Blaxploitation, Part 2

All right, let's just pick right up from last time....


Well, I was gonna save this one for last...but it's too good, I gotta lead with it, damn the consequences...


Three The Hard Way

Now, what's more black pride, than Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and Jim Kelly literally saving the whole negro race from some funky poisoning in the water supply?

Nothin.
Not even spraying the Grand Cyclops of the Klan with a Tech-9 loaded with onyx bullets engraved with Black Power fists, and using gun powder with Malcolm X's ashes in it.
Well....I dunno, that'd be close...but no, not even that.

So...bam, there you go.

Blaxploitation Star Wars, Raiders, and 2001, rolled into one, right there.

We're done.
Royal flush, I walk away with all the chips.

What? I still gotta do the rest?
Oh...okay....


Williamson Westerns

"Take A Hard Ride", is a Spaghetti Western/Blaxploitation hybrid.
Never thought I'd see the like, but there it is, right in front of me.
This review category has been loaded with surprises.

And look, we got Fred, and the two Jims again!

"Adios Amigo", however has Williamson writing, directing, and producing.
And, you've got Richard Pryor.
Should be the ultimate movie...
But...the BEST user reviews I can find give it a "meh".
I'd still love to see it though.

And while we're on westerns...

Thomasine & Bushrod

The black "Bonny & Clyde", pretty much.
No 70's Beatty flick was safe from "colorization".
Hee hee.


Car Wash

Written by Joel Schumacher.
Yeah, THAT one, "Batman & Robin", and "Lost Boys", Schumacher.

Lest you think the weird Twilight Zone-y connections were done with Part 1.
Nuh uh, no way...

So, this one's got Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Garret Morris, Danny Devito, Bill Duke (the other black guy from Predator), and The Pointer Sisters.
Just to name a few.

And, if I recall correctly, it's the source of the song "Car Wash".

If all of this hasn't made you curious to see it,....what are ya, dead?


Monkey Hustle

Featuring Yaphet Kotto (he gets around in these almost as much as Fred Williamson) and Rudy Ray Moore (of Dolemite fame).

Well, I dunno about your tight asses, but that sells it for me right there.

So, this one, not so big on the um...plot thing, I hear, but neither is Car Wash.
But, Car Wash has the better soundtrack, so is more fondly remembered.

Well, there is an over-arching sorta-plot among the interconnected vignettes, that the various crimes and swindles are part of a larger scheme to prevent a bridge being built that'll destroy the neighborhood.

..somehow, this works out, just trust the filmmakers on this....


The Mack

With Richard Pryor, and Max Julien, who wrote, and co-produced the first "Cleopatra Jones".

Lotta triple-threats in Blaxploitation.

Anyway, The Mack is the definitive Pimp Saga.
It's the "Scarface", indeed, "The Godfather", of pimping.

And speaking of pimps...


Willie Dynamite

...came out a year after "The Mack".

And, was the one I mentioned in relation to "Superfly".
This one comes more highly reviewed than "The Mack", however, so, would seem to be The Thinking Man's Pimp Film.

Hmm, "the thinking man's pimp film", has that word combination ever been uttered before?
Doesn't show up on Google, why, I think it's a first!


Detroit 9000

Starring Hari Rhodes (from "Roots") and Alex Rocco (from lots of stuff, including The George Carlin Show).

White cop, black cop, and corruption everywhere.
Eat it, Lethal Weapon, here's a cop flick with some meat to it.

Another thinking man's blaxploitation film.

Quentin Tarantino has championed the DVD release of this, his mug is even on the box.
(Toldja he'd keep popping up)


That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind, and Fire, The Movie.


Bone

Yaphet Kotto again!

Written and directed by Larry Cohen, he of "It's Alive!", "The Stuff", "Maniac Cop", and previous Blaxploitation classics "Black Caesar", and "Hell Up In Harlem".

Another Thinking Man's Film.

Wow, this comes very highly reviewed by IMDB users, "dark satire", "a judgment on America and it's lifestyle", shit, sign me up.
That's totally my bag.
I gotta see it.
I'm sold.


The Black Six

A black biker gang?
Shit, Blaxploitation really did do it all in those 8-9 short years.

*Squints at poster* no fuggin' way! Mean Joe Greene is in this?

