Cool Breeze (film)
| Cool Breeze | |
|---|---|
 Original Theatrical Poster | |
| Directed by | Barry Pollack |
| Screenplay by | Barry Pollack |
| Produced by | Gene Corman |
| Starring | Thalmus Rasulala Jim Watkins Judy Pace Lincoln Kilpatrick Raymond St. Jacques |
| Cinematography | Andy David |
| Edited by | Morton Tubor |
| Music by | Solomon Burke |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | July 2, 1972[1] |
Running time | 101 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Cool Breeze is a 1972 American blaxploitation film directed by Barry Pollack, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[3] Cool Breeze is loosely based on W. R. Burnett's 1949 novel, and is a remake of the 1950 film The Asphalt Jungle with a predominately all-black cast.[4]
Plot
Sidney Lord Jones is a convicted felon who is granted an early release by the parole board in San Quentin. While imprisoned, he learns about the underworld diamond trade from reading and studying trade magazines. It motivates him to plan a heist to steal $3 million worth of diamonds from the largest diamond brokerage on the Pacific Coast.[4]
After his release, Jones returns to Los Angeles and proposes the idea to ‘the Money Man’ Bill Mercer and "Stretch" Finian, in hopes that Mercer would provide the $50,000 seed money needed to set up the heist. Jones recommends using profits from the heist to start a community bank to support black-owned businesses,[4] in addition the bank could be used to launder illegal business activities. Unbeknownst to Jones, Mercer is having financial difficulty and has little money. However, he agrees to provide the funds, but secretly plans to keep all the loot for himself. To accomplish the heist, Mercer and Jones assemble a group of men consisting of Travis Battle (‘the Muscle Man’) a well-known career criminal, Roy Harris (‘the Box Man’) an expert safe-cracker transformed into a Christian minister, and John Battle (‘the Driver’) an honest business man and half-brother of Travis. Unfortunately, after the successful robbery, the group finds themselves caught up in a string of unhappy accidents and double crosses.
Cast
- Thalmus Rasulala as Sidney Lord Jones
- Jim Watkins as Travis Battle
- Judy Pace as Obalese Eaton
- Lincoln Kilpatrick as Lt. Brian Knowles
- Sam Laws as "Stretch" Finian
- Raymond St. Jacques as Bill Mercer
- Margaret Avery as Lark
- Pamela Grier as Mona
- Paula Kelly as Martha Harris
- Wally Taylor as John Battle
- Rudy Challenger as Reverend Roy Harris
- Stewart Bradley as Cpt. Lloyd Harmon
- Ed Cambridge as The Bus Driver
- Royce Wallace as Emma Mercer
- Stack Pierce as Tinker
- Biff Elliot as Lt. Carl Mager
- John Lupton as Lt. Holster
See also
- List of American films of 1972
- The Asphalt Jungle
- Hit Man - subsequent 1972 heist film released by MGM
- The Slams - subsequent 1973 heist film released by MGM
- List of blaxploitation films