User reviews

When I popped "The Black Cobra" into the DVD player, I was in the mood for some undemanding, mindless entertainment, nothing more. Unfortunately, this film cannot even fulfill those expectations. It is overwhelmingly cheap - much of it appears to be set in and around abandoned warehouses - and almost completely uninspired. I bought the entire "Black Cobra Collection" online for 3 English pounds, which means a pound a film, but if the other two entries are of the same quality, and if the other two transfers are of the same quality (well-below-VHS-level picture, often inaudible audio), then maybe the buyers should be getting payed instead! Fred Williamson is always cool, even when he's sleepwalking (which he largely is here) and dubbed (which I also think he is here), and Eva Grimaldi is as beautiful as ever, but this is not the finest hour for either of them. (*)

I purchased "Black Cobra", as well as two of its sequels, in a DVD box set called "Urban Cinema Action", but this franchise really doesn't qualify as Blaxploitation. This is a quick Italian produced cash-in on the Sylvester Stallone action vehicle "Cobra", and I have to say these Italians were becoming more and more shameless. "Black Cobra" came out just one year after the Stallone flick and they just wantonly copied the name and added the prefix "Black" because, well, Fred Williamson is a black guy. His titular character is also a completely unorthodox, indifferent and practically silent copper who goes at war against the members of a psychopathic motorcycle gang. Is that enough similarities for you? Fred Williamson immediately demonstrates that his character, Detective Robert Malone, isn't the type of police officer you want to mess with. He walks into a public pool where's a hostage situation going on. After calmly listening to the kidnappers' demands, Malone simply replies with: "No way, pal" and blows all three of them away. See, that's how B-movie cops negotiate! There's a psychopathic motorcycle gang at large in Chicago, led by a beefcake bloke with a golden tooth and a fetish for putting on and off his sunglasses. He looks a tad bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Terminator" when he does that. Anyway, they are mean gangsters that run over surfers with a jeep and kill women in their own houses. Eva Grimaldi plays a gorgeous photographer who witnessed them murdering a neighbor and hold photographic evidence. Malone is burdened with the task of safeguarding her from assassination attempts that will unquestionably follow. I was really hoping for "Black Cobra" to be a wildly outrageous, excessively violent and gratuitously sleazy exploitation flick, but the sad truth is that the film is quite boring and slow-moving. The action footage is tame and poorly filmed and there aren't any remarkable moments at all. Perhaps the DVD treatment is to blame for this, but most of the film was too dark to even see what was going on and the sound quality is horrendous. The theme song is a rip-off of something I definitely heard before but can't place at the moment. Fred Williamson really seems to have troubles keeping awake and gives one of his least interested performances ever. Throughout the whole film he wears the same damn gray sweater, which makes him look like a grandfather.

Trivia note: there's a strong possibility that Quentin Tarantino also saw and liked this movie. At a certain point in the film, Fred Williamson says to his superior: "That's a matter of opinion and I don't give a damn about yours". This exact same line is spoken by George Clooney in Tarantino's script for "From Dusk Till Dawn"; which also stars Fred Williamson in a supportive role.

I love B movies and I enjoyed Black Cobra. I wanted something to watch one rainy afternoon (I noticed that another reviewer watched it like that too) and so I gave this a look and I'm glad I did. Black Cobra is low low budget flick that provided enjoyable escapism for 90 minutes and kept me entertained. This is the type of film that you really have to accept on it's own terms or just leave alone. Ripping it apart would be easy but all the things that one could criticize are the exact same things that make Black Cobra the entertaining low budget flick that it is. One last thing: I agree with the other reviews that say the music in this flick sounds like it should be from a zombie movie. The Hammer should fight zombies in Black Cobra 4. I HOPE SOMEBODY READS THIS AND MAKES IT HAPPEN.

Stelvio Massi, the Roger Corman of Italy, cranked out an average of 4 films per year from 1954 to his death in 1994. Considering the haste, budgetary constraints and saturation problems this kind of schedule creates, Massi's films are much much better than they have any right to be.

