Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song Movie Review

Fledgling filmmakers generally throw everything they know, including the kitchen sink, into their early movies, and so does Melvin Van Peebles. When he plays around with what he can do visually on film, the results are striking and unforgettable; four bone potential, actually. The Black Community (billed just like that) generally deliver strong, gritty performances, considerably enhanced by Van Peebles’ editing. All the white actors in this movie are terrible, though, as in they can barely deliver their lines, much less pack any emotion into them. The lopsided quality of the performances makes for a schizophrenic viewing experience. Who are we going to root for: Melvin Van Peebles as Sweetback who CAN act up a storm, or sub-professional white actors as cops who commit vicious, merciless acts of violence? Van Peebles’ shockingly premonitory film reveals what black Americans have always understood and what white Americans needed empirical evidence to realize (the 1991 videotape of Rodney King being beaten by LAPD members). The strong story swims in and out of focus because of the variable production values. Young Mario Van Peebles plays Sweetback as a 14-year-old child having sex with an adult female hooker. Renaissance Father Melvin Van Peebles also wrote, directed, and scored The Story of a Three Day Pass, directed and scored Watermelon Man and Tales of Erotica, wrote Greased Lightning, Sophisticated Gents, and Panther, and directed Identity Crisis and Gang in Blue. Renaissance Son Mario Van Peebles grew up to direct New Jack City, Posse, Panther, and Gang in Blue, and to write Identity Crisis and Los Locos Posse.

1971 97m/C Melvin Van Peebles, Simon Chuckster, Hubert Scales, John Dullaghan, Rhetta Hughes, John Amos, West Gale, Niva Rochelle, Nick Ferrari, Mario Van Peebles, Megan Van Peebles; D: Melvin Van Peebles; W: Melvin Van Peebles; C: Robert Maxwell; M: Melvin Van Peebles. VHS