Blaxploitation..the real deal mother-fucker

Blaxploitation exorcist (w/ Kentucky Fried Chicken & all) that was unfairly sued by Warner Bros for being a Exorcist rip off & now all we have is a crummy 16mm transfer because there isn't a 35mm print available anymore. Shitty because it's alot of bad fun. This demon spirit is so evil he'll kick you right in the nuts

You know after watching 7 weeks of horror movies it was nice to step outside the genre. I enjoyed the shit out of Across 110th Street. Although this has been grouped into blaxploitation there really is a lot more going on. Although gritty it doesn't feel like exploitation. A great cast that actually gives the African Americans involved some credibility. By far Yaphet Kotto's best role that he is so very strong in this. Glad to have Antonio Fargas involved even though I wish he was in it more. Just an all around great mob entry that if you want to classify as a blaxploitation it's one of the best ones out there. Not funky badass but just fucking great

A nice look @ the more known movies of the genre that got tagged as Blaxploitation & basically killed the industry. It could have expanded its running time by touching on black kung fu more other than Black Belt Jones & included some Rudy Ray Moore. There is a fair amount of Pam Grier which I liked.

Basically the first blaxploitation flix & although not my favorite of the genre it broke down barriers. I suggest if you are going to watch this you watch Mario Van Peebles bio flix Baadassss too (even in the same sitting). It gives this movie a new life for those who weren't around in 71 to witness the racial tension that was still plaguing the country. It also makes you appreciate the labour of love that went into this film. When I had originally seen Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song that was something that was missing for me & I just sorta chalked it up as a fair film that was technically a mess. Now I watch it as gorilla film making @ it's most pure & it includes the best soundtrax of the genre going & that's including Shaft & Trouble Man

I'm a sucker for bio flix based on filmmakers. Although it doesn't quite hit the level of Ed Wood Mario Van Peebles take on his father's voyer into independant film making is fucking excellent & a must for fulm buffs especially the revolutionary ones. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song ws the prelude to the blaxploitation genre & this is a nice slice of racial history at the time when America wan't ready for the black antihero. They'd rather watch comedies from the colored community. Melvin was as serious as cancer ready to change the landscape & he did. The biggest grossing independant movie of the year & it was rated X by an all white jury. Baadasssss for certain

A while ago I had seen the trailer for Bare Knuckles on a Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama compilation & when that theme song kicked in my interest peaked. Nabbed a copy of this off of the late great Drive-in Classics & stashed it away until now. This movie should actually be a little more well know in exploitation circles & maybe even a sequel made. Robert Viharo is pretty badass (whiskey, black coffee & unfiltered cigarettes) in a macho 70s kinda way & kicks some serious ass w/ his bare hands giving this its title that it richly deserves. Pretty cool bounty hunter flix w/ a touch of blaxploitation. Although much of it's enjoyment comes from Viharo it's unjustly over looked

The Bronx have never look so tame when those would rather spray paint subway trains & dance then fight. If you have a love for those breakdancing days you're likely to enjoy more then me (Im a classic rock/metal head/old school punk myself for the most part). I do like the 80s though & remember the breakdancing rage. I even bought a mix tape once because I liked Rockit by Herbie Hancock but I couldn't helicopter to save my life & my WORM looked like a trout on the river bank. Anyways back to Beat Street. This movie is fucking bad. Fresh it ain't & too fucking long. Still doesn't detour me from wanting to see Breakin or Breakin 2 though even though I have no fucking idea what an Electric Boogaloo is

It's amazing how a $1000 can escalate to $250000. Jim Kelly kicks ass as does Gloria Hendry. Funky soundtrax

Blaxploitation classic as Fred The Hammer Williamson (starting as a shine boy to bad-mother) battles for mob territory and against ruthless cracker Art Lund. Followed by Hell up in Harlem but doesn't transpire seamlessly

Black Dynamite is a very funny spoof of blaxploitation flix from the 70s that have past by the wayside (I love them & miss them very dearly). Black Dynamite is sorta a cross of Jim Brown & Jim Kelly w/ its tongue firmly in cheek & even though it's one joke premise does wear a little thin occasionlly if you're a fan of the genre you should be thrilled by this because it is a funky ass kickin good time

