Blaxploitation
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation film
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
s. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience appeal soon broadened to cross racial and ethnic lines. The term itself is a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation," and was coined in the early 1970s by the Los Angeles National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) head, and ex-film publicist Junius Griffin. Blaxploitation films were the first to regularly feature soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s of funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
as well as a primarily black cast. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
credited Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is a 1971 American independent drama film, written, produced, scored, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles, father of actor Mario Van Peebles . It tells the picaresque story of a poor African American man on his flight from the white authority...
, released in 1971, with the invention of the blaxploitation genre while others argue that the Hollywood-financed film Shaft
Shaft (1971 film)
Shaft is a 1971 American blaxploitation film directed by Gordon Parks, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. An action film with elements of film noir, Shaft tells the story of a black private detective, John Shaft, who travels through Harlem and to the Italian mob neighborhoods in order to find the...
, also released in 1971, is closer to being a blaxploitation piece and thus is more likely to have begun the trend.
Defining Qualities of the Genre
When set in the NortheastNorthern United States
Northern United States, also sometimes the North, may refer to:* A particular grouping of states or regions of the United States of America. The United States Census Bureau divides some of the northernmost United States into the Midwest Region and the Northeast Region...
or West Coast
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
, blaxploitation films typically take place in ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
s and feature plotlines which entail crime, hit men, drug dealers, and pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
s. Ethnic slurs against whites (e.g., "honky
Honky
Honky is a racial slur for white people, predominantly heard in the United States...
"), and antagonistic white characters such as corrupt cops, politicians, prostitutes, and gullible gangsters are common plot
Plot
Plot is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect, or by coincidence. One is generally interested in how well this pattern of events accomplishes some artistic or emotional effect...
and or character elements. Meanwhile, blaxploitation films set in the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
often take place on a plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
dealing with slavery and miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
.
Blaxploitation includes several subtypes of films including crime (Foxy Brown), action/martial arts (Three the Hard Way
Three the Hard Way (film)
Three the Hard Way is a 1974 action blaxploitation film starring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly, written by Eric Bercovici and Jerrold L. Ludwig and directed by Gordon Parks, Jr....
), westerns (Boss Nigger
Boss Nigger
Boss Nigger is a 1975 blaxploitation film directed by Jack Arnold. It stars former football player Fred Williamson, who both wrote and co-produced the film. Boss Nigger is the first film for which Williamson was credited as screenwriter or producer....
), horror (Abby
Abby (film)
Abby is a 1974 blaxploitation horror film about a woman who is possessed by an African sex spirit. The film starred William H. Marshall, best known for portraying the lead role in Blacula, Terry Carter, and Carol Speed as the title character...
, Blacula
Blacula
Blacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula...
), comedy (Uptown Saturday Night
Uptown Saturday Night
Uptown Saturday Night is a 1974 comedy film written by Richard Wesley, and directed by Sidney Poitier. Poitier also stars in this film, along with Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte. Cosby and Poitier teamed up again for Let's Do It Again and A Piece of the Action...
), nostalgia (Five on the Black Hand Side
Five on the Black Hand Side
Five on the Black Hand Side is a 1973 comedy film based on the play by Charlie L. Russell. It was shot in Los Angeles. Leonard Jackson appeared as John Henry Brooks. He was cast in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple fifteen years later. Its tagline was "You've been coffy-tized, blacula-rized and...
), coming-of-Age/courtroom drama (Cooley High
Cooley High
Cooley High is a 1975 American film based upon the real high school located on the near north side of Chicago produced and released by American International Pictures and written by Eric Monte...
/Cornbread, Earl and Me
Cornbread, Earl and Me
Cornbread, Earl and Me is a 1975 American drama film that stars Tierre Turner as Earl Carter, Laurence Fishburne as Wilford Robinson and Jamaal Wilkes as Nathaniel "Cornbread" Hamilton. It was directed and produced by Joseph Manduke...
), and musical (Sparkle
Sparkle (1976 film)
Sparkle is a 1976 American film directed by Sam O'Steen and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Inspired by The Supremes, Sparkle is a period film set in Harlem, New York during the late 1950s and early 1960s which follows the rough lives and careers of singer Sparkle Williams and her family and...
).
Following the example set by Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is a 1971 American independent drama film, written, produced, scored, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles, father of actor Mario Van Peebles . It tells the picaresque story of a poor African American man on his flight from the white authority...
, many Blaxploitation films feature funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and soul jazz
Soul jazz
Soul jazz is a development of jazz incorporating strong influences from blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues in music for small groups, often an organ trio featuring a Hammond organ.- Overview :Soul jazz is often associated with hard bop. Mark C...
soundtracks with heavy bass, funky beats, and wah-wah
Wah-wah pedal
A wah-wah pedal is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, mimicking the human voice...
guitars. These soundtracks are notable for a degree of complexity that was not common to the radio-friendly funk tracks of the '70s, and a rich orchestration which included instruments rarely used in funk or soul such as the flute and the violin.
Following the popularity of blaxploitation films in the 1970s, films within other genres began to feature black characters with stereotypical blaxploitation characteristics, such as the Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
underworld characters in Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...
