Though marketed as your typical 1970s blaxploitation vehicle, this film is essentially a character study about Johnny Barrows (Fred Williamson), a dishonorably discharged ex-GI who returns home to Los Angeles and finds it very hard to adjust back to civilian life. With no money or job, Johnny wanders in and out of soup kitchens and strikes a brief friendship with a rather dapper tramp (special appearance by Williamson's MASH co-star Elliott Gould) who teaches Johnny how to survive on the streets.
The second half of the movie has more of an action plot where Mafia boss Tony (Stuart Whitman) hires Johnny to be a hit man to wipe out a rival crime family in the city, but things spiral out of control in the process, when an old enemy, looking for revenge, resurfaces to rub Johnny out. Despite the unlikely cast and routine script, Williamson handles the material decently.
The second half of the movie has more of an action plot where Mafia boss Tony (Stuart Whitman) hires Johnny to be a hit man to wipe out a rival crime family in the city, but things spiral out of control in the process, when an old enemy, looking for revenge, resurfaces to rub Johnny out. Despite the unlikely cast and routine script, Williamson handles the material decently.