Hot Summer In the City (Alpha Blue Archives) Review

Initial Thoughts
Here's an ultra obscure hardcore roughie, set against racial tensions, that's gotten some rave reviews. Let's see if the hype is all worth it...

The Film
Directed by Gail Palmer, who would go on to make the successful "Candy" films which starred Carol Conners. Hot Summer in the City was her first film, shot while she was in college in Detroit. Former Playboy Playmate, Lisa Baker, plays Debbie, a virginal woman engaged to be married, who upon returning home from her engagement party discovers her mother having sex with two men.
Leaving home horrified at what she has just seen, Debbie wanders the streets until she is picked up by a carload of black militant thugs, who kidnap and rape her. Meanwhile it is revealed that the thugs have plans to stage a major race riot in Detroit the following week...
Hot Summer in the City, an obvious nod both to the the song as well as the racial tension filled "long hot summers" of the 1960s, Palmer satisfyingly couples racial politics within a roughie and blaxploitation film structure. Scored mostly with incidental use of 60s pop songs as well as some good jazz, the film is a surprisingly quick paced and engaging thriller, up through it's genuinely surprising conclusion.
While Palmer is a good story teller and creates genuine suspense through her excellent dialogue and understanding of racial conflict, she is unable to keep the pace up in the film's second half. While the first section of the movie is relatively sex-less and thus more engaging, the concluding half is bogged down by a series of sex scenes inserted seemingly for the purpose of making the film longer.
The gritty cinematography and, with the exception of Baker, no name actors (as well as the fact that the film was indeed shot in Detroit) make Hot Summer in the City an interesting, though flawed, regional curiosity. The acting, while better than expected, is often a bit flat, but picks up dramatically during dramatic sections.
While no genre masterpiece, Hot Summer in the City is a good enough curio that it should sufficiently please fans of exploitation and sexploitation cinema alike.

A/V Quality
In a surprising turn, ABA has mastered this one off a 35mm print, though one which has been through hell and back. Obvious small chucks (no longer than 30 seconds at any given time) are gone, though these absent moments are not crucial to one's grasp of the film's narrative and occur at expository moments, and mainly at reel changes. Other than that, although the transfer is a bit soft, and the print is covered in lines and splices, it's not bad at all. Color is good and I don't feel like I'm missing a whole lot due to splices. Although I'd like to see this film transferred from a better looking, more complete print, I'm happy to have seen it at all.

Cuts Warning
Besides footage missing due to splices, nothing has been cut.

Extras
ABA has included the original trailer, which is really neat. The DVD also has some literature on the film and two bonus militant themed loops.

Who Should See It?
Fans of Palmer of course should check this out to see her first feature. Roughie and blaxploitation fans also ought to give this a shot.

Who Should Skip It?
Silly people who think that violence has no place in X rated films. People who think the idea of characters, plots and real filmmaking are counter intuitive in the "advanced" age of gonzo shit...

Final Thoughts
An OK movie gets an OK DVD release. I can live with that.