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Small fry drug pusher Ace Jackson (Sean Weathers) pretty much is a dead
man from square one, when he gets his hands on a fortune in cocaine
only thanks to a recommendation from his cousin (Waliek Crandall), but
risks everything by shooting his mouth of in front of crime kingpin
Bigelow (Adonis Williams), the very man who provides him with the drugs.
Bigelow gets worried right away, and rightly so, as Ace does enjoy the
drugs entrusted to him himself a bit too much from day one, then he hides
them in his girlfriend's place, totally neglecting the fact that she's a
crackhead whore, and of course she tries to take off with the drugs to get
rich on her own, only to be bumped off by the man she tries to sell the
stuff to ... which makes it impossible for Ace to retrieve the cocaine.
Bigelow wants the money for the stuff soon though, or his drugs back of
course ... and Ace is not able to deliver either, and he knows if he wants
to skip town, Bigelow's muscle might rough him up but good, so he tries to
talk young girls into prostitution (with only limited success), does a
couple of break-ins - but whatever he tries, it becomes clearer and
clearer that Ace Jackson is indeed a dead man ... Ace
Jackson is a Dead Man was very obviously made on a very low budget,
but it's one of the little films that can, as besides of plenty of sex,
violence, and rather disturbing photographies of real corpses, it also
features a rather sympathetic portrayal of its lead character, who might
be the greatest asshole around in some respects, but he also deserves pity
for his short-sightedness and naivity, and at his core he just wants a
better life for himself like all of us - he's only better than most in
choosing the wrong path ... Add to this a musical soundtrack consisting
of vintage blues contrasting the very contemporary urban settings quite
beautifully and fittingly, and very atmospheric stark black and white
cinematography, and you've got yourself a pretty good film, actually.
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