Black Cobra stars a slightly bloated Fred "The Hammer" Williamson as an African American version of Dirty Harry - Detective Malone. Malone disobeys orders, doesn't compromise with people who he judges to be "scumbags" and is more than happy to contribute a little lead to anybody who asks for it. A female photographer has run afoul of a group of sociopathic, but nicely groomed, bikers and Malone is to be her protector.

Though not original, the story is decently told, and the script, although poorly dubbed, is OK. The acting is about what you would expect from a film of this nature, but some of the Italians are actually good. Nevertheless, the film did manage to cure my insomnia three nights in a row before I finally finished it last night and staggered off to bed in a daze.

For Completists Only.

You gotta love those wacky Italian B-movie makers! They've never seen an idea they couldn't steal. In the case of 1987's "Cobra Nero" (a.k.a "Black Cobra"), the filmmakers obviously saw Sylvester Stallone's "Cobra" and thought "We can do that...way cheaper!" For those of you who may not remember Sly's "Cobra," Stallone played a rogue cop who played by his own set of rules, protecting a fashion model from a savage cult of murderous bikers. In "Black Cobra," former NFL star, malt liquor pitchman and 70s blaxploitation bad-ass Fred Williamson plays a rogue cop named Bob Malone (Malone = Stallone. Coincidence? I think not!) who plays by his own set of rules, protecting a fashion photographer from a savage gang of murderous bikers. You can just imagine the pitch meeting for this one. "See? She's a photographer, not a model. Totally different movie! And oh yeah, OUR guy is black!" "Black Cobra" is supposedly set in New York City (the film opens with stock footage of what appears to be Times Square, New York traffic, and the Brooklyn Bridge) but obviously the filmmakers are hoping that none of the audience has actually BEEN to America because after the opening all of the locations were quite obviously filmed in an Italian suburb. When we first meet our hero, Williamson goes "Dirty Harry" on a trio of bank robbers who are holding a group of hostages at a swimming pool. (?) When he's reprimanded by his superior officer for his lethal methods, Williamson snarls, "They were SCUM!" Anyway...oh hell, there's no point in describing this thing in depth. Fred Williamson sleepwalks through his part with a perpetual tough-guy snarl on his face (which I guess is supposed to suggest bad-assery, though it makes him look more like he's badly constipated), cigar clutched in his teeth, spouting off god-awful dialogue that was obviously written by an Italian who learned English from dime store crime novels and reruns of "Hunter." When Fashion Photographer Lady witnesses a gang of bikers murdering her next door neighbor for no apparent reason, she snaps a picture of their ringleader (a pretty boy with a gold tooth who looks about as threatening as Vanilla Ice), which makes her next on the gang's hit list. Williamson is assigned to protect her and they then spend the rest of the movie escaping constant attempts on their lives (via some of the cheesiest stunt work I've ever seen) before a final showdown in what appears to be a junk yard. During this scene Williamson delivers a gun-point speech to one of the bad guys that's such a blatant steal from Dirty Harry's famed "Do you feel lucky, punk?" that Clint would probably have sued the filmmakers into oblivion if anybody had bothered to bring it to his attention! As you might expect from an Italian production, character development is next to nothing in "Black Cobra." They try to give Williamson's character some kind of background when his partner fills Fashion Photographer Lady in on Malone's unhappy childhood and his tour in Vietnam, but the bad guys in this movie are total cartoon characters. I don't remember exactly what the motivation was for the villains in Stallone's "Cobra" but I vaguely remember that they had some sort of evil master plan in mind. In "Black Cobra" the bikers just drive around seemingly at random, apparently killing people whenever they get bored. I mean, they're not even TRYING to give them any motivation. The filmmakers obviously don't care why the bikers are bad, so why should we? Seriously, "Cobra" may not have been one of Sly's finest films, but compared to this Z-grade "homage" it might as well be "Citizen Kane." Amazingly enough, enough Italian action junkies must've paid to see "Black Cobra" because Williamson reprised the Malone character in two sequels! (I have "Black Cobra I and II" together on a double feature DVD that I picked up at the dollar store... watch for my review of "II" sometime before the universe implodes.) Though I love schlock as much as the next guy, by the middle of this one I was starting to nod off, so I would only recommend this film to people with perpetual insomnia.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the malt liquor that Fred Williamson pitched on TV for a while back in the 80s was ... King Kobra. Again, coincidence? I think not.