(1973), Jim Kelly
Jim Kelly (martial artist)
James M. "Jim" "the Dragon" Kelly is an American athlete, actor, and martial artist who came to prominence in the early 1970s. He is best known from his performance as Williams in the 1973 Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon.-Early life:...
's character in Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts co-production with Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. studios, directed by Robert Clouse; starring Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly and John Saxon. This is Bruce Lee's final film appearance before his death on July 20, 1973...
(1973), and Fred Williamson
Fred Williamson
Fred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...
's character in The Inglorious Bastards (1978).
Stereotypes
The genre's role in exploring and shaping race relations in America has been controversial. While some held that the Blaxploitation trend was a token of black empowerment, the movies were accused by others of perpetuating common white stereotypes about black people. As a result, many called for the end of the genre. The NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceSouthern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
, and National Urban League
National Urban League
The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...
joined together to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation. Supported by many black film professionals, this group received much media exposure and during the late 1970s, contributed to the demise of the genre.
Blaxploitation films such as Mandingo
Mandingo (film)
Mandingo is a 1975 film, based on the novel Mandingo by Kyle Onstott and upon the play based thereon by Jack Kirkland. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and featured James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, Lillian Hayman, boxer-turned-actor Ken Norton, and bodybuilder and pro...
, provided the opportunity for future filmmakers to address racial controversies regarding inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
. In the early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed black filmmakers focused on black urban life in their movies, particularly Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
's Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American dramedy produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who is also a featured actor in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. It is also notably the...
and John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood
Boyz N the Hood
Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American hood film written and directed by John Singleton. Starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Angela Bassett and Regina King, the film depicts life in poor South Central Los Angeles, California and was filmed and released...
, among others. These films made use of elements of Blaxploitation but also incorporated implicit criticism of the genre's glorification of stereotypical "criminal" behavior.
Later influence and media references
Blaxploitation films have had enormous and complicated influence on American cinema. The acclaimed film auteur and noted fan of exploitation film, Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, for example, has made countless references to the Blaxploitation genre in his films. An early blaxploitation tribute can be seen in the character of "Lite," played by Sy Richardson
Sy Richardson
-Early life:Richardson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He started singing at age 12 and recorded his first record with Lil June and the Januarys at 16. Richardson served two years on active duty with the United States Navy.-Career:...
, in Repo Man (1984). Richardson would later go on to write Posse
Posse (1993 film)
Posse is a 1993 American Western film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. Featuring a large ensemble cast of mostly African-American actors, the film is about a posse of black soldiers and one ostracized white soldier, who are all betrayed by a corrupt colonel. The title of the film refers...
(1993), which could be described as a kind of blaxploitation Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
.
Later movies such as Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers in Goldmember is a 2002 American spy comedy film and the third installment of the Austin Powers series starring Mike Myers in the title role. The movie was directed by Jay Roach, and co-written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers. Myers also plays the roles of Dr. Evil, Goldmember,...
(2002), Superbad (2007), Inglourious Bastards (2009) and Undercover Brother
Undercover Brother
Undercover Brother is a 2002 American comedy film starring Eddie Griffin and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The screenplay is by Michael McCullers and co-executive producer John Ridley, who created the original internet animation characters. It spoofs blaxploitation films of the 1970s as well as a...
(2002), as well as Tarantino's Jackie Brown
Jackie Brown (film)
Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard and pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films....
(1997), Kill Bill
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
, Vol. 1 (2003), and Death Proof
Death Proof
Death Proof is a 2007 American action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film centers on a psychopathic stunt man who stalks young women before murdering them in staged car accidents using his "death-proof" stunt car...
(2007) feature pop culture nods to the Blaxploitation genre. The parody Undercover Brother, for example, stars Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin
Edward James "Eddie" Griffin, Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his sitcom, Malcolm & Eddie along with co-star, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and his role in the 2002 comedy film Undercover Brother as the film’s title character.-Early life:Griffin was born in Kansas City,...
as an afro-topped agent for a clandestine organization satirically known as the "B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.". Likewise, Austin Powers in Goldmember co-stars Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
as the Tamara Dobson
Tamara Dobson
Tamara Dobson was an American actress and fashion model. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and received her degree in fashion illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Dobson, who stood 6 feet 2 inches , eventually became a fashion model for Vogue Magazine...
/Pam Grier
Pam Grier
Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
-inspired heroine, Foxxy Cleopatra
Foxxy Cleopatra
Foxxy Cleopatra, played by Beyoncé Knowles, was the female counterpart to Austin Powers in the third Austin Powers film: Austin Powers in Goldmember.-Austin Powers in Goldmember:...
. In the 1977 parody film The Kentucky Fried Movie
The Kentucky Fried Movie
The Kentucky Fried Movie is an American comedy film, released in 1977 and directed by John Landis. The film's writers were the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. This same team would go on to write and direct Airplane!, Top Secret! and the Police Squad! television series and its...
, a mock trailer for Cleopatra Schwartz depicts another Grier-like action star married to a Rabbi. In addition to Jackie Brown
Jackie Brown (film)
Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard and pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films....
, in a famous scene in Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
, the main characters engage in a brief discussion regarding Get Christie Love!
Get Christie Love!
Get Christie Love! is a 1974 made-for-television film starring Teresa Graves as an undercover female police detective who is determined to overthrow a drug ring. This film is based on Dorothy Uhnak's crime-thriller novel, The Ledger...