I'm tellin' ya, this category has been like Christmas, the surprises just keep a-comin.


Blind Rage

Yeah, we haven't had a Fred Williamson in awhile....

A gang of blind guys, yes, blind guys plan a bank robbery.

Even though the poster shows gun-wielding, they're all also karate masters.

And no, as far as I can tell, it's not a comedy.

Pardon the unintended pun, but, I gotta see that.


The Revolution!

Brotherhood Of Death goes right for it, no pussyfooting, what you always wanted to see, brothers mowing down the Klan.

Savage becomes the leader of a rebel army in...some country somewhere...

In "The Final Comedown", Billie Dee Williams is a black militant who has a shootout with the cops.

And in "The Black Gestapo", a black militant movement takes over a town, and corrupts into a fascist crime organization.
Mack from "Night Court", is the black Fuhrer.
Wow...I dunno what exactly this one is trying to say, and skimming IMDB, I'm not alone...
I get a chuckle that something that fucked up exists though...


Tick...Tick...Tick...

Jim Brown as a sheriff, in what is considered a darker take on the themes in "in the heat of the night".


The Omega Man

Paladin reminds me (thanks Paladin) that this had blaxploitation elements....

See here.


Coonskin

A.K.A "Street Fight".

The old VHS box was right, this film will offend everybody.

The big blaxploitation animated film.
I mean THE, no one else did this.

Barry White, and Scatman Crothers are in it, as is Al (Grandpa) Lewis.

Worth seeing at least once, but it grew on me after the fifth time.
I wish I could step into Toontown, and smack Mickey around with a copy of this.


The Wiz

Oh, fine, let's do this one again...

From here...

Rented this in the 90's as one of my, Hyla, & Spencer's irony fests.
Awful.
Just awful.
You've got the "ease on down the road", number, then the other songs are filler.
And you think Richard Pryor as The Wiz is gonna be awesome, but...nope, weak.
Not his best character.
Hey, remember the whole arc on "the facts of life", when Tootie was trying to become a star by getting in The Wiz, and she didn't get the part, and threw an incredible hissy fit?
Sheesh...
Makes it worse now that I've seen this thing.
I dunno, cast was good, idea was okay...needed better songs...more of 'em.
Wasn't even laughably bad, just...eh.
And that made the evening awful.
You want more bang for your buck at an irony party, dammit.

I've warmed to it on recent repeated viewings on Ovation.
With my memory jogged, there are really about 3-4 memorable songs amongst the filler.
But...still filler.

And Pryor still ain't funny or badass in this.

And, that's it for the blaxploitation decade....

But, now, we jump ahead to....


I'm Gonna Git You Sucka

Keenan Ivory Wayans's 1988 blaxploitation love-letter/parody, and an 80's classic.

This is shortly before "In Loving Color", and long before the Wayanses started making crap like "White Chicks", and "Little Man".

So, this has Jim Brown, Isaac Hayes, Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear), and Bernie Casey (Cleopatra Jones) from the world of blaxploitation, and up-and-comers, Kadeem Hardison (where is he now?), Chris Rock, and Damon Wayans.

It's fuckin' hilarious, and even better if you've seen some blaxploitation.

Jump ahead another 8 years to....


Original Gangstas

Directed by Larry Cohen (see "Bone") and starring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree.

See, this is what I was talking about in my big rant in part 1, blaxploitation heroes versus gangs!

Why, it's "Nigger Charley", of gangsta pictures!

Get 'em!
Get 'em!!


Jackie Brown

Just a year later, came Quentin Tarantino's (him again) love letter to Pam Grier.

Jump ahead another 9 years (dayum!) to....


The Boondocks

Lot of heavy blaxploitation influences, especially the martial arts ones.

A year after that...

Afro Samurai

Clearly, inspired by blaxploitation karate films, but....a "Black Belt Jones", anime would be better in that regard.
It's beautiful for what it is though.

2 years later.....

Black Dynamite

This!





And....not related to any particular film, but just for the hell of it, this!




And...THE END!!!

"Awww HELL no!! I KNOW you didn't just do two whole bigass reviews, and leave out ol' Boxie Brown!".

Well, Boxie...you're just a box....

"I just a WHAT, bitch?".

*Stares silently off into space while being imaginarily cursed out by Boxie Brown*

...up next!
Silico-Sapians!