Nothing more then a blax Rockford Files that Im sure fans of Fred Williamson are expecting a little more. I know I was but it sorta makes sense because director Jack Arnold's work was mostly in television by this time. For blaxploitation & Williamson fans you might as well skip it. Sure The Hammer makes it watchable but you're not getting anything that made this genre special @ times. Really missed the mark shooting for a soft PG when there could have been a smoking hot sex scene between Williamson & Teresa (Get Christie Love! ) Cynthia. Instead it cuts away to a music montage of them playing football on the beach & riding a bicycle built for two. William's Stone sure as fuck is no Shaft

Black Fist is run of the mill blaxploitation fare which is highlighted by a scuzzy Dabney Coleman (does this guy ever have a role where he's not a son of a bitch).

Mack runs the People's Army that lays it to the brothas and hos worse than the white syndicate did. Black Gestapo (if you couldn't already tell by the name) is an exploitation fare; heavy on the violence (although a little light on the blood..someone gets castrated in a bathtube for christsakes & a little gush would have been nice), a half dozen sugar boobies..it even has stock footage of Hitler for crying out loud

I saw this under the title The Murder Gang. Not a bad blaxploitation film but ex football player Timothy Brown as Kicks doesn't have a lot of jive. He tries but he just can't conjure up the soul so this just ends being a mild exploitation flix. It's actually Russ Tamblyn as Ziggy who adds the sleaze. There's a great scene where he goes to collect a debit smashing a guys car windows & his nuts w/ mallet & then drives over his legs. How the fuck that guy is ever going to pay his money back is beyond me..Can you collect disability if that happens to you?

Black Samson owns a tiitie bar (& we get to see the lovely Connie Stickland's sugar boobis) & is trying to keep his ghetto clean of drugs from the mob. William Smith wants to kill him because he hates nLggas. I should actually rate this one a little higher because it does have Smith in it & Im a fan (anyone who saw him in Any Which Way You Can should have noted this fine actor). It's a fair time waster for blaxploitation fans but doesn't hold a candle to the greats like Coffy & Bucktown or even the likes of TNT Jackson. Seeing Samson smack the shit of people w/ his big staff is an entertaining take but if you want see someone use the staff check out Shaft (in Africa) instead.

The jive talkin' Black Samurai must infiltrate the black magic Warlock and kung fu his occult henchmen which include a fair amount of midgets and a vulture. Kelly's jet pack kicks ass

Oh man it's been a while since Ive seen a movie this trashy. It's been @ least 5 years since I had seen Warren Beatty's completely forgettable Shampoo that this rips off but Black Shampoo is a mother-fucker. To start off w/ John Daniels fucks a lot of white women almost including a couple of chicks who get naked who are the daughters of one of his hair clients. Im not sure how old they were supposed to be but it seemed pretty risky for them to strip down wanting Daniels to be the meat in their sandwich. Gobs of full out nudity & Tanya Boyd has a beautiful coco ass (which in turn gets the shit whacked out of.it w/ a pool cue). Sure to offend many audiences w/ stereo typical flaming homosexuals that one gets a curling iron shoved up his ass because he wouldn't tell the heavies where Daniels was...that would pretty well ruin his sex life & he forever would have to be 'the top'

Russ Meyer has a go @ blaxploitation & there is where the rub lies. As a Russ Meyer movie this is a piece of shit/as a blaxploitation movie it's not bad. Personally I prefer Meyer's bosomania & this I find the least of his films. Even though there's a deplorable salty racist tongue something seems to be missing..besides giant sugar boobies. The camera work that I love in Meyer's other works seems rather lackluster. If you were just starting to watch his films & you started here you would wonder what all the fuss is about. For Meyer's completist but I suggest you watch something great like Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! 2 dozen times over instead

Where as Blacula was cool shit w/ William Marshall bringing some dignity to the blaxploitation fare so is not the case w/ Blackenstein which is just a lumbering mess of a film & has no funkiness that other blaxploitation flix have. A Dr Stein puts replacement limbs on a Vietnam vet & he turns into Frankenstein's monster; going into town grunting & ripping off people's limbs...Pitiful

I don't remember a lot of what I watched as a kid on the Saturday Shocker but I do Blacula. I was fortunate enough as a teenager to snag a poster of this when my favorite video store was having a give away. Probably the best blaxploitation/horror movie out there aside of Zombies of Sugar Hill. William 'The King of Cartoon' Marshall adds a certain regalness to the role that is more then it deserves. Thalmus Rasulala adds to the fun as sorta a African American Van Helsing..maybe Im thinking it's a little smarter then it is. It is funky though; I love the soundtrax. Classic fun blaxploitation. Sure to offend modern audiences especially homosexuals but how can you hate a movie that has flaming Afros?