, a mid-1970's blaxploitation television series. Similarly, in the catalytic scene of True Romance
True Romance
True Romance is a 1993 American romance crime film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with an ensemble cast consisting of Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin...
, the characters are seen viewing the movie The Mack
The Mack
The Mack is a 1973 blaxploitation film starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. Although the movie was produced during the era of such blaxploitation movies as Dolemite, its producers do not label it a true blaxploitation picture...
.
John Singleton's remake of Shaft
Shaft (2000 film)
Shaft is a 2000 American action-crime film directed by John Singleton, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Pat Hingle, Toni Collette, Busta Rhymes, Vanessa L. Williams, and Mekhi Phifer. This film is not a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, but rather a sequel,...
(2000), starring Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
is a modern-day interpretation of a classic blaxploitation film. The 1997 film Hoodlum starring Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
, portrays a fictional account of black mobster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, recast gangster Blaxploitation with a 1930s twist. In 2004, Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles
Mario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles is an American director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is son of filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.-Life and career:...
released Baadasssss!
BAADASSSSS!
BAADASSSSS! is a 2003 American biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles , as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with showing...
, a movie based on the making of his father's movie in which Mario played his father. 2007's American Gangster, based on the true story of heroin dealer Frank Lucas
Frank Lucas
Frank D. Lucas is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1994. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district, the largest in the state and one of the largest in the country, stretches from the Panhandle to the fringes of the Tulsa suburbs—almost half of the state's land mass.-Early...
, takes place in the early 1970s in Harlem and has many elements similar in style to Blaxploitation films, specifically when the theme Across 110th Street
Across 110th Street
Across 110th Street is a 1972 American crime-drama film starring Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, and Anthony Franciosa, and directed by Barry Shear...
is played.
Blaxploitation films have made a profound impact on contemporary hip-hop culture. Several prominent hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
artists including Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
, Big Daddy Kane
Big Daddy Kane
Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
, Ice T
Ice T
Tracy Marrow , better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor.He was born in Newark, New Jersey and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school he served in the United States Army for four years...
, Slick Rick
Slick Rick
Richard Walters , better known by his stage name Slick Rick is a Grammy-nominated English-American rapper...
, and Too Short have adopted the no-nonsense pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
persona popularized first by ex-pimp Iceberg Slim
Iceberg Slim
Iceberg Slim aka Robert Beck was a reformed pimp and American author of urban fiction.-Early life:Born Robert Lee Maupin, in Chicago on August 4, 1918, he spent his childhood in Milwaukee and Rockford, Illinois until he returned to Chicago...
's 1967 book Pimp and subsequently by films such as Super Fly, The Mack
The Mack
The Mack is a 1973 blaxploitation film starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. Although the movie was produced during the era of such blaxploitation movies as Dolemite, its producers do not label it a true blaxploitation picture...
, and Willie Dynamite
Willie Dynamite
Willie Dynamite is a 1974 blaxploitation film starring Roscoe Orman, Joyce Walker, Thalmus Rasulala, and Diana Sands. Willie Dynamite is a pimp in NYC who strives to be number one in the city...
, as inspiration for their own works. In fact, many hip-hop artists have paid tribute to pimping within their lyrics (most notably 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
's hit single "P.I.M.P.
P.I.M.P.
"P.I.M.P." is a song by American hip-hop artist 50 Cent, recorded for his debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin . The song features production from Shady Records label-mate Denaun Porter...
") and have openly embraced the pimp image in their music videos, by including entourages of scantily-clad women, flashy jewelry (known as "bling-bling
Bling-bling
Bling is a slang term popularized in hip hop culture, referring to flashy, ostentatious or elaborate jewelry and ornamented accessories that are carried, worn or installed, such as cell phones or tooth caps....
"), and luxury Cadillacs
Cadillac Eldorado
The 1953 Eldorado was a special-bodied, low-production convertible . It was the production version of the 1952 El Dorado "Golden Anniversary" concept car, and borrowed bumper bullets from the 1951 GM Le Sabre show car...
(referred to as "pimpmobile
Pimpmobile
Largely an American phenomenon, pimpmobile is a term used to describe a large luxury vehicle, usually a 1960s or early 1970s-model Lincoln or Cadillac vehicle, that has been customized in a garish, extravagant and kitsch or camp style...
s"). Perhaps the most famous scene of The Mack
The Mack
The Mack is a 1973 blaxploitation film starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. Although the movie was produced during the era of such blaxploitation movies as Dolemite, its producers do not label it a true blaxploitation picture...
, featuring the "Annual Players Ball
Players Ball
The Players Ball is an annual gathering of pimps, held in Chicago, Illinois. The party has been a November tradition since 1974, when pimps from across the country gathered to celebrate the birthday of Don Juan now known as Bishop Don "Magic" Juan. Every year, the award for "Pimp of the Year" is...
", has become an often-referenced pop culture icon; most recently by Chapelle's Show
Chappelle's Show
Chappelle's Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedian Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show as well as starring in various skits. Chappelle, Brennan and Michele Armour were the show's executive producers. The series premiered on January 22,...
