Blaxploitation

[MerryWanna]

Watching "The Guy From Harlem" reminded me that virtually nothing cinematic and cheesy that came from the late 1960s or early 1970s fails to have a certain me-specific appeal...so I went and found a bunch of blaxploitation movies and watched them. I was wondering if there are any others I ought to seek out.  The cheesier and more psychedelic looking the decors, the better! Gods, I miss that age before crack cocaine came around and the gangsters actually looked flashy instead of like jocks.  I miss Afros. 

I watched, in addition to of course The Guy From Harlem, and Cinematic Titanic's East Meets Watts:


- Superfly - Naturally...That was where I started, since that was where the whole schmeer started...

- Dolemite - Pretty good. (And now I get the joke in TGFH when JoAnn, the 'Small Titted Jessica Simpson Girl' is riffed saying "I knew I shouldn't have broken up with Dolemite"...that gag had confused me since I had been thinking "How does one break up with a mineral?")

- Velvet Smooth - Awesome. (In a MerryWanna specific sense.)

- TNT Jackson - Same as above, with the added appeal of total absurdity. TNT is this ultra-petite sister doling out king-sized cans of whoop-ass to these great big huge mofos, sometimes two and three at a time. I was laughing all the way through it.

- Black Cobra - Kind of creepy. Didn't like much.


Any other suggestions would be appreciated, dig? 

[MrTorso]

There of course is the Pam Grier output: Coffy, Foxy Brown, Friday Foster are great ones.  One of my favorites is WILLIE DYNAMITE because it has Oscar from Sesame Street in it as a pimp with the best wardrobe ever!!

[wurwolf]

I need to catch up on my blaxploitation flicks. My husband and I just watched The Big Bird Cage -- not blaxploitation but a women in prison movie, filmed in the Philippines and starring Pam Grier and Sid Haig. I thought it was marvelous, but I will admit that maybe I feel that way because of the setting and the Filipino extras.

[Pak-Man]

I haven't seen much actual Blaxploitation, but I feel the need to mention the awesome Blaxploitation spoof, "Black Dynamite." It plays it very straight and it works very well. I'd probably enjoy it even more if I had the proper blaxploitation vocabulary. The Adult Swim cartoon based on it is fun, too.

[Johnny Unusual]

Black Dynamite is pretty amazing.  The cartoon isn't bad, but being animation, it can't properly copy the flow of the movie that incorporate things like an inplied backstory in the making of a movie (the best being a character being replaced with a different actor half way through the film)

[MrTorso]

I wanted to like Black Dynamite... but it just dragged for me. I like the tv show though. Small doses I guess.

Any of the classic Fred "The Hammer" Williamson flicks are fun too:  Hammer, Legend of N***er Charley, Hell Up In Harlem.

[PsychoGoatee]

If we're including more recent stuff, the Snoop Dogg pimp semi-musical "Boss'n Up" is pretty freakin' classic. I love Black Dynamite, "...I AM smiling."

[MerryWanna]

This should give me a good bunch to seek out. And a friend of mine reminded me there was also Shaft - which I hadn't included because I thought it was just an ordinary cop story, but a lot of film websites cite it (either by themselves or anecdotally by their commenters) as an inspiration for the genre. Joel Hodgson also made jokes about it in the KTMA MST3K ep 'The Legend of Dinosaurs' which makes me think they're probably right.

[MrTorso]

Shaft is considered a "classic" but I always found it to be boring. Great soundtrack but a boring flick.

[Miku Fan]

Blackula, Blackenstein and the Blunchblack of Blotreblame. 
Hollywood Shuffle and I'm Gonna Get You Sucka are great.  They are both comedies.

[Johnny Unusual]

Blackula, Blackenstein and the Blunchblack of Blotreblame. 

Of course, none compare to Blacula Meets Black Dracula.

Still amazing, even in Spanish.

[MerryWanna]

Shaft is considered a "classic" but I always found it to be boring. Great soundtrack but a boring flick.

You were right, Torso. Didn't even watch it all the way through.

[Sideswipe]

Blackula, Blackenstein and the Blunchblack of Blotreblame. 

You forgot the Black Mummy.  You bring shame upon your house, Miku.

[Miku Fan]

Blackula, Blackenstein and the Blunchblack of Blotreblame. 

You forgot the Black Mummy.  You bring shame upon your house, Miku.

Never heard of it.  Is it worth watching?

[Sideswipe]

I dont know, its another Simpsons reference though.