Hammer is the film that gave cigar chomping blaxploitation favorite Fred Williamson his nickname. It's a decent film with a good performance from Williamson, but it's not his best work. Regardless, it does have historical significance and a great strip tease sequence from Black Samurai starlet, Marilyn Joi (credited here as Tracy Ann King),so you could certainly do a lot worse for an hour and half's worth of entertainment.

Bruce D. Clark (who helmed Galaxy Of Terror) directs Williamson in the title role of B. J. Hammer. B. J. was once a contender in the boxing world but now works at a warehouse. He gets fired one day when an ignorant co-worker calls him a 'nigger' and picks a fight with him. Of course, B. J. mops the floor with him and by doing so comes to the attention of Big Sid (Charles Lampkin who had a bit part in Melvin Van Peeble's The Watermelon Man). Sid is fight promoter with some shady skeletons in his closet, and it seems he's got some pretty strong ties to organized crime.

Hammer figures things are going to go well for him though. Sid seems to have an affinity for him and figures he can get him some bouts, and Lois (Vonetta McGee of Blacula and Shaft In Africa), Sid's assistant, seems to dig him in all the right ways. Yep, things sure are looking up. That is, until Big Sid tells Hammer he's got to take a dive in the ring or Lois is gonna bite it!

Well, everyone knows that Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson don't take no crap, so it'll surprise nobody that Hammer says 'no way, man' and has to fight his way out. And fight he does, with the help of a local cop named Davis (Bernie Hamilton of Scream, Blacula, Scream! who wants to see Big Sid go down. It'll also surprise no one that he does it in style, all decked out with some seriously manly sideburns and a sweet tight fitting red jumpsuit that would make Jim Kelly weep tears of joy.

Scripted by Charles Johnson (Slaughter's Big Rip Off) and produced by the late, great Al Adamson, Hammer is a fast paced movie with a great lead character and a wonderfully seventies sounding score provided by Solomon Burke. A nice little cameo from blaxploitation favorite D'Urville Martin was pleasant to see, and yeah, I know I already mentioned pin up poster girl Marilyn Joi's nightclub strip tease, but it warrants a second notation – it's just that good.

This fullframe presentation looks to be open matte, though to be quite honest, while I have no idea what the original aspect ratio for Hammer is, I'm fairly certain it wasn't composed for a fullframe presentation. Regardless, the actual quality of the transfer is nice. Colors are good, blacks are deep. A few of the nighttime scenes are slightly hazy looking but overall this movie doesn't look bad. The print used appears to have been in pretty good shape as print damage is minimal save for a few minor spots here and there.

The English Dolby Digital Mono audio track is sufficient. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French and are removable. Dialogue is clean and clear and though there is some audible background hiss in quite a few scenes, it's never abrasive enough to distract from the feature film.

Sadly, all we have here is a trailer. It's a good trailer, but it's still just a trailer. A commentary from Williamson would have been really welcome on this, even a stills gallery would have helped, but sadly none of that was to be found.

Certainly not Williamson's best film, Hammer still has some great moments and is a fast paced low budget action movie with some great jive talkin' dialogue and a solid performance from Williamson that would serve as foreshadowing for what was to come from him a few years later when he really hit his stride. Great supporting cast. Great sound track. Recommended!

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.