Not as funky as the first Blacula (I do miss that soundtrax) it's sequel is still a good entry in the vampire genre & is even a little better then the first in some aspects. It's continuity is definitely better. Blacula is back again & employs the help of Pam Grier & her voodoo powers to return him home. It's never really explained if home is back to Africa (if that's the case just fly. you can turn into a bat for fucksakes) or if he means to travel back in time when he was a prince. It doesn't need to make much sense just enjoy the vamp. William Marshall is once again excellent as the Black Prince of Darkness like when some bitch is talking shit to him. Some times to you gotta shut a bitch up.

Fred Williamson is as bad as the theme song ~ Black man in a white man's town. He's got trouble. Get in his way, he's gonna cut you down. Takin' over. He can ride. He can shoot. Don't take nothin' from nobody. Oh, he's black, bad, scared of nothing, yeah! He's so bad. They call him boss; he's the boss; boss nigga.

Fred Williamson is a jive soul bro who's gonna bust some crackers' heads who are on the take. One of my favorite blaxploitation flix due to an incredibly strong cast (unfortunately Grier keeps her cloth on this time out)

The legendary Richard Pryor caught in a mediocre film but quite often that was the case for the comedian. Too often he wasn't given the projects to match his talent. Bustin Loose is one of those film & I think the biggest problem is that it doesn't know it's target audience so the comedy suffers. This movie was a staple when I was a kid but because of the language it really isn't a kid's movie. It's not like you want your ten year old to pick up the word 'mother-fucker' like me but this comes off as a R rated family dramedy. There are some funny bits like w/ the KKK (I still laugh when Pryor kisses that klan member on the lips) but after about an hour it runs out of steam. W/ out Pryor this would be a one star movie.

WHAM BAM.. HERE COMES PAM!
By far both Pam Grier & Jack Hills best movie. Coffy is a blaxploitation classic & my favorite of the genre along w/ Bucktown. Grier is out to kill those dope pushin mother-fuckers & is one hot sexy mama to boot. This movie made me fall in love w/ her & has made her my favorite actress. Plus I love her sugar boobies. Loads of fun especially from the always great Sid Haig that any self respecting old school film buff should watch this any time they have the opportunity to. It's soul cinema defined...plus it includes a great cat scrap where Grier puts razor blades in her afro. Good goddamn that bitch is cold

Ive been a fan of Bakshi's work since I saw Fritz the Cat and here (mixing live action and animation) he creates a very solid blaxploitation flix that stands well w/ others of the genre. Great voice work by Barry White & Scatman Crothers who also sings the theme song

Before Death Drug even starts Philip Michael Thomas (riding high on the success of Miami Vice) does a prelude about the demands of a actor when they take on certain roles & how proud he was for being in this. Nancy Regan must have given him a blow job for promoting this anti-drug film. Personally if I was Thomas I would want to bury this film from my resume but that's not to say that it's not hilariously bad. Im not one for hard drugs but this movie made me want to try angel dust. Aside of some moods swings & eventually getting hit by a truck the WACK looks like a good time. What's the worse that could happen? You sleep w/ a white women? Your hair brush turn into an alligator? I wish I could have those kind of hallucinations. I think the people who made the music video w/ Thomas that is featured in this were on the WACK. MTV would have never played it. I still think that Thomas is on some controlled substance to be involved w/ the Psychic Connection

Blaxploitation w/out all the stereotypes which it could have easily been based in Detroit. This is more Across 110th Street then Shaft especially w/ a racially mix cop combo in Hari Rhodes & Alix Rocco. Rocco has always been an underrated actor in my book & here he has a good role as a cop who has been past over for promotion due to his attitude now investigating a heist @ a political rally. His wife is so ill she's institutionalized & Rocco is torn to becoming a crooked cop to give his wife a better if or even just to get away himself. A great ending where we never really know his final motives; is he crooked or one of the best cops out there?

