Cotton Comes to Harlem is a 1970 American neo-noir action comedy thriller film co-written and directed by Ossie Davis and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx

The film, later cited as an early example of the blaxploitation genre, is based on Chester Himes' novel of the same name.

The opening theme, "Ain't Now But It's Gonna Be," was written by Ossie Davis and performed by Melba Moore.

The film was one of the many black films that appeared in the 1970s and became an overnight hit. It was followed two years later by the sequel Come Back, Charleston Blue.

Intro

Deke "Reverend" O'Malley, a con man, is selling shares at a Harlem rally, for the purchase of a Back-to-Africa movement ship to be called The Black Beauty.

During the rally, several masked gunmen jump out of a meat truck and steal $87,000 in donated cash from the back of an armored car.

Two Harlem detectives, "Gravedigger" Jones and "Coffin Ed" Johnson, chase the car, and a bale of cotton falls out of the vehicle, unremarked at the time...

Box Office

Cotton Comes to Harlem was released at the Woods Theatre in Chicago on May 26, 1970. The following week it opened at the Palms Theatre in Detroit before expanding a week later in New York City, Louisville, Milwaukee, Washington D.C., and a further theater in Detroit.

The film grossed $90,000 in its opening week, setting a house record at the Woods Theatre. After its third week it had grossed $506,000 from six cities, setting additional house records in New York and Detroit.

Produced on a budget of $1.2 million, it earned $5.2 million in theatrical rentals during its North American release, making it the 22nd highest-grossing film of 1970 making it one of the most commercially successful film Hollywood produced in the 1970s starring a predominantly black cast.

The film was one of the many black films that appeared in the 1970s eventually becoming a cult classic. Cotton Comes to Harlem inspired more black films during the 1970s, including more action-packed numbers such as Shaft and Super Fly.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Comes_to_Harlem