Upon its release in 1975, critical response was mixed although box office was strong. Roger Ebert despised the film and gave it a "zero star" rating. Richard Schickel of "TIME" found the film boring and cliché-ridden. Movie critic Robin Wood was enthusiastic about the movie, calling it “the greatest film about race ever made in Hollywood”. In Leonard Maltin's annual publication "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide" the movie is ranked as a "BOMB" and dismissed with the word "Stinko!"