It's time to shake your booty 'cause the music groovy down @ the Disco 9000. Fass Black own the Disco 9000 & cuts all the club music & sells it @ his record shop. An outside record company puts the squeeze on Fass to play some of their shitty music in the club. That just doesn't jive w/ Fass. If he didn't have enough trouble in his club w/ the cops trying to bust the hookers & the creeps selling scag. Whenever I watch a blaxploitation movie it sorta rate it in scale of how they stack up against each other & while Disco 9000 isn't bad there's nothing to raise it's bar. It's about on a par w/ Black Samson..may be a little less because @ least Black Samson kicked some ass w/ his staff. Black Fass w/ just blackmails you w/ illegal documentation and then maybe pull a gun on you.

Put your weight on it Put your weight on it Put your weight on it..it's time to boogie w/ the Disco Godfather in the house. Independent Blaxploitation @ its funky finest as Rudy Ray Moore lays down some jive & fights against Angel Dust.

The few people who have seen this on Flixster seem a bit disappointed that it's not more camp then it is. Although a little more somber for a blaxploitation/horror of this ink it's still has a funny jive to it & is good enough for me to rank it about 4th in the genre. It has something that Blacula & Sugar Hill don't have & that's a rich R rating. Should actually be called Dr Black & Mr White because when Bernie Casey takes his formula it turns him into an albino fiend. Don't know if that is a comment from the black film makers here but it still is fun even if it isn't funky

AKA Death Force a pretty good blaxploitation/samurai flix that was one of the close to a 100 movies that Quentin Tarantino 'borrowed' from when he made Kill Bill. Sure the influence of Lady Snowblood, Game of Death & Lone Wolf & Cub are easier felt but it's there in a couple of spots. Leon Isaac Kennedy ('Too Sweet' from Penitentiary fame) double crosses James Iglehart on some gold, slits his troat & dumps him overboard leaving him for dead. Iglehart washes up on the shore of a island where he is nursed back to health by a couple of Japanese soldiers who have been there since WWII & is taught some Samurai technique. Once he returns to the mainland he choppy-choppys Kennedy & everyone in his crew. Enough fun for fans of the genre but hardly a classic. Pretty cool ass low demand entertainment though most of the time

Jack Hill once again teams w/ Pam Grier & gives us a very strong (& fun) entry in the blaxploitation genre. Although personally not as enjoyable as Coffy this go around (that was actually originally intended as a sequel to Coffy) does give it a run for it's money only I find it doesn't have as much grit. Pleased as shit to have Antonio 'Huggy Bear' Fargas in the cast & a returning Sid Haig (even if he isn't in it very much). Grier is always smokin hot & it's always a pleasure to watch her in action. Films like this is why I love Grindhouse/Drive In & why Jack Hill is my favorite directors of the this formula. Hardly anybody does it better

A good blaxploitation movie but not necessarily a good boxing movie. What I mean is it has all the things that make a blaxploitation passable including a funky soundtrax & icon Fred Williamson in the cast but the boxing scenes are poorly staged especially in comparison to the likes of Rocky. Dock worker Williamson becomes a boxer & his crooked manager wants him to take a dive but that just doesn't jive w/ The Hammer. He wants to be the #1 contender & those who don't like it can kiss his black ass. Good additions to the cast w/ Starsky & Hutch's Bernie Hamilton & William Smith who's always a favorite of mine. Not a classic of the genre but solid enough & a nice addition to Fred Williamson's catalog (so much that he would always be known as THE HAMMER)

Hell Up In Harlem is actually an unwarranted sequel. I thought that Fred Williamson died @ the end of Black Caesar. He should have to make Tommy Gibbs more of a tragic character but as William said in American Grindhouse as a rule The Hammer never dies. I guess that is one of the reasons why he's such a bad ass mother-fucker. Personally I think that this sequel should have been based around Julius Harris & been call Big Papa. Not quite the star power but what the fuck. A much different animal then Black Caesar it's missing the grit & isn't as racially charged. Although Im always a fan of Williamson Im really starting to appreciate Tony King. He almost always takes a back seat in many films that he's in but he's always a stand out. Somewhere along the genres lines they should have given him a leading role or really made him the heavy