Fred Williamson stars as Robert Malone, a 'shoot first, ask questions later'-style New York cop who is assigned to protect beautiful fashion photographer Elys Trumbo (played by the lovely Eva Grimaldi) after she witnesses the murder of a neighbour by a camp biker gang who wear matching studded leather blouson jackets and cheap mirrored sunglasses.

I watched The Black Cobra knowing absolutely nothing about the movie, but given the star of the film and its title, I had assumed that it was a 70s blaxploitation movie that would entertain me with its jive-talking' tough guys, big 'fros, funky attire, sexy mamas, and gritty action. As it happens, it's a cheap Italian cop thriller from the following decade, and it bored me to tears with its dreary plot, lacklustre direction, weak acting, distinct lack of 'fros, and shocking late-'80s fashion.

Ripping off both Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies and Stallone's Cobra, The Black Cobra hasn't got an original bone in its body, but director Stelvio Massi doesn't even make up for his blatant plagiarism by being outrageously violent, over-the-top in terms of action, or even plain trashy. His film is just cheap and boring. There are dull shootouts and crappy car chase scenes, Williamson looks out of shape and wears a nasty sweater and jacket, and even though the film is supposed to be set in New York, it clearly isn't, stock footage of the Brooklyn Bridge doing little to convince otherwise.

The end of the film is particularly asinine, its dumb villain somehow surviving a knife in the back to return for one more go at killing Elys and Malone, giving Williamson the opportunity to do a very lame version of Dirty Harry's famous quote 'you've gotta ask yourself one question…'. I can tell you who's lucky, Fred… any punk who manages to avoid watching this garbage.

Early in "Black Cobra," Detective Robert Malone establishes himself as a maverick, uncompromising policeman (otherwise we'd have not movie) when he guns down several criminals during a hostage standoff. Next, he finds himself protecting a female photographer who has witnessed a murder. She is sought by a moronic gang of motorcyclists who have been murdering and raping at will. Malone finds them, confronts them, and takes care of (police) business

What I found interesting about this movie it was made in 1987 but has the look of those 70s Blaxploitation films. I had assumed these flicks would have died out by 1982.

It's very much a foreign production with Fred the only American in whole thing and all the roles clearly dubbed. his salary was probably the biggest part of the budget. It's filmed like a spaghetti western. Horrible porn music, and no time for multiple camera setups so there is lots of zooming in and out.

It's actually a very slow movie that spawned a number of sequels, so it had to make money. Still I come back to the 1987 copyright. It looks sooo dated.

Okay, this is a VERY low budget thriller. It makes Williamson's 1970s B-films look like "Ben Hur," but if you're a fan of the Hammer, you might find some enjoyment in this Italian import. I picked up the entire Black Cobra series at Big Lots for three bucks, and this first installment is bad, but tolerable. Williamson is a tough cop who rubs nearly everyone the wrong way...except for his cat, Pervis. A gang of not-so-tough looking bikers terrorize the city, and a key witness to one of their murders has the good luck of being in Williamson's custody. Of course, anyone can figure out the rest. The movie looks like it was filmed on the cheapest film stock that was ever produced, and the synth soundtrack is right out of the John Carpenter book of film scores. Still, Hammer is the Hammer. Williamson is not the best actor but he manages to breathe life into this pile of cheese.