, where it was parodied as the "Playa Hater's Ball". The genre's overseas influence extends to artists such as Norway's hip-hop duo Madcon
Madcon
Madcon is a Norwegian Hip Hop duo formed in 1992 by Yosef Wolde-Mariam and Tshawe Baqwa.They are well known from the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Interval Act, in which they performed their hit song "Glow"...
.
Blaxploitation's influence is also seen in the medium of webcomics. In 2009, cartoonist Jay Potts introduced World Of Hurt, a serial, adventure webcomic which pays homage to Black action movies of the 1970s, such as Shaft and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. However, unlike most recent works that reference Blaxploitation, the genre is treated seriously within the strip, not as a source of parody or humor.
Cultural References and Parodies
The notoriety of the Blaxploitation genre has led to many parodiesParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
, both humorous and satirical. The earliest attempts to mock the genre, Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
's Coonskin
Coonskin (film)
Coonskin is a 1975 American animated film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi, about an African American rabbit, fox, and bear who rise to the top of the organized crime racket in Harlem, encountering corrupt law enforcement, con artists and the Mafia...
and Rudy Ray Moore
Rudy Ray Moore
Rudy Ray Moore was an American comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer. He was perhaps best known as Dolemite , the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado...
's Dolemite
Dolemite
Dolemite is a 1975 blaxploitation feature film, and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack...
, date back to the genre's heyday in 1975. Coonskin was intended to deconstruct racial stereotypes, ranging from early minstrel show
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
stereotypes to the more recent stereotypes found in blaxploitation film itself. However, the work stimulated great controversy even before its release when it was challenged by the Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
. Even though distribution was handed to a smaller distributor who advertised it as an exploitation film, it soon developed a cult following with black viewers. Dolemite, less serious in tone and produced as a spoof, centers around a sexually active black pimp played by Rudy Ray Moore, who based the film on his stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
act. The film was followed by a sequel, The Human Tornado
The Human Tornado
The Human Tornado also known as Dolemite II, a 1976 cult blaxploitation film, was the sequel to Dolemite. It starred Rudy Ray Moore as Dolemite and Ernie Hudson as Bo.-Plot:...
.
Later spoofs parodying the Blaxploitation genre include I’m Gonna Git You Sucka
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka is a 1988 blaxploitation parody film written by, directed by and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans. Featured in the film are several black actors who were part of the blaxploitation phenomenon; including Jim Brown, Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas and Isaac Hayes...
, Pootie Tang
Pootie Tang
Pootie Tang is an American comedy film written and directed by Louis C.K. and released in 2001. It was adapted from a comedy sketch that first appeared on The Chris Rock Show. The character Pootie Tang is a satire of the stereotyped characters who appeared in old blaxploitation films...
, Undercover Brother
Undercover Brother
Undercover Brother is a 2002 American comedy film starring Eddie Griffin and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The screenplay is by Michael McCullers and co-executive producer John Ridley, who created the original internet animation characters. It spoofs blaxploitation films of the 1970s as well as a...
and The Hebrew Hammer
The Hebrew Hammer
The Hebrew Hammer is a 2003 American film directed by Jonathan Kesselman. It stars Adam Goldberg, Judy Greer, Andy Dick, Mario Van Peebles, and Peter Coyote...
, which featured a Jewish protagonist, and was jokingly referred to by its director as a "Jewsploitation" film.
Robert Townsend's comedy Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle is a 1987 comedy film that satirizes the racial stereotypes of African Americans in film and television. The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed...
features a young black actor who is tempted to take part in a white-produced Blaxploitation film.
The satirical book Our Dumb Century
Our Dumb Century
Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source is a satirical humor book written by the staff of The Onion and published by Three Rivers Press in 1999. The chief editor of the book was Scott Dikkers, with specific sections edited by Robert D. Siegel,...
features an article from the 1970s entitled "Congress Passes Anti-Blaxploitation Act: Pimps, Players Subject to Heavy Fines".
FOX
Fox Entertainment Group
The Fox Entertainment Group is an American entertainment industry company that owns film studios and terrestrial, cable, and direct broadcast satellite television properties...
's network television comedy, "MADtv
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
", has frequently spoofed the Rudy Ray Moore
Rudy Ray Moore
Rudy Ray Moore was an American comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer. He was perhaps best known as Dolemite , the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado...
-created franchise Dolemite
Dolemite
Dolemite is a 1975 blaxploitation feature film, and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack...
, with a series of sketches performed by comic actor Aries Spears
Aries Spears
Aries Spears is an American actor and comedian. Spears is best known as one of the actors on Fox's sketch comedy series MADtv, in which he was in 198 episodes, making him the second longest-serving original cast member on the show....
, in the role of "The Son of Dolemite". Other sketches include the characters "Funkenstein", "Dr. Funkenstein
Dr. Funkenstein
"Dr. Funkenstein" is a song by the funk band Parliament. It was the second single released from their 1976 album, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, and reached number 46 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. It features newcomer Renny Jones on bass, who also played on two other songs on the album...
" and more recently Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
as a blaxploitation superhero. A recurring theme in these sketches is the inexperience of the cast and crew in the blaxploitation era, with emphasis on ridiculous scripting and shoddy acting, sets, costumes and editing. The sketches are testaments to the poor production quality of the films, with obvious boom mike appearances and intentionally poor cuts and continuity.
