The Zebra Force (1976)

So, is The Zebra Force (1976) a blaxploitation movie?  While it certainly boasts of a strong black character in a key role and addresses issues of racism within organised crime, (the Italian mob tolerate, but still look down on, their black equivalents).  But in a mildly bizarre twist,, the 'black' criminals we see ripping off a mob operation at the film's outset turn out to really be white guys in black face.  They are the 'Zebra Force' a group of Vietnam vets, led by their crippled and disfigured former officer, who have decided to hit back at the mob, whose activities blight the local community, by disrupting and robbing various of their rackets.  The black face disguises ensure that tension is generated between the mob and local black organised crime, diverting attention from their activities as the two factions descend into a racially aggravated gang war.  Arguably, it is more of a vigilante movie than anything else, except that the 'vigilantes' here are intent upon enriching themselves - they have no intention of redistributing their ill-gotten gains to the local community that the mob ripped off in the first place.  Their self-interest is central to the film's problems: it makes it extremely difficult to sympathise with the 'Zebra Force' - ultimately they are just another gang of criminals.  Compounding this issue is the fact that the members of 'Zebra Force' remain pretty much anonymous throughout the movie- there is little attempt to develop any of them, other than their leader, as individual characters.  Consequently, it is difficult to really care about what happens to any of them.

So anonymous are the title group that much of the film's focus falls upon the enforcer brought in by the local mob to try and get to the bottom of who is ripping them off.  As played by Mike Lane, (a veteran heavy who had portrayed the monster in the obscure 1958 Boris Karloff horror film Frankenstein 70), he's hardly likeable or charismatic, but he at least has a character and plenty of screen presence.  Likewise Rockne Tarkington, who plays the black gang leader and who also gets a fair amount of screen time - he makes the most of the dialogue he has and you remember his character long after the film is over.  In fact, the supporting cast is packed out with character actors you'll doubtless recognise from other exploitation films, without necessarily knowing their names, all of whom make the most of the material they are given to create actual characters.  Consequently, the scenes with the villains and the cops are far more enjoyable than those with our nominal heroes.  All of which makes the sense that there is a vacuum at the centre of the film, where a strong, sympathetic, presence should be, even keener.  One of the problems faced by the 'Zebra Force' themselves is that what dialogue they are given is bland and clunky, delivered by a bunch of pretty poor actors.  Of course, it doesn't help that for long stretches of the film they are unrecognisable in their black disguises.  Actually, they are unrecognisable because, in these scenes, they actually are played by black actors (something usually unremarked upon by reviewers).  When they return to base, we get a perfunctory scene of them peeling off 'masks', Mission Impossible style, although it is quite obvious that they aren't the same actors. For the film's 'twist' ending, this is reversed as a wiate character peels off his 'mask' to reveal that he is really black.

But is there anything good about The Zebra Force?  Well, for a film so cheaply made, (its lack of budget is evident in the poor production values, choppy direction ,scuzzy photography and sound), it does include a number of surprisingly well realised stunt sequences - mainly guys falling off of things and car chases, but nevertheless well executed.  Its cheapness also gives it a certain urban grittiness, with the action playing out against a backdrop of filthy and run down locations.  Ultimately, none of this lifts it above the level of being a cheap action picture -disappointingly, it never addresses the central issue of white guys having to 'black up' in order to successfully commit crimes - but it at least does the action reasonably well, delivering a satisfying number of heists, gunfights, chases corrupt cops, shootings and fights.  The mix was clearly successful enough that, more than ten years later, the film spawned a direct-to-video sequel, Code Name: Zebra (1987), which saw Timothy Brown and Mike Lane returning from the original cast.  To the ever-lasting confusion of posters on the IMDB, this title had also been used as a variant release title for the original.