Fred Williamson rocks! I will admit that the cinematography is horrible, the acting is way below sub-par, the direction is beyond weak but this movie just rocks! Some movies can be "so bad that they're good" and this film is honestly a fine description of that phrase. Yeah the villains are awful dorky in their little bike-suits and dirt-bikes they haul around in. Williamson is solid gold as Detective Robert Malone in this flick, he's bad, he's mean, he's had a rough past that he'd love to forget and he gets to protect a photographer that took some incriminating photos of a biker gang (The Black Cobras) committing a crime that unfortunately for her and Malone didn't develop properly, soo (you guessed it!) that leaves the face of the culprit(s) as unknown. So Malone's gotta get out on the streets and do it his own way , this film should've been called "Dirty Robert", Williamson's character is practically a mirror image to Clint Eastwood's famous "Dirty" Harry Callahan character. I suggest this movie to everybody that breathes on the face of this earth. If you are having an evening alone (or with friends) and you wanna watch a movie that doesn't ask much of the viewer and you wanna see some butts get kicked....Then my friends, The Black Cobra is for You! 10 out of 10 stars because I'm sure nobody else likes this movie as much as I do!

The ever watchable Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson headlines in this action outing that owes more than just a little to the Sylvester Stallone hit Cobra.

The plot for instance is directly stolen - erm, I mean borrowed from the aforementioned Hollywood flick and involves a group of disillusioned social misfits led by Karl Landgren (Apocalypse Mercenaries/Demons 2) who are terrorising the city with their decidedly antisocial behaviour. During one attack however, a sexy female photographer (the lovely Eva Grimaldi) manages to snap a few shots of our naughty boy in the act as it were. She manages to escape with her life but subsequently finds herself on the receiving end of the gangs unwanted attention as they desperately hunt her down in order to reclaim the evidence she has of them (oh and to kill her of course!)

Where is our main man the Hammer during all this? Well, as it turns out he is given the assignment to protect our damsel in distress. Needless to say - any film with Fred Williamson in it always features a fair quota of ass kicking and this is no exception, although it has to be said that the action isn't handled with nearly as much enthusiasm by the director as it could and indeed should have which is a real shame.

Nonetheless, the film remains at least enjoyable throughout and doesn't outstay it's welcome with it's relatively short running time.

Followed by three sequels (although the final one barely features Williamson in it!)

Black Cobra (1987) is a Fred Williamson classic that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a detective who is more vigilante than police officer. When a photographer witnesses a murder she becomes the target of a biker gang looking to kill her. The detective springs into action to save the photographer from the biker gang.

This movie is directed by Stelvio Massi (Magnum Cop) and stars Fred Williamson (From Dusk till Dawn), Eva Grimaldi (Intimacy), Bruno Bilotta (The Tourist), Maurice Poli (Sandokan the Great) and Sabrina Siani (The Throne of Fire).

This is a very average put together movie with mediocre to bad writing across the board. The dialogue and background music is purposely cheesy. The action scenes are bad; although, I will give the movie +1 points for the use of a car trunk in the ending. Overall this is a movie you hope that "it's so bad it's good..." It's not. I would score this a 3.5/10 and recommend skipping it.

Cobra Nero(aka Black Cobra)has average music more suited to Italian zombie flicks than an action film and more than it's share of bad acting,dumb bad guys and sweaty close ups yet it has some well shot action sequences while Mr Williamson is on screen and some well done gore effects.The climax is a bit longwinded but it still left me wanting to watch more.Luckily there have been a couple of sequels since so we can all look forward to seeing Fred Williamson playing Malone again.

12-01-2005 I just finished watching "Black Cobra" for the second time. The first time I watched it was four years ago when a friend had taped it off the air on a blank video cassette. I only saw the last half of the movie then...but I really liked it.

While it is clearly not in the genre of Eastwood's "Magnum Force" or "Dirty Harry" and probably is not as good as either Willis' "Die Hard" or Gibson's "Lethal Weapon", the film is still pretty good. The writing is not great but the "street action" carries the film well. Marian Cobretti and Martin Riggs could have learned some useful things. Mr. Williamson is good. Like Cobretti and Riggs, our Fred has "style".

I happen to like Fred Williamson, the actor. I liked him in "Joshua" and paid fulI price for the video cassette. In my mind, you don't get a lot better than " The Snake scene" in "Joshua" or the final "You're yella" scene with Karl Malden, in "Nevada Smith". Both are great movies. Williamson is good. I'd like to see more of his work...in conjunction with good screen play writing.

This is one of the films on the super-cheapo Brentwood 4 movie DVD set called Dealin Dirty.