In the movie Leprechaun in the Hood, a character played by Ice-T
ICE-T
* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
pulls a baseball bat from his Afro; this scene is an allusion to a similar scene in Foxy Brown
Foxy Brown (1974 film)
Foxy Brown is a 1974 blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. It stars Pam Grier as the title character, described by one character as "a whole lot of woman" who showcases unrelenting black sexiness while battling the villains.- Plot :...
, in which Pam Grier
Pam Grier
Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
hides a revolver in her Afro.
Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force , retitled Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 in 2011, is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network late night programing block, Adult Swim, as well as Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block and later G4 Canada's ADd block in Canada...
series has a recurring character called "Boxy Brown" - a play on Foxy Brown. An imaginary friend of Meatwad
Meatwad
Meatwad is a fictional character on the Adult Swim animated television series Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1, which was originally titled Aqua Teen Hunger Force since its premiere in 2000 until 2011...
, Boxy Brown is a cardboard box with a crudely drawn face with a goatee on it that dons an afro. Whenever Boxy speaks, ’70s funk music, typical of blaxploitation films, is played in the background. The cardboard box also has a confrontational attitude and dialect similar to many heroes of this film genre.
Some of the TVs found in the action video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is a third-person shooter video game developed by Remedy Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Rockstar Vienna for the Xbox & PlayStation 2 and published by Rockstar Games. The game is a direct sequel to Max Payne and is followed by Max Payne 3...
feature a Blaxploitation-themed parody of the original Max Payne
Max Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
game called Dick Justice, after its main character. Dick behaves much like the original Max Payne (down to the "constipated" grimace and metaphorical speech) but wears an afro and mustache, and talks in Ebonics
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
.
Duck King, a fictional character created for the video game series Fatal Fury, is a prime example of foreign black stereotypes.
The animated series Drawn Together
Drawn Together
Drawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...
features a character named Foxxy Love who spoofs both 1970s Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
cartoons and blaxploitation characters. Her name is derived from those of the characters Foxy Brown and Christie Love
Get Christie Love!
Get Christie Love! is a 1974 made-for-television film starring Teresa Graves as an undercover female police detective who is determined to overthrow a drug ring. This film is based on Dorothy Uhnak's crime-thriller novel, The Ledger...
.
The sub-cult movie short Gayniggers from Outer Space
Gayniggers from Outer Space
Gayniggers from Outer Space is a 1992 short film, directed by Danish filmmaker Morten Lindberg. The film is a satire of the blaxploitation and science fiction genre...
is a Blaxploitation-like science fiction oddity directed by Danish filmmaker, DJ, and singer Morten Lindberg
Morten Lindberg
Morten Lindberg , also known as "Master Fatman," is a well known Danish media personality, comedian, disc jockey, film director and singer....
.
Jefferson Twilight, a character in The Venture Bros., is a parody of the comic-book character Blade (a half-black, half-vampire vampire hunter), as well as a blaxploitation reference: He has an afro, sideburns, and a mustache. He carries swords, dresses in stylish 1970s clothing, and says that he hunts "Blaculas". He looks and sounds somewhat like Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
.
The intro credits of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Beavis and Butt-head Do America
Beavis and Butt-head Do America is a 1996 animated feature film, based on the TV series, Beavis and Butt-Head. It was produced by Paramount Pictures in association with Geffen Pictures and MTV Films, and co-written and directed by creator Mike Judge. The film grossed $20.11 million in its opening...
has a Blaxploitation style, having the theme sung by Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
.
Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
has parodied blaxploitation numerous times using fake movie titles such as "Black to the Future" (Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
) and "Love Blactually
Love Blactually
"Love, Blactually" is the first episode of the seventh season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 28, 2008. The episode features anthropomorphic dog Brian, after he meets a fellow atheist named Carolyn at a book store, and the two...
" (Love Actually
Love Actually
Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress...
). These parodies occasionally feature a stereotyped black version of Peter Griffin
Peter Griffin
Peter Griffin is a fictional character and the protagonist of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarch of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998....
.
Transylvania Television, a Muppets-like adult comedy television and internet show, features Kim Ho-Tep, a Blacksploitation mummy based on the Foxy Brown
Foxy Brown
Inga DeCarlo Fung Marchand , better known as Foxy Brown, is an American rapper known for her solo work as well as numerous collaborations with other artists and her brief stint as part of hip hop music group The Firm. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, her father Keith Stahler abandoned the family at a...
archetype.
In the 2000s, the term "Brownsploitation" became popular in literary circles, referring to the body of conspiracy fiction that became popular after the success of author Dan Brown
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
's "The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
" and its prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
, "Angels and Demons
Angels and Demons
Angels & Demons is a 2000 bestselling mystery-thriller novel written by American author Dan Brown and published by Pocket Books. The novel introduces the character Robert Langdon, who is also the protagonist of Brown's subsequent 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code, and 2009 novel, The Lost Symbol...
."
Famous Blaxploitation Films
1970
- The Black Angels: Concerning a black motorcycle gang; also part of the outlaw biker filmOutlaw biker filmThe outlaw biker film is a film genre that portrays its characters as motorcycle riding rebels. The characters are usually members of an outlaw motorcycle club.-History:...
genre. - They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! is a 1970 film; a sequel to In the Heat of the Night . Sidney Poitier reprised his role of police detective Virgil Tibbs, though in this sequel, Tibbs is working for the San Francisco Police rather than the Philadelphia Police or the Pasadena Police .-Plot:The plot...
