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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - T 2 Mins Read

    Top of the Heap (1972)

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    Christopher St. John wrote, produced, directed and starred in this tale of embittered, violence-prone black Washington DC cop George Lattimer who is looked upon as the bottom of the pile by almost everyone, including black dope pushers, white demonstrators (who throw urine-filled balloons at him), and a white colleague who arrests and brutalises him after spotting the skin colour but not the uniform under his overcoat.

    Retreating from such everyday rebukes, George – who is married to a wife (Florence St. John) and father to a rebellious daughter (Almeria Quinn) he never really wishes to see, instead opting to keep time with a beatnik mistress (Paula Kelly) – finds relief in satirical fantasy ranging from the jungle to outer space.

    He imagines himself the first black astronaut on the moon, planting an upside-down flag there, bedding a white nurse (former Playmate Ingeborg Sørensen) in the space-recovery hospital, riding in a tickertape parade in his Alabama hometown, and applauded by the president.

    George’s day-to-day existence explains his need to escape into whatever anti-reality his brain can conjure. His wife chastises him every time he walks out the door, shaming the officer for wanting to play “big nigger cop” instead of raising his family.

    When he plays by the rules, he’s passed over for promotions, no matter how high he scores on the Sergeant’s exam, and the criminals he tussles with show no respect, tossing out racial epithets, even after he’s got a knee on their necks.

    George Lattimer
    Christopher St. John
    Black Chick
    Paula Kelly
    Viola Lattimer
    Florence St. Peter
    Valerie Lattimer
    Almeria Quinn
    Bobby Gelman
    Leonard Kuras
    Captain Walsh
    John Alderson
    Tim Cassidy
    Patrick McVey
    Taxi Driver
    Allen Garfield
    Nurse Swenson
    Ingeborg Sørensen
    Hip Passenger
    Ron Douglas
    Dope Dealer
    John McMurtry
    Rookie Policeman
    Brian Cutler
    Club Owner
    Jerry Jones
    Bouncer
    Willie Harris

    Director
    Christopher St. John

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    Blaxploitation
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