This sequel to "Black Caesar" produced later in the same year essentially starts where its predecessor left off with "Tommy Gibbs" (Fred Williamson) having been seriously wounded and in dire need of medical attention. However, unlike the original film, Tommy lives and from that point on makes it his mission to get even with everyone who set him up to be murdered. To that extent, he reunites with his father "Papa Gibbs" (Julius Harris) and along with his chief enforcer "Zach" (Tony King) go on a killing spree against those involved in the illegal drug trade which has the effect of greatly reducing the revenues going to the corrupt District Attorney "Mr. DiAngelo" (Gerald Gordon). What he doesn't count on, however, is Mr. DiAngelo secretly joining forces with Zach who then kills Tommy's ex-wife "Helen Bradley" (Gloria Hendry) and subsequently casts the blame on Papa Gibbs to create an internal conflict between the two--and that is when all hell breaks out in Harlem. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that not only was the first film better than this one but the flaws within the original picture were even more pronounced in the sequel. To be more specific, there were some adequate scenes here and there but they weren't connected very well. Everything seemed rather haphazard and poorly thought out. In addition to that, the script, acting and special effects were all in need of serious improvement as well. In short, although I am probably not a member of the target audience, I don't consider this to be a good "blaxploitation film" and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
Review of Hell Up in Harlem
