70's Blaxploitation films

[HustleBaby]

[quote]

On 2001-12-20 09:31, Graham Start wrote:

On 2001-12-19 18:38, HustleBaby wrote:

Hi Marky,

I LOVE MAHOGANY! It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I know some others think that it is low budget but I think she was very natural as well as superb!

But Mahogany wasn't low budget. They spent a fortune making the film -- but it looks like a made-for-TV movie! I was shocked when I saw how simulataneously laughable and boring it was. Actually, the stories that came off the set were much more dramatic and exciting than the film itself...



Graham,

I didn't mean LOW BUDGET as far as cost, what I should've said was some people think that it was LOW BUDGET/B-MOVIE quality. And I STRONGLY disagree!!! Coming from a black perspective, Mahogany was one of the best 70s movies! Most people that I know like the fact that it shows a woman from the ghetto of Chicago, achieving her dream and getting a chance to see the world outside of the urban areas. Why she went back, I don't have a clue .... then again it was Billy Dee Williams. So I don't see what is SO LAUGHABLE and BORING about Mahogany! I've seen worse.



*DISCO DELIGHT*

[HustleBaby]

[quote]

On 2001-12-20 09:31, Graham Start wrote:

On 2001-12-19 18:38, HustleBaby wrote:

Hi Marky,

I LOVE MAHOGANY! It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I know some others think that it is low budget but I think she was very natural as well as superb!

But Mahogany wasn't low budget. They spent a fortune making the film -- but it looks like a made-for-TV movie! I was shocked when I saw how simulataneously laughable and boring it was. Actually, the stories that came off the set were much more dramatic and exciting than the film itself...



Graham,

I didn't mean LOW BUDGET as far as cost, what I should've said was some people think that it was LOW BUDGET/B-MOVIE quality. And I STRONGLY disagree!!! Coming from a black perspective, Mahogany was one of the best 70s movies! Most people that I know like the fact that it shows a woman from the ghetto of Chicago, achieving her dream and getting a chance to see the world outside of the urban areas. Why she went back, I don't have a clue .... then again it was Billy Dee Williams. So I don't see what is SO LAUGHABLE and BORING about Mahogany! I've seen worse.



*DISCO DELIGHT*

[BrunoRepublic]

On 2001-12-22 13:16, HustleBaby wrote:



I didn't mean LOW BUDGET as far as cost, what I should've said was some people think that it was LOW BUDGET/B-MOVIE quality. And I STRONGLY disagree!!! Coming from a black perspective, Mahogany was one of the best 70s movies! Most people that I know like the fact that it shows a woman from the ghetto of Chicago, achieving her dream and getting a chance to see the world outside of the urban areas. Why she went back, I don't have a clue .... then again it was Billy Dee Williams. So I don't see what is SO LAUGHABLE and BORING about Mahogany! I've seen worse.



*DISCO DELIGHT*

Well, we've all seen worse!



But you've partially answered your own question -- given what Miss Ross' character is like, why the hell would she have given it all up to go back to Chicago? The ending is completely absurd. Yes, there's something to be said about success being hollow and empty, but you can say it a lot better than that.



Other points worthy of ridicule:



- The endless photo sessions: we see Miss Ross wearing every high-end designer outfit conceived that year. These go on waaaay too long... they don't serve the story at all, and they really smack of self-indulgence.



- Lack of character development: you don't really get a feeling for what motivates the characters, particularly those that aren't Miss Ross. This makes it rather hard to empathize with them, so as a result, I really didn't care what happened to any of them. I feel more time spent on the characters would've done a lot more for the film than a 20-minute montage of Miss Ross in a bunch of $70,000 outfits.



- The tag line and premise: "Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with". Sorry, but I really have to disagree with that...



- Her whole "I'm difficult" attitude. I found this impossible to swallow. In the real world, that attitude gets you nowhere fast when you're starting out. You can't be a supreme bitch until you've made it to the top.



- "TAKE THE PICTURE, SEAN!! TAKE THE PICTURE!!!" I mean, come on. I laughed at that part. I think almost everyone did.



I'll give Mahogany credit for being one of the very few films (perhaps the only film?) made at the time to aim to be a serious story, and not just another blaxploitation formula flick. But it should've -- and could've -- been much better.



Oh well, the soundtrack is still brilliant...

[BrunoRepublic]

On 2001-12-20 14:20, paul wrote:

Then Shaft, like a lot of the buddy pictures had absolutely no sex life.

One thing that has really had an impact on American movies is the introduction of the X rating. Having a film get rated "X" is the kiss of death for any movie with mainstream ambition. Regardless of how good a film it is, no major distributor will touch it, no cinema chains will show it, and if released on video, Wal-Mart and Blockbuster et al will not stock it (for those outside of North America, these two chains each account for about half of all video sales and rental markets respectively). So, an X-rated film is a film that your average American is unlikely to see. A good example is Orgazmo, a fairly amusing send-up of the porno industry, which was virtually shut out of theatres and video stores despite the fact that there's no real sex, and very little nudity in it. A lot of recent films have had to be edited at the last minute to get around this (South Park and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back to name just two). And of course, sex is considered far more objectionable than graphic violence... at least to the people who rate these films. This is (one of the reasons) why we're seeing less and less sexual innuendo, and more brain-dead action flicks coming from Hollywood. Self-censorship in the interest of self-preservation.

