Perfectly adorable

Great Film overall

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Marlo Monte portrays Charles Murray, an amiable dope pusher who is arrested by white detectives. Unfortunately for Charles, one of these white detectives is Harry Freeman (Ben Bigelow), a raging racist unable to satisfy his wife. What Harry does is that he attempts to castrate Charles, getting back at both the wife and blacks in general. Charles spends three years in the pen, renounces crime, and tries to go straight, although finding honest work is difficult. He shacks up with Carmen (Reatha Grey), a former hooker, and ultimately decides to get revenge on all the honkies who did him wrong: Freeman, Freeman's partner (Stan Kamber), the judge (Ed Sander), and the prosecutor (Stephen Schenck). This he does in an extremely memorable, "Holy *beep*, I can't believe I'm seeing this" manner.The big money shot occurs around the 88 minute mark, and while it may not catch you off guard if you know the big twist going in, it's STILL a priceless sight to behold. It's guaranteed to send viewers into gales of laughter.And yet, at the same time, this viewer doesn't know that this aspect of the story is meant to be taken all that literally. Our protagonist may well have become unhinged by his experiences. In effect, the debut feature for writer / producer / director / editor Jamaa Fanaka, who hit it big four years later with the first "Penitentiary" picture, is largely a traditional story of vengeance. But Fanaka makes it fresh by infusing it with subtext (namely, black male virility), and a portrait of black American life in Compton and Watts of the mid-70s.The filmmaking may not be terribly slick, and some of the performances may be amateurish, but the participants do get an A for effort. Monte and Grey have engaging personalities, Bigelow is an appropriately despicable p.o.s. antagonist, Jackie Ziegler is all kinds of sexy as Charles' ex-girlfriend Twyla (she performs a strip number), and Tiffany Peters is good as Freemans' defiant wife.Enhanced by some gloriously funky tunes, and William Andersons' sometimes seriously weird soundtrack, this is one blaxploitation oddity that definitely merits at least one viewing.Eight out of 10.

Proud black man and small-time criminal Charles Murray (played with fierce intensity by Marlo Monte) does hard time in prison in the wake of being brutalized by vicious corrupt racist cop Harry (a spot-on hateful portrayal by Ben Bigelow). After being released from the joint, Charles utilizes a peculiar means of exacting a harsh revenge on those responsible for his incarceration. Writer/director Jamaa Fanaka vividly captures the raw'n'funky reality of sordid hood life in the mid-1970's, makes nice use of squalid urban locations, relates the offbeat, but still engrossing story at an unhurried pace, and presents a colorful array of seedy low-life characters. Moreover, this film reaches its gloriously surreal highlight with the jaw-dropping scene in which Charles strangles a guy with his elongated penis (!). Reatha Grey adds plenty of spark as sassy hooker Carmen. Stan Kamber also registers well as easygoing police officer Jim. James Babij's rough'n'grainy cinematography gives this picture a strong feeling of grungy verisimilitude. William Anderson's discordant acid jazz score does the groovy trick. Recommended viewing for those seeking something different.

It's a damn dirty shame that it's impossible to see the uncut version of Welcome Home, Brother Charles, because what's left of it is tantalizing indeed. Long considered a trash anti-classic, its reputation is well deserved--but there's much more to it than just a giant stunt penis. The first half hour of the film is as good as anything done by Melvin Van Peebles in his overrated Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, and there are moments that are the equal of Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep. Really. The tone changes in the second half of the film, but Fanaka's message--that the white man has spent the last few hundred years trying to emasculate the black man--couldn't be clearer. That said, the second half is damaged by what appear to be severe cuts, and Charles becomes a less interesting character when revenge becomes his primary goal. Regardless, this is a film well worth seeing, if only for the amazing score, which blends elements of funk, blues, jazz, and avant garde music to sometimes brilliant effect. Let's hope that Jamaa Fanaka has a complete print safely stashed away in his basement.

Welcome Home Brother Charles is one of the most unknown blaxploitation films ever to be made. The film has some of funniest scenes I've ever seen and one of the strangest murder weapons ever recored on film. Someone really needs to remake this one.