Have you ever been to a bar & they hypnotize some poor bastard making a fool out of them? Well you have to be careful because when you try to convince them it's really fucking cold they might become possessed by a 40s gangster who was killed in a meat locker that wants to extract revenge on those who had done him wrong some 30 years earlier. Believe it or not that's the plot of this mishmash of blaxploitation/horror JD's Revenge. Not only does JD want revenge against those who killed him though; he's gotta smack his old lady around & rape her too. Plus there's flash backs (@ least a half a dozen of them) that include a cow getting its throat slit that doesn't help the bad taste that this flix develops. Even as a fan of blaxploitation this is pretty low grade but if taken as tasteless camp (especially when JD takes full possession) it may be enjoyed more..Louis Gossett Jr is good though & is over the top as a preacherman

I enjoyed this more on a 2nd viewing. Jim Brown must deliver a payroll he kept his promise about while trying to avoid the vultures. A cool combination on western and blaxploiation

Ive had Lady Sings the Blues sitting on my PVR for quite some time but have put off watching it. For one Im not what you would call a Diana Ross fan. That's like being called a Cher fan & Im just not gay enough. Although Im not familar w/ Billie Holiday's career she does go a good job of it even though I don't know how much truth there is to it. I really tuned in to see Billy Dee William who is dapper as hell. I didn't even know that Richard Pryor was in this until the opening credits rolled & as always he's great. The best damn part in fact. The other thing that detoured me is this is almost 2 & a half hours long. Just too fucking long. I was ready to pack it in when there was still 40 minutes left but you have to go through Billie's humble beginnings to her rise to her fall to her rise again. It takes a long time to get to Carnegie Hall

Leprechaun goes OG. An milding amusing change of pace for this crappy series but it wears thin after awhile that I almost miss Warwick Davis's lunatic performance from previous entries. The way this started out I thought it was going to be a homage to old blaxploitation movies & if it had I probably would have liked it better (maybe even been my favorite of the 5 Ive watched so far). Unfortunately it's still a lot of shit that completely baffles me that they made so many of these. Now being geared to an African American audience it baffles me even more. Even Ice T deserves better then this

Well it took 6 of these fucking Leprechaun movies to come up w/ the best of the lot. Well maybe on a par w/ part 2 but it's a vast improvement over the shit that I had been subjecting myself to for the last week. I did enjoy all the drinking that I did while watching these but this one I probably needed a little bit of the kronic. Actually they all probably would have been better w/ some weed. No real reason to go back to the hood but if this series is now intended for a Ninja (that what they call nLggas in this) audience then why not cash in. Here's hoping it's the last of them

Roger Moore's first venture as James Bond proves he can't hold a candle to Sean Connery. This is basically a blaxploitation Bond movie that I just wish had enbraced the genre a little more. As a fan of the blaxploitation I enjoyed & found it to be a pretty good time waster but as a 007 flix the formula is pretty thin. The theme song by Paul McCartney & Wings is classic & Live & Let Die tries to get as much milage out of it as they can. There was probably three times as many renditions of The Wings song as the James Bond theme music. They should have had a funkadelic version. Recommended for people who want a Cajun Fried Chicken flavored Bond

You really need to be a fan of Fred Williamson to enjoy the films he directs. They're super low budget, padded, a bit sloppy & they use the same theme song relentlessly. Personally I like The Hammer so Im pretty forgiving. This time out he punches out a commanding officer, gets a dishonourable discharge & basically goes from the front line to the unemployment line. Things turn around for him in a round about way as he is offer to do a hit for the mob. Here is where you get what you came from out of Williamson. Looking fly in a white suite touting double barrel shotguns blowing away mother-fuckers w/out getting a drop of blood on himself. Kicking ass w/ his bad kung fu..GODDAMN PEACE IS HELL

The badassness of the blaxploitation cast in One Down, Two to Go in Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Jim Kelly & Richard Roundtree is enough to thrill me. It's a little to bad that this didn't come out in the 70s & embraced the genre. Almost lost because the genre had played itself out my 82. That's probably why these stars got together to restart their careers. The thing of it all is that movies that are actually directed by Fred Williamson are watchable but they are never exceptional. All 4 are cooler then the project itself but there are plenty of opportunities for them to let you know why you love then so much if your a fan & by having them all you're never bored.. plus it has the added bonus of having Joe Spinell in it even though I wish it was more