[HustleBaby]

[quote]

On 2001-12-14 21:03, Boodikka wrote:

Some of the better efforts:

2) Detroit Line 9000 - an obscure gem, with an excellent performance by Alex Rocco

3) The Spook Who Sat By The Door - REALLY OBSCURE! This is one of the better efforts cinematically, but the themes are borderline "reverse racist".

4) Melinda - This is best-remembered for the martial arts choreography by Jim Kelly (Enter the Dragon).

5) Black Jesus - Woody Strode....nuff said!

6) Thomasine and Bushrod

7) The Legend of N***** Charley

9) Trouble Man - Great performance by Robert Hooks



BOODIKKA,

All of the movies above, are unknown to me.

Except for "The Spook Who Sat By The Door"

(the title alone was a conversation piece).

I've heard so much about it and would like to see what is all the hoopla. Record Explosion on 34st, have a large selection of "Blaxploitation" movies and other classics from back in the days BUT they do not have any of the movies that you've listed. I'll hunt around.



Does anyone remember "THE WARRIORS"? It's not a "blaxploitation" flick, but it's definitely a late 70s classic! I bought the videotape along with "THE WIZ" (Diana Ross).



*DISCO DELIGHT*

[Outsider]

Does anyone remember "THE WARRIORS"?

Wasn't that movie about a couple of gangs that were at war with each other? I think I saw it once, though that was a long time ago.

[Boodikka]

Hi Hustlebaby, DETROIT LINE 9000/DETROIT 9000 also is known in the video market as DETROIT HEAT. Make sure that it stars Alex Rocco and Hari Rhodes. They may have it at the Suncoast store in the Manhattan Mall.

THE WARRIORS is indeed a near-gem of B films, influenced by such lofty tomes as "Anabis" by Xenophon and Homer's "Odyssey"! I like it for the early appearances of James Remar, Mercedes Ruehl (the undercover cop in Central Park) and Steve James (as one of the Baseball Furies). One of my friends from college was an extra on THE WARRIORS. He always said that some of the behind-the-scene fights were far more impressive than the ones on the screen! :grin:

[HustleBaby]

OUTSIDER,

"THE WARRIORS" was a movie about all the gangs from every borough of NYC that plans to take over the city. The meeting of this takeover went haywire and ugly when a punk from another gang shot the leader of the biggest gang of the city. The "Warriors" were blamed ;therefore,they had to "Hawl Ass"

back to Coney Island which is a LOOOONNNGGG

WAY from Van Courtlandt Park (North Bronx).

This movie will leave you at the edge of your seat! It's GRITTY, ACTION-PACKED, and GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHY OF NYC! CHECK IT OUT!!!



BOODIKKA,

I enjoyed seeing Mercedes Ruehl, Michael .. (forgot his name but he was the leader of the Warriors - SWAN) and of course JAMES REMAR! James ALWAYS brings excitement and energy in his performances!!!! Rumor has it that this movie caused fights in just about every theatre where it was shown.



*DISCO DELIGHT*

[EduardoFojo]

Yeah, I remember "The Warriors." The basic plot - gang gets framed by rival gang for the murder of a third gang's leader during a meeting of the city's gangs and has to run the gauntlet to get back to their home turf in Coney Island - unfolds with an almost surreal atmosphere (at times it seems like the only people in New York are the Warriors and the various other gangs), and the acting is really good, particularly Michael Beck and Deborah Van Valkenburg.

[EduardoFojo]

Favorite blaxploitation films of the 70s:



"Cotton Comes to Harlem" and "Come Back, Charleston Blue": Raymond St. Jacques and Godfrey Cambridge rule! Apart from the stars' excellent performances, the underlying seriousness of the pictures elevates them above schlockily-produced films like, say, "Avenging Disco Godfather." There's a chilling scene in "Charleston Blue" where a little girl is shown carrying a doll with drugs hidden in it delivering the toy to a bar used by the film's drug ring as a pickup point. The understated evil in this sequence - kid and toy used as mule -

is light-years from the cartoon angel dust visions in "ADG".



"Friday Foster": A less histrionic vehicle for Pam Grier, but a lot of fun. Eartha Kitt's turn as "Madame Rena", an imperious and bitchy fashion designer, is a hoot.



"Bucktown": Fred Williamson as the hero who learns that the cure for a problem is sometimes worse than the disease does a pretty good job of making this film work, though it spirals into absurdity by the end (the stolen tank and the endless knock-down, drag-em-out fistfight with Thalmus Rasulala pretty much deep-six the film's credibility, but Williamson does manage to hold things together pretty well despite these problems).



"Cooley High": I saw this a long time ago on local tv, so my memories of it are kind of sketchy, but I do recall that it started out on a humorous note and got more and more serious by the end (a la "Boyz 'n the Hood").

It had a quality that the best of 1970s films had: depicting realistic people with realistic problems in a realistic way.



"Jackie Brown": I know it's chronologically not a 1970s film, but it's sooo 1970s in spirit, to say nothing of soundtrack, title letter font, overall feel and of course lead actress, that I think it deserves an honorable mention. A perfect double-bill: this and "Boogie Nights". Some of my coworkers and I frequently quote huge chunks of dialogue from the film at appropriate moments. And Pam Grier and Robert Forster's farewell at the end is one of the more gently bittersweet conclusions to a film in recent years.