Fred Williamson vs. a poofy bunch of 5'3" twerps on dirtbikes. I can't think of one good thing to say about this movie. An incoherent steaming pile. Fred is obviously bored by the film, to his credit he doesn't even try to act (...I dont show up 'till the check clears...got it??). Some of the nameless Italian actors do try to act a bit. Not really much point though, because it seems like someone lost the only copy of the script about half way through shooting.

The highlight of the film is the chief bad-guy. He looks like Pete Sampras' little brother after illegal estrogen therapy. He tries to menace, but no one can convincingly menace in bluejeans that are so well ironed.

There are a few unintentionally hilarious lines, like the almost-verbatim rip-off of the "do you feel lucky punk" dialog from one of my favorite Clint Eastwood flicks. It would have been genius if the lines were exactly the

same, but one of the sub-genius writers must have thought that no one would notice that he ripped the lines off if he changed a few words. Good thinking - that was close.

Overall Black Cobra is, poorly filmed, terribly scripted, terribly acted, and generally idiotic. Worst of all it is boaring.

I just thought of something good to say...Black Cobra is a lot better than the film Dealin Dirty (shot on video) that the DVD set is named for. Just the title sequence was enough to make me flip to the Anna Nicole Smith Show.

AVOID THE WHOLE SET!

Ever wanted to see an Italian blaxploitation rip-off of the Sylvester Stallone film Cobra? Ever wanted to see a wind surfer being knocked down by a jeep IN THE SEA? Well, this is definitely the film for you! Fred Williamson takes on the main role, in which he is up against an evil biker gang and its really somewhat good fun.

Recently the uncut version (Australian VHS, the British is cut by 1 min 20 odd) of this very odd Italian Fred "The Hammer" Williamson film

Fred stars as the repellent Malone, a tough talking cop.

He say's to a girl he is protecting when she begins to speak "shut up, if you need to move your mouth put some food in it" (I would have thought of a coarser line)

He is on the hunt for some camp looking "bad guys" who replete with Bouffant hair and studded jackets look like prime "batchelor's for life" but seem to like killing, shooting and de-fouling who ever they can find.

Quite a good laugh with some grim scenes but at the end of the day in this one Fred has a butt bigger than a bus, his gut is held in by his belt, and when he runs he wobbles. He still kicks them all into the next century though

I have watched black cobra for the first time in 1987 on TV, and I re watched it not so long ago on DVD. Yes it contains a lot of grim scenes with free violence and blood. But the main thing here is the story of one cop, Malone who decides to make justice himself by killing the whole mob of bikers who kills people randomly.The acting from the bandit leader is very good as the bad guy and the dialog even not at its highest peak is funny. The scene where Malone frees the hostages in the pool by killing the suspects and the scene where he shoots a scum group member in the hospital were awesome. A good flick to watch the week end.I give it 6 out of 10.

Makers of black cobra -you are obviously talented just please don't make a rip off of mad max...

Okay i admit i did not see the whole film, and from what i did see the film looked quite good, but come on, police vs murderous bikers thats a complete plot rip off of mad max one of my favourite films. Mad Max (1979) is great for its original story line this is a complete rip off , do the film makers realise this ? Its just another renegade cop vs biker film that has tried to copy mad max but not realised its impossible.Please if you want to mAke a cop vs enemy film make it about something that hasn't been done already..... don't make it about any of the following....

COPS VS-Bikers

Gangsters

Aliens

Dinosaurs

Thanks for your time i trust another Mad max or Robocop sequel is already being made.

Cobra Nero or The Black Cobra is more less like Stallone's Cobra although this film is trying to be like it.

It's a B-movie story as Fred Williamson goes after a group of bikers who threatens a community.

This film not only lacks characteristic wise, but it has its few dull moments. Fred Williamson's character Malone doesn't look too happy. The viewer knows he's tough but there's not enough life in this character.

The music score is well.. not good. The acting's not really up to scratch, but scriptwise? (I'm shaking my head) Not my cup of tea.

If anyone remembers seeing this movie, you could see it on a rainy day. I did. ..And I was slightly happy!