MovieChat Forums > Hell Up in Harlem Discussion > One of the WORST ADR Scenes EVER!

One of the WORST ADR Scenes EVER!


Even for a Blaxploitation movie you can't get any worse dubbing and lack of lip synch than the scene in the opening thats rehashed from the scene near the end of "Black Caesar" where Tommy Gibbs has just been shot then limps into the cab and starts barking orders at the cabbie even though his mouth dosent move and Fred Williamson's voice sounds like he's shouting from across an empty room!

"Run dat Red LIGHT!!"
"Heres $500 man, Get on dat sidewalk!"
"JE-SUS Christ MAN, THEY GOT GUNS!!!"

"A commitment to cinema means to lead a technically deviant lifestyle."

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LOL, one of the best moments in the movie. Really hilarious.

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What about the scene where he dumps his girlfriend? He's clearly in a studio in another state.

George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya., March 2008

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Spoilers..............................

How about when he's packing the M-16 all over the place in the final scenes and hardly fires it on auto. Just one shot at a time and not very often. He's handling it like he's playing cowboys & indians.

The scene where he gets into an old 30's car and the film sped up to show that he's really moving.

The chase from NY to LA? Mr. badguy gets on a TWA flight with Fred right behind him. Fred gets delayed and misses the TWA flight. So he runs to another carrier on the other side of the airport, buys a ticket and hops on a 747 to catch the TWA fight in LA. He kills another bad guy in flight in the 747 lounge, which is surprisingly void of people. Even though the TWA flight had quite a head start to LA, Fred manages to catch up and finds the badguy at LAX with no troble whatsoever at the baggage area. A fight starts and Mr. Badguy's dead body flops onto the baggage carousel in front of a bunch of people. Notice if you will, the lack of reaction from the people waiting for the luggage while the body moves along right in front of them. They do scream as the body comes down the ramp, but after that, nothing.

Also, lets not forget the clothes and the two-tone shoes Fred's wearing while kicking a$$. Stylin'!!

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The part where he stabs the man on the confederate flag beach towel and the fake blood spills out.

And the police never catches him??? What tha heck...


Love me for me and only me.



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You could blame Marvin Kerner, the sound editor, for that. He uses the same sound effects for every film he did.

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lol but that's what makes it so awesome

but then again, i'm not so sure, lol - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjvxWU01qSA

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you guys are idiots who cant appreciate a good action film, sure some of the dialog is not going to be spiffy but it wasn't made to be fantastic, it was made to entertain you dumb f---'s

We can DO IT ALLLL DAY LONG, (We'll have to pay more for the light bill if we do it at night!)

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The *beep* we just pointed out is WHY we find this film so entertaining.

"A commitment to cinema means to lead a technically deviant lifestyle."

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I did notice the ADR when I was watching it last night. Poor quality makes these films priceless. Point well made.

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I prefer action movies that also have good sound and don’t distract me with cheaply-done effects.
It’s not that hard: they had the equipment, as you can tell from the more- clear interior scenes.
A sound editor that reuses sounds with every film is a lazy hack not really doing his job and with no respect for the audience.

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Williamson was making another movie at the time. He was only doing this one at Weekends, so a LOT of body double weirdness. But it really adds to the movie's coolness in a way.

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What I really loved was the moment afterwards, when he strangles that henchman to death in broad daylight in the middle of Times Square, and a father and daughter pass by giving them a single glance before walking off.

HILARIOUS!

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"What I really loved was the moment afterwards, when he strangles that henchman to death in broad daylight in the middle of Times Square, and a father and daughter pass by giving them a single glance before walking off.

HILARIOUS! "

That's so New York! Nobody gives a hoot! Everybody minds their own business! Love that scene!

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Ok I hate you now because I'm sitting here thinking about that scene laughing. Yeah it sounds terrible lmao.

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The editing and quality is so much worse than Black Ceaar. It's like they just tossed this movie together though it's still decent!

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The sound of dialogue, particularly on the street, is horrible throughout — some of the worst I’ve heard in a feature film. The foley effects are Sears basement clearance level too (those footsteps …) I didn’t notice any bad ADR and I usually do if it’s present and really bad. There’s a lot of terrible ADR out there, especially in television. My all-time favorite Rockford has some real whoppers. Is it really so hard to at least get the distance to the mic to match? Sheesh.

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I did notice that.
It is weird but I chalked it up to Cohen’s guerilla filmmaking.
Have you seen the documentary on Cohen?
It covers this film extensively and claims most of the NYC street scenes were shot wild with no permit and no releases.

It was the anything-goes 70’s. Before you criticize those cut corners, know that it happened all the time back then, even in major films. William Friedkin, director of The five-Oscar-winning French Connection, has admitted to doing the same with his elevated-train chase — a very dangerous stunt that risked injury or death of civilians (can’t say “innocent” because they were New Yorkers).

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