Man is this film homoerotic (@ least the first 3rd anyways). It kinda subsides once the boxing starts (you get a couple of scenes of hetrosexual action in the bathrooms). I liked the sequel more; it had Mr T w/ a genie lamp in it for crying out loud

I personally find Rudy Ray Moore's low budget blaxploitation to be hilarious & although Petey Wheatstraw isn't as good as Dolemite or The Human Tornado it's still a funky jive good time. Petey is gunned down during a funeral by a rival club & goes to hell where he makes a deal w/ the devil to marry his ugly ass daughter. Given a magic scepter Petey is able to take on his nemesis but the devil is coming to collect his dues. Petey tries to double cross him by dressing up a drunk as him (even if he's a little fat in the gut & ass) but you just can't fool the devil. The Prince of Darkness will have you're funky ole ass even if your able to kung fu his minions.

One of the better blaxploitation flix out there. Landmark in fact. Often imitated never duplicated. As bad ass as this movie is w/ an outstanding soundtrax by Isaac Hayes it's not my favorite in the series. That actually goes to Shaft in Africa. All three Shaft movies after good and Im sure that most people like this one the best. It's all a matter of taste. If you check out this one be sure to check out the others. You can skip the remake though. I found it terrible. Soul cinema trived in the 70s and should stay there. A must for any self respecting 70s film buff

Since it was Richard Roundtree's birthday I decided to watch one of his movies & really a flix I hadn't given much of a chance w/ the first couple of times I saw it. Yes Shaft's Big Score is the least of the Shaft trilogy it's still a good movie. It just isn't badass like the other two. I think that's mainly because of the casting of Joseph Mascolo as the villain of this. Many of you may know Mascolo as Stefano DiMera on Days of Our Lives. Mascolo can't match Shaft in terms of blaxploiation vibrance. He's more suited as an evil mastermind/son of a bitch. I think that's basically the rhythm he sets & it's not bad it just isn't what hardcore Shaft fans want. @ least Roundtree's able to keep his cool & bring out the artillery when need be..& get busy w/ the ladies

Shaft travels to Africa to take down a ring of slave traders. He's still one bad mofo especially when you mess w/ his dog

Sheba Baby was a movie that I needed to have another viewing. When I watched it about 5 years ago I wasn't really sold on it & found it to be one of the lesser Pam Grier blaxpoitation flix. Although I prefer her calling people mother-fucker & blowing them away I enjoyed this one a lot more this time out..and she does blow some mother-fuckers away; she just doesn't call them mother-fuckers. Pam Grier is one sexy mama w/ soul style to spare as she takes one some loan sharks that are messing w/ her pop. It's badass lite but the soundtrax is right on. Love that theme song that says she's kickin ass & takin names...I just wish we got to see her sugar boobies especially in that cat scrap

Zombies of Sugar Hill is one of my favorite blaxploitation/horror flix (right up there w/ Blacula). Sugar's old man is killed for his club & she employs the help of a voodoo priestess to extract revenge. There's a lot about this I like. Marki Bey is so foxy she melts the butter in my pants. Baron Zombie has cult icon all over him that I almost changed my user name to his. The cobwebbed silver eyed zombies in this are just fantastic & really add some funky malice. The theme song Supernatural Voodoo Woman is even great & would add to any Halloween themed soundtrax for your holiday parties. Available on Motown Records Im not sure how readily available it is now..I would love to have it on vinyl I'd put it right next to my Shaft soundtrax

..review to come

There's a new sheriff in town & he's black. No this isn't Blazing Saddles. In fact this came out 4 years before so maybe the Mel Brooks comedy was influenced by this. I had originally seen the trailer for Tick Tick Tick on a Trash-O-Rama compilation & I though Jim Brown & George Kennedy count me in. Only problem is this one is a little hard to find. Strangely enough they played it on TMC. Not really a blaxploitation film but a good story of racial prejudice down past the Mason Dixon Line. Sure there is a fair amount of racial slurs but it is a true reflection of the time & the area. The deep south is a ticking time bomb ready to explode