: Sequel to In the Heat of the Night is a pre-Shaft Blaxploitation film. It is stylistically very different from the original film. It may also be viewed as a 1970s cop film similar, in style, to Dirty HarryDirty HarryDirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
and The French ConnectionThe French Connection (film)This article is about the 1971 film. For the British fashion label, see French Connection .The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore...
. - Cotton Comes to HarlemCotton Comes to Harlem (film)Cotton Comes to Harlem is a 1970 blaxploitation film co-written and directed by Ossie Davis and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx: it is based on Chester Himes' novel of the same name...
: Written by Chester Himes and directed by Ossie DavisOssie DavisOssie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
. Features two black NYPD detectives: Coffin Ed (played by Raymond St. JacquesRaymond St. JacquesRaymond St. Jacques was an American actor.-Career:St. Jacques was born James Arthur Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Vivienne Johnson, a medical technician...
) and Gravedigger Jones (played by Godfrey CambridgeGodfrey Cambridge-External links:*...
). They are on the hunt for a money-filled cotton bale stolen by a corrupt reverend named Deke O’Malley. Blazing SaddlesBlazing SaddlesBlazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...
star Cleavon LittleCleavon LittleCleavon Jake Little was an American film and theatre actor.Little was widely known for his lead role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles. He also was the irreverent Dr...
makes an appearance in the film.
1971
- Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss SongSweet Sweetback's Baadasssss SongSweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is a 1971 American independent drama film, written, produced, scored, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles, father of actor Mario Van Peebles . It tells the picaresque story of a poor African American man on his flight from the white authority...
: Written, produced, scored, directed by, and stars Melvin Van PeeblesMelvin Van PeeblesMelvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...
. The hero is raised among prostitutes and is arrested for a crime he did not commit. During his arrest, he saves a young black male from a police beating by attacking the (white) police officers. He becomes a fugitive from police authority and heads for Mexico. In 2004, Mario Van PeeblesMario Van PeeblesMario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles is an American director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is son of filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.-Life and career:...
directed and starred as his father in BAADASSSSS!BAADASSSSS!BAADASSSSS! is a 2003 American biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles , as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with showing...
, a biopic about the making of Sweet Sweetback. - ShaftShaft (1971 film)Shaft is a 1971 American blaxploitation film directed by Gordon Parks, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. An action film with elements of film noir, Shaft tells the story of a black private detective, John Shaft, who travels through Harlem and to the Italian mob neighborhoods in order to find the...
: Directed by Gordon ParksGordon ParksGordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was a groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director...
and features Richard RoundtreeRichard RoundtreeRichard Roundtree is an American actor and former fashion model. He is best known for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film Shaft and in its two sequels, Shaft's Big Score and Shaft in Africa .-Personal life:Born in New Rochelle, New York, Richard Roundtree graduated from...
as detective John ShaftJohn ShaftJohn Shaft is a fictional character created by schoolteacher/screenwriter Ernest Tidyman as a sort of African American version of Ian Fleming's James Bond. He was portrayed by Richard Roundtree in the original 1971 film and its two sequels, with Samuel L. Jackson portraying his nephew in the 2000...
. The popular soundtrack features contributions from Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
whose recording of the titular song won several awards including an Academy AwardAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. Perhaps the most famous blaxploitation film, it was deemed culturally relevant by the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. It spawned two sequels, Shaft's Big ScoreShaft's Big ScoreShaft's Big Score, released in 1972, is the second film in the trilogy in which actor Richard Roundtree starred as the private-eye, John Shaft. Gordon Parks again directed, and Ernest Tidyman once more supplied the screenplay. Isaac Hayes was unavailable, so Parks, the director, did the score himself...
(1972) and Shaft in AfricaShaft in AfricaShaft in Africa, released in 1973, is the third film in the blaxploitation trilogy of films that starred actor Richard Roundtree as John Shaft. John Guillermin directed and Stirling Silliphant did the screenplay. The cost went up to $2,142, 000, but the gross fell to $1,458,000...
(1973), as well as a short-lived TV series starring Roundtree. The concept was revived in 2000 with an all-new sequel starring Samuel L. JacksonShaft (2000 film)Shaft is a 2000 American action-crime film directed by John Singleton, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Pat Hingle, Toni Collette, Busta Rhymes, Vanessa L. Williams, and Mekhi Phifer. This film is not a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, but rather a sequel,...
as the nephew of the original John Shaft.
1972
- Hit ManHit Man (film)Hit Man is a 1972 American Crime film directed by George Armitage and starring Bernie Casey, Pam Grier and Lisa Moore. It is based on the Ted Lewis's novel Jack's Return Home, more famously adapted as Get Carter, with the action relocated from Britain to the United States.-Plot :Tyrone Tackett, ...
