films reviewed on the site. But back to Harlem in 1970, and what Ossie Davis and his cast actually made of the material.

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) is a vibrant, fast-talking crime caper that doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, and that’s its greatest strength. Based on Chester Himes’ novel and directed by Ossie Davis, it follows two sharp-witted Harlem detectives as they chase a stolen bale of cash through the streets of New York. The plot is loose, the logic occasionally elastic, but the energy never flags. This isn’t high art, it’s street-smart, politically aware pulp with a wink and a strut. Where the film truly shines is in its rhythm: the script crackles with slang, sarcasm, and sharp social commentary disguised as comedy. The leads (Raymond St. Jacques and Godfrey Cambridge) are effortlessly charismatic, trading banter like seasoned pros. And those car chases are exceptional. Shot on real Harlem streets with real stunt drivers, they’ve got a kinetic, chaotic feel that puts many modern CGI-heavy sequences to shame. Add in an absolutely killer soul-funk soundtrack (that main theme will stick in your head for days), and you’ve got a movie that moves like a groove. Yes, it’s broad, sometimes cartoonish, and definitely of its time, but it’s also refreshingly bold, proudly and unapologetically fun. It knows exactly what kind of film it is: a crowd-pleaser with attitude. Not a masterpiece, but a blast from start to finish. If you’re after depth, look elsewhere. But if you want laughs, action, style, and one of the best soundtracks of the ’70s? Cotton Comes to Harlem delivers.

I'll be honest, films like this one remind me why I started doing this in the first place. There's a real pleasure in sitting with something that has no pretensions beyond entertaining you thoroughly for an hour and a half, and then doing exactly that. The Himes novels always had that quality on the page, and Davis clearly understood it rather than trying to sand the edges smooth. If you've been sleeping on this one, assuming it's a curio or a footnote rather than a film worth your actual time on a Friday evening, I'd gently suggest you give it a go. Sometimes the best thing a film can do is know its own worth. Cotton does.

Rating: ★★★½  | Year: 1970  | Watched: 2026-04-13

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Trailer

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from the 1970s: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Here and Elsewhere (1976) · Italianamerican (1974) · Punishment Park (1971)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)