Mr T is a fly lookin cool private dick who doesn't take the lip & will tell ya to got fuck yo mama. Although not up to the standards of Shaft or Superfly Trouble Man is bad ass & greatly befits from having Marvin Gaye do the score. Actually the soundtrax is sometimes the best thing which would explain way the movie was a bomb & the music a hit. Sometimes just more window dressing then substance it still is a hell of a lot better then 70% of the blaxploitation films out there & fans of the genre are sure to enjoy. I wish I could afford $600 suits & look so dope

Ive probably watched Vampire in Brooklyn more often then I should; I keep thinking it's going to be like Blacula but it isn't. It was made when both Wes Craven & Eddie Murphy's careers were heading in the shitter & it doesn't help their causes much. A little dull, none too scare & kinda void of laughs except for Kadeem Hardison (Dwayne Wayne from A Different World) as a ghoul w/ just some rotten luck & Murphy as Preacher Pauly...Evil ass is good

Velvet Smooth is a forth rate blaxploitation diva. In pecking order you would get Coffy, Cleopatra Jones, TNT Jackson & somewhere down the ladder Velvet Smooth. Really an exercise in bad film making it does have its charms if you're into this kinda of thing. Amateur hour that's really technically inept. Boom mics that drop into frame or you can see its shadow on the wall. Kung fu that has as much skill as a YMCA self defense class. Editing w/ sped up frames to make the action seem much quicker then it actually is. It does grow on you if you're into this kinda of sloppy film making but other unintentional gaffs it's not worth much. Lower genre tier @ the most

I must not know what's funny lately but I found this to be a weak entry in the Pryor catalog (even if he does take on three roles). Pryor made a much better movie about the union in the 70s and it's called Blue Collar

Willie D might have all the pimp clothes, cars & bitches but he's really just one hard luck nigga. His car is always getting towed, his bitches constantly busted & himself being arrested on trumped up charges. No, pimpin ain't easy.. Starring Roscoe Orman aka Gordon from Sesame Street

During the opening credits when that first cord rips on Billy Preston's theme song you know you are getting to be in for some badass cinema & Jim Brown is one bad cat as Slaughter. Brown gives us a strong blaxploitation icon that I would put him about 5th behind Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson, Pam Grier & Ron O'Neal. Although the script feels a bit weak @ times w/ the involve of Stella Stevens all in all this delivers high grades for the genre. Slaughter is such a no bullshit/no jive mother-fucker that you can't help but get 100% behind him. Roger Cudney & espically Rip Torn make for good heavy & even though Brown didn't need a side kick Don Gordon does provide some comic relief that fits well in the vast scheme of things. I ended up watching Slaughter's Big Rip Off first & even though I liked it when I saw it really doesn't do Slaughter any favors after see the original. It's too bad but now I see why there was only one sequel. If only it had more flavor of the first one maybe we could have gotten a trilogy like Shaft

Mean Mother..great blaxploitation title/boring ass movie. Actually this films drops the ball twice. It starts off that it might be a pretty good genre piece w/ some street creds & then abandons that just a quickly as it embraces it. It then switched gears to Vietnam & dumps that idea just as fast where our two leads go AWOL to Europe. There it settles into its plot that it sticks w/ as they try to get enough money to go to Canada working for a criminal element & bores the shit out of w/ no hustle or flow. In turn this ends up not feeling like a blaxploitation flix @ all & to even give it the monocure Mean Mother is a disservice (other then its theme song.) This film isn't jive..it's just a jive turkey

Jive Turkey should actually be heard of a little more then the genre talks about because it does have a true flavor of the streets. Unfortunately it's super low production values ends up being its undoing in the end & keeps it from rising up from just being a middle of the road film. That's not a snobbish remark because something like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was able to accomplish a hell of a lot more w/ a fuck of a lot less. The gum that makes Jive Turkey all stick together is just a bit stale @ times & lacks flavor. It does have times that it burst that flavor of chitlins & collard greens from time to time in your mouth but it only comes in waves. Paul Harris a is deep voiced Barry White cool mother-fucker though & the best thing about it. Gonna have to check to the likes of The Mack & Truck Turner again & watch The Slams & keep an eye out for him