: The story of an Oakland hit man, played by former NFL player Bernie CaseyBernie CaseyBernard Terry "Bernie" Casey is a professional actor who initially had a career as an interscholastic, intercollegiate and professional football player. Casey was also a record-breaking track and field athlete for Bowling Green State University...
who comes to Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
after his brother is murdered. He later finds out that his niece has been forced into pornography and is later murdered. Then, he sets out to murder everyone directly involved; from a porn star (Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
), to a theater owner (Ed Cambridge), to a man he looked up to as a child (Rudy ChallengerRudy ChallengerRudolph "Rudy" Challenger is a retired African-American supporting actor who had a roles in various projects over the course of his thirty-four year career in films and television in Hollywood. He has appeared on such shows as Sanford And Son, Kojak, Lou Grant, and the Fall Guy...
), and a mobster (Don DiamondDon DiamondDonald Alan "Don" Diamond was an American radio, film, and television actor who portrayed "Crazy Cat", the sidekick and heir apparent to Chief Wild Eagle on the popular 1960s television sitcom, F Troop .-Career:...
). - Super Fly: Directed by Gordon Parks, Jr.Gordon Parks, Jr.Gordon Roger Parks, Jr. was an American film director best known for the film Super Fly.Parks was the son of Sally Alvis and late photographer and director Gordon Parks...
, this film features a soundtrack by Curtis MayfieldCurtis MayfieldCurtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
and is considered to be one of the most controversial, profitable, and popular 'classics' of the genre.{Ed Guerrero, FRAMING BLACKNESS. Temple U. Press. pp. 95–97.} - The Legend of Nigger CharleyThe Legend of Nigger CharleyThe Legend of Nigger Charley is a 1972 blaxploitation western film directed by Martin Goldman. The story of a trio of escaped slaves, it was released during the heyday of blaxploitation films....
: Written, co-produced, and starsFred WilliamsonFred WilliamsonFred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...
. It was followed by the 1973 sequel, The Soul of Nigger CharleyThe Soul of Nigger CharleyThe Soul of Nigger Charley is a 1973 blaxploitation western film directed by Larry Spangler and starring Fred Williamson. It is the sequel to 1972's The Legend of Nigger Charley. It is followed by Boss Nigger...
. - HammerHammer (film)Hammer is a 1972 blaxploitation film directed by Bruce Clark. The film was released following the successes of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Shaft, notable 1971 films that popularized black cinema....
: Stars Fred Williamson as B.J. Hammer, a boxer who gets mixed up with a crooked manager who wants him to throw a fight for the Mafia. - Across 110th StreetAcross 110th StreetAcross 110th Street is a 1972 American crime-drama film starring Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, and Anthony Franciosa, and directed by Barry Shear...
: A crime thriller about two detectives (played by Anthony QuinnAnthony QuinnAntonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
and Yaphet KottoYaphet KottoYaphet Frederick Kotto is an African-American actor, known for numerous film roles , and his starring role in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street .-Early life:Kotto was born in New York City, the son of Gladys Marie, a...
) who tries to catch a group of robbers who stole $300,000 from the Mob before the Mob catches up with them. The title track by Bobby WomackBobby WomackRobert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
reached #19 on the Billboard Black Singles Chart. - Black Mama, White MamaBlack Mama, White MamaBlack Mama, White Mama is a 1973 women in prison film with elements of blaxploitation, starring Pam Grier and Margaret Markov, and directed by Eddie Romero.-Plot:...
: A women in prison exploitation movie partly inspired by The Defiant OnesThe Defiant OnesThe Defiant Ones is a 1958 drama film which tells the story of two escaped prisoners, one white and one black, who are shackled together and who must co-operate in order to survive. It stars Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Cara Williams, Charles McGraw, and Lon Chaney, Jr...
(1958) starring Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
and Margaret MarkovMargaret MarkovMargaret Markov is an American film and television actress. She had a supporting role in the romantic drama The Sterile Cuckoo with Liza Minnelli and co-starred in There is No 13 , as well as appearing in other films.She was in the 1969 outlaw biker film Run, Angel, Run directed by Jack Starrett...
in the roles originally played by Sidney PoitierSidney PoitierSir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
and Tony CurtisTony CurtisTony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
. - BlaculaBlaculaBlacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula...
: A take on DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
featuring an African prince (played by William H. MarshallWilliam H. MarshallWilliam Horace Marshall was an American actor, director, and opera singer. He is best known for his title role in the 1972 blaxploitation classic Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream , as the "King of Cartoons" on the 1980s television show Pee-wee's Playhouse beginning with its second...
) who is bitten and imprisoned by Count DraculaCount DraculaCount Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
and once freed from his coffin, spreads terror in modern day Los Angeles. - Slaughter (film)Slaughter (film)Slaughter is a 1972 Blaxploitation film which was released during the early 1970s Blaxploitation film era. It was directed by Jack Starrett and is stars Jim Brown as an African American Vietnam Veteran and former Green Beret captain who is referred to only by his last name Slaughter. He seeks...
: Stars Jim Brown as an ex-Green Beret who seeks revenge against a crime syndicate for the murder of his parents. It spawned the sequel, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973). - Trouble ManTrouble ManTrouble Man is a 1972 blaxploitation film produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film stars Robert Hooks as "Mr. T.", a hard-edged private detective who tends to take justice into his own hands...
