Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I just watched a 50-minute version of this low-budget "race" movie. It stars Ralph Cooper as a gangster having a couple of rivals killed so he takes over the town. Gladys Snyder is the singer Cooper's in love with but she's more of the kind willing to call the police if she knows how much in trouble he's in especially if one of them is an old buddy of Cooper's. I'll just now say that while there are some exciting fights and chase scenes, this seemed like a by-the-numbers take on the gangster genre. Still, Gang War is worth a look if you're curious about these kind of movies made when much of the country was segregated meaning movies like this would only be shown in those theatres meant for the black audience. P.S. IMDb lists Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison as playing a gang member in this one but I haven't seen anyone who resembles the former Our Gang member as an adult. Maybe when I watch some of his East Side Kids movies, I'll be able to identify him in this movie later on.

Gang War (1940) ** (out of 4) Another early film from the black cinema, this one directed by Leo C. Popkin. This is a gangster picture about two rival gangs fighting over a profitable juke joint. Once again this film features a very small budget since it would only be shown in black cinemas but the director and screenwriter hold back no punches and make a pretty good movie. The opening bar fight is terrific and there's some nice police chases and shootouts as well. The acting is quite poor and brings the film down a few notches but this one here is certainly worth checking out. The director went on to produce D.O.A. and star Ralph Cooper was billed as "The Dark Gable" or "Bronze Bogart".

Because the "all colored cast" or "race movies" of the first half of the 20th century were made on such low budgets, due to systematized racial discrimination in the United States of America at that time, it is not really right to compare their production values with comparable mainstream "poverty row" B-movie crime dramas of the same era. Also, there has been, until lately, little or no attempt to preserve or restore race films, and thus many of the copies circulating as of the early 21st century are taken from scratched 16 mm prints, have garbled sound tracks, or derive from "dupey" videotapes in worse condition than comparable poverty row films of the same era. Also, culturally speaking, there are, in sheer terms of run-time, more musical and dancing interludes in race film crime dramas than in mainstream poverty row crime dramas of the same era, a fact that is jarring to some modern Caucasian reviewers, but that truthfully reflects the interests of the intended African American audiences of the era in which these films were made. Therefore, in terms of "ranking," "rating" or "voting" for race film crime dramas at IMDb, it is imperative to discard these factors and judge the movies on their own unique merits. When viewed in this way, "Gang War," starring Ralph Cooper is a solid entry in the genre. The typical conflict of interest between devoting screen time to the gangster plot and devoting screen time to the singers, dancers, and specialty acts applies, but if one of the reasons you seek out and watch these movies *is* to see the variety acts, then "Gang War" will leave you quite satisfied. A restoration print is probably too much to hope for, but i still hold out hope that some day a true benefactor of film history will be led to give these films the same sort of restoration that has been accorded other early movies.

Ralph Cooper, Lawrence Criner and Maceo Sheffield are three gang leaders in Harlem vying for control of the jukebox business, but none of them had a flair for acting like a tough gang boss. As a result, I never did get involved with the goings on. I guess I am spoiled by portrayals by James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni and Humphrey Bogart in some of the mainstream crime movies of the 30's. This film has its fistfights, car chases and shootouts, and a love interest in Gladys Snyder, but it somehow left me cold.This was a "race" film with an all black cast, intended for black audiences, and it's interesting to note that Ralph Cooper was often called "The Bronze Bogart" in ads. As tough guys, there's no comparison.