Come Back Charleston Blue
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Mark Warren
Godfrey Cambridge
Raymond St. Jacques
Peter Deanda
Percy Rodrigues
Jonelle Allen
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Harlem police detectives Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson are working a routine security shift at a lavish debutante ball when a dead body is found in the kitchen's cold storage. They discover that the killer has left the murder weapon, a South Carolina blue switchblade, and taken off with dozens of frozen turkeys. Meanwhile at the party, suave fashion photographer Joe Painter, who is secretly conspiring to take over the Harlem drug trade from drug lord Caspar, easily charms a dance from Caspar's niece Carol and begins dating her soon after. Days later while visiting an elderly psychic, Her Majesty, the detectives learn that Her Majesty's murdered lover, Charleston Blue, got his nickname from using the blue switchblade. Discovering the box of switchblades she had set aside for her lover is empty, Her Majesty is convinced that Charleston Blue has returned to avenge his death. After the police report two more deaths using the signature blade and Her Majesty discovers Charleston's coffin empty, rumors spread throughout Harlem that Charleston's ghost has returned and is responsible for the disappearance of heroin in Harlem. In reality, Joe and his thugs are hijacking Caspar's drug shipments, using information he has culled from Carol. Joe has also broken into Caspar's drug operation, killing several men and stealing the turkeys in which Caspar and his men have hidden drugs. Meanwhile, naïve officers follow new precinct chief Bryce's mandate to arrest anyone even loosely associated with the militant group Black Berets for the recent murders, including twelve-year-old Douglas, a bookish boy who merely talks about revolution. When Digger and Coffin learn from Her Majesty that Joe has questioned her about Charleston's history, they suspect he is using Charleston as a ruse for his own drug hijacking and murders. While Digger and Coffin confront Joe about the Harlem drug trade, two of Caspar's hit men shoot at Joe from the skylight. Digger and Coffin easily outshoot them, saving Joe's life. Soon after, Digger and Coffin inform Italian Mafia leader Frank Mago, Caspar's supplier, that Joe has vowed to run him out of Harlem and have the drug trade run only by blacks. Back at his photography studio, Joe tells Carol that he is stealing the drugs and throwing them in the river to save the neighborhood, thus winning her admiration. Soon after, Digger and Coffin, suspecting Mago is using a coffin to ship his drugs from overseas, follow a hearse containing the latest coffin that has just arrived at the port. Within minutes, the hearse, which is filled with Mago's men wearing afro wigs and black face, is detoured into a cemetery by Joe's sanitation trucks blocking the road. Joe and his thugs are holding a mock graveside funeral and easily shoot and kill Mago's men, then escape in the hearse with Digger and Coffin in hot pursuit. Narrowly escaping Joe's sanitation trucks and a bomb thrown at them, Digger and Coffin shoot out the hearse's tires, causing the vehicle to flip. When the detectives find Caspar's dead body inside but lose Joe, Bryce adamantly demands they be taken off the case and reassigned to crosswalk guard duty under the supervision of a dim-witted white officer. Meanwhile, Joe meets with Mago, who offers him the same deal as Caspar's. However, Joe, who has stolen enough drugs to supply Harlem for a year, announces that he will find other suppliers in Southeast Asia before his current supply runs out, effectively cutting Mago out of the loop. Meanwhile, Joe's drug supply is easily distributed throughout Harlem, concealed in basketballs and dolls. Desperate to outwit Bryce so they can crack the case, Digger places an anonymous call to the police reporting a knife-wielding lunatic at a nearby building. When their white supervising officer is called to the scene, he confers with Digger and Coffin, who tell him that the building is a Black Beret hangout. The fearful officer promptly hands Digger and Coffin his gun and orders them to go into the building without him. As they enter, an explosion occurs, leading everyone to believe that the two detectives are dead. Back at Joe's place, Carol finally realizes that Joe is a drug dealer and is responsible for her uncle's death, but a transvestite, who is part of Joe's team, stops her before she can flee. Later, during a memorial service for Digger and Coffin at police headquarters, Joe tries to bribe Bryce into leaving his drug operation alone, but Bryce refuses. The next morning, Carol escapes the transvestite's clutches, catches a cab outside and soon recognizes that her driver is Digger. Sobbing that she does not belong anywhere, Carol agrees to show Digger and Coffin the storage room where Joe keeps the dolls and basketballs he uses to transport drugs. The detectives then sabotage each item by mixing a smoke bomb material into the drugs, so that as the addicts light up, smoke explodes in apartments, bars and on the streets. Learning of his ruined supply, Joe races to the mausoleum to retrieve his hidden dope in Charleston's coffin. Finding Douglas there, Joe tries to kill the young boy, but is thwarted by Coffin and Digger. When Joe tries to flee, he is confronted by Her Majesty, who, recognizing that Joe is far from being the real Charleston, slashes his throat with a blue blade. As Joe's body falls into the coffin, the others escape just as the mausoleum explodes from a bomb Douglas planted to destroy the remaining drugs. Her Majesty then calmly gets into a 1932 Lincoln, Charleston's favorite car, with a mysterious driver at the wheel.
