FILM: Sweet Sweetback's Badassasss Song

[whiskeytown]

so - what is this film?

This is a 1971 film - an independant feature that was the first film to fall under the banner of "blaxplotation" films - but at that time it didn't fall under the banner - because there wasn't another film like this ever made -

this was the first Black directed/written/financed picture that didn't have to go thru Studio heads and play up stereotypes - as he wrote in the intro "This Movie is dedicated to all the brothers and sisters who have had enough of the Man"

The vision was big - a black film for black audiences - one with characters they could relate to, not the Uncle Tom appearances or the "black guy in white clothes" performances given by so many actors of that day like Sydney Poitier - this was their film and Melvin was solid on that from the get-go

Melvin Van Peebles hired a 50% interracial crew - skirted a union that was 100% white by calling it a black porno, and made a movie the way he wanted - the story is of a gigilo who is implicated in two Cop beating and is on the run from the White authorities -

From the get-go - it's all a setup - he's grabbed from the bordello he's lived in since 13 to make an alibi for the cops who arrest a Black Panther, but he comes to the Panther's defense and beats the cops unconsicious - along they way to the Mexico border he encounters a fascinating mix of characters, including parodies of black performances in White films -

at one point, he runs to someone's house to hide, and the character is a spot-on imitation of the "yessir boss" negro character that dominated White Cinema -

Melvin wanted a BLACK film for BLACK audiences, and right after the title, it states -

"Staring the Black Community"

my favorite story - near the end, sweetback has been wounded and is lying in the desert - during the initial screening, a woman was overheard to say "Oh Lord, please let him die" - this is because Black audiences were conditioned to expect that Their heroes were the ones that died - and she wanted him to die alone in the desert rather then at the hands of the man or police brutality - white audiences couldn't believe that their cops could be corrupt but as history has shown, there ARE a few criminals who work in law enforcement as well.

but in the end, Sweetback escapes with a quote of vengence on the screen - WATCH OUT - - A BAD ASS N***** IS COMING BACK TO COLLECT SOME DUES -

rated X by an all white jury and opening to only two screens, this film became the highest grossing film of 1971, and Badasassss - Mario's tribute to his father making this film gives you some of the backstory and grief that went into it and adds to the enjoyment either before or after this film, which is a first for Black filmmakers

It had interracial sex scenes, corrupt white authorities, and a hustler just trying to stay ahead of the man - the only downside is that I never got to enjoy this movie with a black audience, which I have been told is even more interactive then the Rocky Horror Picture show - or at least as loud - LOL -

Oh yes - let me write this review for OOT - lots of [censored] and ass - ok? - there you go.

an almost surreal work of cinema that was a landmark for black filmmakers - worthy of any real film collection.

RB

[John Feeney]

Good review of a film I've known of for years, but have never seen. Thanks Russ, I'll make a point of seeing it now.

[whiskeytown]

this is the kind of Movie OOT needs to spend a week on watching - cause you know they all wanna be sweetback -

wannabes - [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

RB

[captZEEbo]

you should check out Baadasssss! (2003). It's directed by his son and starring his son and like a documentaryish movie about the original. It's really sweet.

[Sooga]

[ QUOTE ]
you should check out Baadasssss! (2003). It's directed by his son and starring his son and like a documentaryish movie about the original. It's really sweet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, seconded. I diddn't see the 'original', but i saw this 2003 documentary. It was excellent.

[whiskeytown]

got them both thru netflix - actually watched that first so I could get a better grasp on what the original was trying to do - helped immensely -

RB