A favorite of both filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and his frequent cast member Samuel L. Jackson, “The Candy Tangerine Man” is simply primo exploitation. It stars the unfortunately little known John Daniels (“Black Shampoo”) as “The Baron”, a smooth as hell pimp who leads a double life. On weekends he goes home to a wife (Marilyn Joi) and kids in the suburbs! Trouble brews for The Baron when brutal mobsters insist on moving in on his territory. When his hookers take a powder, The Baron comes up with a new way to make money, but the bad guys just won’t leave him alone, and he’s obliged to indulge in a little old fashioned revenge.
Cult director Matt Cimber (“The Witch Who Came from the Sea”) based the main character on a man he knew, who’d left school at a very early age but who was still quite savvy. This was a man who could have gone far in life had he stuck with his education. Cimber enlisted his friend, Mikel Angel (a writer and actor also known for such things as “Psychic Killer” and “Angels Die Hard”) to write the script. Angel also plays the role of ruthless white mobster Vincent Di Nunzio, and served Cimber and the viewers with an amusing and fun scenario that’s just full of all the sex and violence we could want.
And what glorious sex and violence it is. The sadism includes a pair of breasts being cut off (!) and a goon getting his hand mangled in a garburator. There’s a respectable amount of lovely ladies here to show off the goods.
It’s too bad Daniels isn’t more popular. He had enough charisma and presence on screen to have been more of a star. He’s ably supported by a couple of familiar faces for fans of 70s trash cinema: Ms. Joi, Richard Kennedy and George ‘Buck’ Flower as a pair of racist detectives who regularly hound The Baron (Kennedy really goes to town on the scenery), Tallie Cochrane as Midge, and Patrick Wright as volatile thug Big Floyd. John F. Goff appears unbilled.
The fashions and visuals are nice; the title comes from the fact that our hero pimp drives a brightly colored Rolls Royce. And there are hearty helpings of great soul music, composed by “Smoke”.
