History Film / TheGuyFromHarlem

* LargeHam: ''Harry'', full stop, to the point where every other actor in the movie appears comatose next to him. It's an ActorAllusion; as Miami comedian Steve Gallon [[note]]aka [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildman_Steve Wildman Steve]] -- a radio DJ, MC, and filthy nightclub comic at the time who was also fresh off of the Creator/RudyRayMoore vehicle ''Film/PeteyWheatstraw''[[/note]] was hired for his very boisterous, lively stage presence. Rene Martinez, Jr. even liked him enough to give Gallon a starring role in his next film.

* ExtremeDoormat: Jo Ann lets herself be kicked out of her own apartment so that Al can use it as a hotel room for a strange woman, and also have sex with that woman on Jo Ann's bed. Then she allows the same thing to happen again.

%%* RhymesOnADime: "Money, honey!"

-->'''Bill''': ''(pretending to be Harry)'' I'm hoping he can HELP me CONTROL the VOLume of my VOICE!
* TapOnTheHead: Al's preferred strategy for putting mooks out of commission. He only shoots them as a last resort.

* SaltAndPepper: CIA agents David [=McLeod=] and Paul Benson

* DoesNotLikeShoes: During her first scene, Al's girlfriend Jo Ann is conspicuously barefoot. She even sits on the bed so that her bare feet are in the center of the frame, in an alluring pose.

* SassyBlackWoman: Wanda doesn't suffer fools, even fools who have her tied to a chair, and ''especially'' fools who have her tied to a chair ''and make sexual come ons''. Unless it's Al. Then she's fine with it. So, apparently, is her OverprotectiveDad.

* InformedAbility: Al Simmons is considered a MemeticBadass because he just happened to have lived in upper Manhattan, but nothing in the film backs up his skills. He fights like a six year old (fortunately, so do his opponents), is constantly horny ([[AllMenArePerverts again, so is every other male in the film]]), and has astoundingly bad detective skills. Really, the only reason he consistently gets the drop on the bad guys is that they're even dumber than he is. [[invoked]]

* AwkwardSilence[=/=]LeaveTheCameraRunning: The film includes many prolonged shots of characters sitting and doing nothing, walking across rooms, etc.
-->'''[[Podcast/RiffTrax Mike Nelson]]:''' There's more action than this in a Vermeer painting!

* [[LikeFatherUnlikeSon Like Father, Unlike Daughter]]: Wanda wants nothing to do with her father due to his illegal activity. Well, some of the illegal activity. She's apparently fine with the stuff that isn't drugs.

--->'''[[Podcast/RiffTrax Mike Nelson]]:''' Are we gonna do the Creator/MarxBrothers mirror scene?!
--->'''[[Podcast/RiffTrax Kevin Murphy]]:''' Or did you think we were in some sort of Creator/PeterSellers sex farce from 1962?

* Al himself is not exactly in peak physical condition. His chest is reminiscent of a recently plucked turkey.

* LovableSexMachine: The film attempts to make Al into one, but he comes across as an awkward horny asshole instead, going as far as cheating on Jo Ann with two different women ''in her apartment.''

%%* {{Blaxploitation}}

* CriticalResearchFailure: The CIA hires him to protect an African VIP from potential assassins. The CIA doesn't have legal operations in the United States: that's the FBI's jurisdiction. Even then, protecting foreign diplomats and their immediate families while on U.S. soil is the job of the State Department.

* LargeHam: ''Harry'', full stop, to the point where every other actor in the movie appears comatose next to him; it's an ActorAllusion, as Miami comedian Steve Gallon, aka [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildman_Steve Wildman Steve]] -- already a famous radio DJ, MC, and filthy nightclub comic at the time who was also fresh off of the Creator/RudyRayMoore vehicle ''Film/PeteyWheatstraw'' -- was hired for his very boisterous, lively stage presence, and Rene Martinez, Jr. even liked him enough to give Gallon a starring role in his next film.

-->'''White mook:''' You know, that broad's not too bad-looking. I haven't had any of that dark meat in a long time."

** Later, Mike repeats the description, wishing they had something to go on, when a character who exactly matches the description (and later turns out to be Big Daddy) is standing in front of the camera.

* SassyBlackWoman: Wanda doesn't suffer fools, even fools who have her tied to a chair, and ''especially'' fools who have her tied to a chair ''and make sexual come ons''.

* LargeHam: ''Harry'', full stop, to the point where every other actor in the movie appears comatose next to him; it's an ActorAllusion, as Miami comedian Steve Gallon, aka [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildman_Steve Wildman Steve]] -- already a famous radio DJ, MC, and filthy nightclub comic at the time -- was hired for his very boisterous, lively stage presence, and Rene Martinez, Jr. even liked him enough to give Gallon a starring role in his next film.

Along the way, he does battle with stilted dialogue, repetitive storytelling, poor production values, choppy editing, goofy fight choreography, incessant flubbed lines, and a pervasive school-play-esque awkwardness that hilariously undermines every attempt at coolness or badassery. But just as Al inevitably triumphs, so the film's many limitations freebase into a glittering crystal of SoBadItsGood.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Jo Ann's reaction to being kicked out of her own apartment for a second time by Al, implying she's done with him.

* StupidEvil: Most of Big Daddy's schemes. Kidnapping Wanda De Bauld has at least some strategic value, given that Big Daddy is using her to try and force his rival Harry out of business, but then his gang goes and does an agreed-upon coke deal with Harry, allowing Al to shadow them and rescue her; meanwhile, attempting to abduct / kill Mrs. Ashanti seems to have ''no'' goal whatsoever, and would've only got the CIA on the gang's tail if they'd succeeded, and that's not even accounting for what should be a major diplomatic incident with a sovereign nation and the US -- ''and'' having the leader's spouse be a former US citizen. He even challenges Al to a showdown at a predetermined time and place, which leads to Harry's men swarming and overpowering his own. And that's not even getting into [[SurroundedByIdiots the people that make up his organization...]]