Popular reviews

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  Review by doppelgangerdev ★★★½

  aka SUPER DUDE

  At times broaches Darker Than Amber vibes. Gotta agree with PCP in that William Elliott isn't a great lead. He has moments, but not nearly enough for what kind of force this character could feel like. However the surrounding crime yarn is executed so well from the fundamentals to the supporting cast to the sparse, but brutal action peppered in. You also get Michael Lerner in 100% creep mode AND features in two great action sequences.

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  Review by Joshua ★★★★

  How could you not totally fall in love with Marki Bey? Junkie or not, I mean come on now. A blaxploitation gem mixed with film noir-esque melodrama. A bizarre last feature for Henry Hathaway. Good shit man.

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  Review by proofrock ★★★ 1

  Maybe 80-85% of this movie remains — the telecine print is missing a lot of scenes (most likely a combo of age/overuse and likely any instance of the title song “Hangup” chopped out) under a cut called Super Dude. It feels different than a lot of the product from that time, partly because it was directed by Hollywood legend Henry Hathaway at the end of his career. The blocky exposition lends itself to his late ‘40s noir achievements, and he has a good enough sensibility to the market he’s playing to, but it feels very starchy. Story’s about reckless Black rookie cop Ken (William Elliott) working the LA narcotics beat with catalog model looker Lou (Cliff Potts). Ken picks up…

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  Review by nagoya ★★★½

  A "lost and found" good film. As far blaxploitation films go, this has higher production values and it's better directed than -sayin'- a film like Black Belt Jones. It's very cool that Marki Bey has a much more screen time than expected and her relationship with William Elliott is well constructed. The few action scenes are great and Michael Lerner's performance is appropriately sleazy. Unfortunately the copy currently circulating is more than 15 minutes shorter than its supposed length and actually looks like a work-copy. if the complete film will ever see the light of the day we could have a great film in our hands.

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  Review by Sam Prime ★★★ 2

  HANGUP is a real, true-to-life rarity, easily the film with the most clout and instantly recognizable figures of the entire ENDANGERED FEST line-up.

  The final film of director Henry Hathaway, a story of a rookie detective seeking to put an end to the pervasiveness of smack on his city's streets. Saw this under its re-release title of SUPER DUDE, a crude studio attempt to inappropriately place a quite serious, dramatic film under the banner of all-out blaxploitation (and to subliminally associate the film with SUPER FLY).

  Well-constructed, engaging in parts, completely touching in others, but this film was ultimately not for me. Liked it, didn't love it, but some felt differently.

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  Review by Futurewizard97 ★★★★

  What a wild ride. The blaxploitation genre of cinema has always been one of my favorites! From my discovery in 7th grade of Fred Williamson, I've come to enjoy almost every film from the genre and this is no exception. Just the low budgetness to it and the music and the action always gives off charm and just makes me smile each time. Whether it's good, bad, or so bad it's good, this film is entertaining from start to finish. The story is actually pretty interesting and unlike anything ive seen before. The tagline is badass as well and really catches one's eye. If you're ever bored then definitely check this film out!

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  Review by Steven Millan ★★★½

  The final film of director Henry Hathaway(NIAGARA,NEVADA SMITH,KISS OF DEATH[1947]) was this blaxploitation police actioner that has a black police detective(William Elliott[COFFY,WHERE DOES IT HURT ?,NIGHT OF THE LEPUS]) and his white partner(Cliff Potts[SILENT RUNNING,EMBRACE THE DARKNESS]) who are both fully dedicated to cleaning the Los Angeles street of crime and criminals,with Elliott soon falling for his past girlfriend(Marki Bey[SUAGR HILL{1974},CLASS OF '74]) who he learns is a strongly heroin addicted junkie who works as a prostitute for a local underworld drug dealer(Michael Lerner[ELF,X-MEN:DAYS OF FUTURE PAST,MANIAC COP 2]) whom Elliott soon finds himself in a ferocious battle with.

  Re-released to theaters and drive-ins as SUPER DUDE,HANGUP is a solid feature that has Hathaway mainly focusing on Elliott's and Bey's…

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  Review by Paul D ★★½

  A narcotics cop sets about taking revenge on the dealers who were responsible for the death of his girlfriend.

  Well sort of.

  I must confess that what I watched was apparently a much truncated version available on YouTube, which comes in at 76 minutes, down from the official 94, which may well account for the choppiness, and for the slightly peculiar way the film develops the relationship which is central to the semi-revenge plot.

  The main point of interest here is that this is the final directorial effort of Henry Hathaway, probably best known for True Grit. It seems like an odd pairing for director and material, which may account for a general lack of the kind of excess when…

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  Review by John Charles ★★★

  SLAUGHTER'S BIG RIP-OFF and DARKTOWN STRUTTERS weren't the only blaxploitation movies directed by old white guys. Veteran John Wayne collaborator Henry Hathaway was, depending on the time of shooting, either 74 or 75 when he finished his career with HANGUP, which went through two studios and two titles before disappearing for decades. Never on home video, it was considered lost until AGFA found a print. Now there is a 16mm telecine of the SUPER DUDE version floating around online. At just 77 minutes, parts of a few scenes are missing, though it doesn't seem like that much was lost to splices or a re-edit. In fact, it's hard to see why HANGUP didn't have a better fate as it's quite…

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  Review by Marty McKee ★★½

  William Elliott, an authoritative black actor and musician (he was married to Dionne Warwick) who avoided playing stereotypical pimp and junkie roles, landed the lead role in this low-budget cops-and-pushers picture. Directed by 74-year-old Henry Hathaway (TRUE GRIT), who began working in films in 1908 (!) as a child actor, HANGUP was a bust for Warner Bros., which didn’t give a damn about it and dropped it after a couple of test screenings. It ended up at Dimension Pictures, which changed the title to SUPER DUDE (!) and tried to sell it as blaxploitation.

  Elliott, then best known as amiable best pal to cabbie David Birney on BRIDGET MEETS BERNIE, lacks the notable edge (and charisma) of Jim Brown or…

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  Review by DFvideodiary

  Narc cop William Elliot works undercover and falls for junkie Marki Bey = Gritty melodrama with a whole lot of talking, quick bursts of brutal action and probably the strangest OD ever filmed. Worth a spin.

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  Review by VNPryor 2

  FINALLY!

  This is a movie I've been dying to see for a long time, but up until very recently it was just about impossible to find. Stumbled onto it on YouTube in a version apparently shorn of 20 minutes, and none too smoothly either... but I'll take what I can get. Another off the bucket list!

  Mind you, I was pretty sure the movie was not going to be good, and there was no logical reason for me to be so excited. It honestly might just be down to the fact that it was never released on home video, but then again it's equally likely that it's just because the alternate title was Super Dude.

  And it certainly wasn't good,…