Director
Mark Warren
Cast
Godfrey Cambridge
Raymond St. Jacques
Peter Deanda
Percy Rodrigues
Jonelle Allen
Maxwell Glanville
Minnie Gentry
Dick Sabol
Leonardo Cimino
Toney Brealond
Tim Pelt
Marcia Mcbroom
Darryl Knibb
Joseph Ray
Adam Wade
Dorothi Fox
Steve Vignari
Theodore Wilson
Harold Gaetano
Ethel Ayler
Jerle Moore
George Fairley
Charlie Mcgregor
Philip Thomas
Lee Steele
Al Fann
Lou David
Frank Piazza
Willie Moore
Dexter Westbrook
Reeta White
Floyd Levine
Alyce Webb
Tamara Dobson
Carla Edwards
Mitchell Smith
Ed Smith
Crew
Ira Anderson Jr.
Lou Barlia
Lleweyn A. Barrett
George Berndt
Edward Beyer
George Bowers
Conrad Brink
David Broadnax
Anthony Brubaker
Patricia Carrington
Al Cleveland
George De Titta
Terence A. Donnelly
Peggy Elliott
Al Fann
Harry Farrington
Chip Fields
Sante Fiore
Harold Gaetano
Vincent Gerardo
Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
Alan Green
Gerald Greenberg
Al Griswold
Robert Gundlach
Ralph James Hall
Thomas Halpin
Donny Hathaway
Donny Hathaway
Anna Hill Johnstone
Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Max Kleven
Max Kleven
David Kramer
Dick Kratina
Tommy Lamb
Tommy Lane
Adeline Leonard
Leroy Lucas
Mike Maggi
Clinton Marshall
Harold Mcevoy
Harold Melvin
Bob Minor
Edde Moore
Ron Munkasci
Stanley Neufeld
George Newman
Carlos Quiles
Ed Quinn
Robert Michael Reitano
Ken Ryan
James J. Sabat
Leonard Saltzberg
Maurice Schell
Frank Schulz
Bontche Schweig
Walter Scott
Ralph Singleton
Nancy Tonery
Perry Watkins
Artie Wayne
Dwight Williams
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title for this film was The Heat's On, the name of the Chester Himes novel on which the film was based. The following acknowledgment is listed in the onscreen credits: "Filmed with the cooperation of the Mayor of New York and the people of Harlem." Although a November 10, 1971 Hollywood Reporter news item stated that Sam Goldwyn, Jr. signed Ernest Kinoy to write the screenplay, Kinoy's name is not listed onscreen and the extent of his partcipation in the film remains undetermined. A modern source adds Al Kirk and Sterling St. Jacques, son of Raymond St. Jacques, to the cast.
The film marked the feature film directorial debut of television director Mark Warren. Actor Philip Michael Thomas, who was billed onscreen as "Philip Thomas," made his film debut in Come Back Charleston Blue. Thomas is best known for his role as "Detective Ricardo Tubbs" on the 1980s television series "Miami Vice". Actors Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques also starred as the detective team of "Gravedigger Jones" and "Coffin Ed Johnson," respectively, in the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem , also based on a Himes novel.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Summer July 1972
Released in USA on video.
Released in United States Summer July 1972
