1971 | The Godson

Introduction: The Curious Case of 1971 The year 1971 was a watershed moment for American cinema. It gave us A Clockwork Orange , Dirty Harry , The French Connection , and the birth of a new genre: Blaxploitation, with Shaft . In the midst of these titans, a smaller, rawer, and far more obscure film slipped into drive-ins and urban grindhouse theaters. That film was The Godson (1971) .

Whether you come for the accidental history or the funky soundtrack, you will leave marveling that this film ever existed at all. the godson 1971, The Godson 1971 film, lost mob movies, Blaxploitation mafia crossover, Vinegar Syndrome release, 1971 grindhouse cinema. the godson 1971

The film opens in a New York that looks gritty, gray, and oppressive. We meet (played by little-known actor Vince Martorano), the illegitimate son of a slain Italian mafia don. Raised in Harlem by a Black foster mother after his father’s assassination, Johnny grows up straddling two worlds. He speaks fluent Italian to his father’s old associates and fluent street slang to his childhood friends. Introduction: The Curious Case of 1971 The year