: Stars Robert HooksRobert HooksRobert Hooks is an American actor of films, television and stage. With a career as a producer and political activist to his credit, he is most recognizable to the public for his over 100 roles in films and television, as well as his political and civil rights activities...
as "Mr. T.": A hard-edged private detective who tends to take justice into his own hands. Although the film itself was unsuccessful, it did enjoy a successful soundtrack which was written, produced, and performed by Motown artist Marvin GayeMarvin GayeMarvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
.
1973
- Black CaesarBlack Caesar (film)Black Caesar is a 1973 American blaxploitation film, starring Fred Williamson and Gloria Hendry. The film was written and directed by Larry Cohen. It is a remake of the 1931 film Little Caesar. It features a notable musical score by James Brown , his first experience with writing music for film...
: Fred WilliamsonFred WilliamsonFred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...
plays Tommy Gibbs, a street smart hoodlum who has worked his way up to being the crime boss of Harlem. - BlackensteinBlackensteinBlackenstein, also known as Black Frankenstein, is a 1973 blaxploitation horror film loosely based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was made in an attempt to cash in on the success of Blacula, released the previous year by American International Pictures...
: A parody of Frankenstein and features a black Frankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
. - Cleopatra JonesCleopatra Jones-Plot:Cleopatra Jones is a strikingly beautiful black model with an array of flamboyant outfits. Modeling, however, is only a cover for her real job as a secret government agent. Jones is a Bond-like heroine with power and influence; an object of awe for her flashy wardrobe, her ’73 silver and...
and the sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of GoldCleopatra Jones and the Casino of GoldCleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold is a 1975 action-adventure Blaxploitation movie starring Tamara Dobson as Cleopatra It is the sequel to the 1973 film Cleopatra Jones.-Plot:...
(1975): Stars Tamara Dobson as a karate-chopping government agent. The first film marked the beginning of a subgenre of blaxploitation films which focused on strong female leads who took an active role in shootouts and fights. Some of these films include CoffyCoffy- Track listing :# "Coffy Is The Color" - 3:03Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Ayers, Wayne Garfield# "Priscilla's Theme" - 3:58# "King George" - 3:00Vocals – Roy Ayers# "Aragon" - 2:55# "Coffy Sauna" - 2:16# "King's Last Ride" - 1:10# "Coffy Baby" - 2:26...
, Black Belt JonesBlack Belt JonesBlack Belt Jones is a 1974 American Blaxploitation action film. The main musical theme was performed by the funk guitarist Dennis Coffey. The film was featured as number 38 on the documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.-Plot:...
, Foxy Brown, and T.N.T. JacksonT.N.T. JacksonT.N.T. Jackson is a 1974 American film directed by Cirio H. Santiago.The film is also known as Dynamite Jackson , Dynamite Wong and TNT Jackson .- Cast :...
. - CoffyCoffy- Track listing :# "Coffy Is The Color" - 3:03Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Ayers, Wayne Garfield# "Priscilla's Theme" - 3:58# "King George" - 3:00Vocals – Roy Ayers# "Aragon" - 2:55# "Coffy Sauna" - 2:16# "King's Last Ride" - 1:10# "Coffy Baby" - 2:26...
: Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
stars as Coffy, a nurse turned vigilante who takes revenge on all those who hooked her 11-year-old sister on heroin. Coffy marked Pam Grier's biggest hit and was re-worked for Foxy Brown, Friday FosterFriday FosterFriday Foster was an American newspaper comic strip, created and written by Jim Lawrence, who was inspired when he saw Donyale Luna on television....
and Sheba Baby. - Detroit 9000Detroit 9000Detroit 9000 is a 1973 American cult film directed by Arthur Marks from a screenplay by Orville Hampton. Originally marketed as a blaxploitation film, it had a resurgence on video 25 years later.-Plot:...
: Set in Detroit, MI, features street-smart white detective Danny Bassett (Alex Rocco) who teams with educated black detective Sgt. Jesse Williams (Hari Rhodes) to investigate the theft of $400,000 at a fund-raiser for Representative Aubrey Hale Clayton (Rudy Challenger). Championed by Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
it was released on video by Miramax in April 1999. - Gordon's WarGordon's WarGordon's War is a 1973 action film written by Howard Friedlander and Ed Spielman, and directed by Ossie Davis. It stars Paul Winfield as Gordon Hudson.-Synopsis:...
: Stars Paul Winfield as a Vietnam vet who recruits ex-Army buddies to fight the Harlem drug dealers and pimps responsible for the heroin-fueled death of his wife. - The MackThe MackThe Mack is a 1973 blaxploitation film starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. Although the movie was produced during the era of such blaxploitation movies as Dolemite, its producers do not label it a true blaxploitation picture...
: A film starring Max Julien and Richard PryorRichard PryorRichard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. This movie was produced during the era of such Blaxploitation movies as Dolemite. However it is not considered by its makers a true blaxploitation picture. It is more a social commentary according to Mackin' Ain't Easy, a documentary about the making of The Mack, which can be found on the DVD edition of the film. The movie tells the story of the life of John Mickens (AKA Goldie), a former drug dealer recently released from prison who becomes a big-time pimp. Standing in his way is another pimp: Pretty Tony. Two corrupt white cops, a local crime lord, and his own brother (a black nationalist), who all try to force him out of the business. The movie is set in Oakland, California and was the biggest grossing blaxploitation film of its time. Its soundtrack was recorded by Motown artist Willie HutchWillie HutchWillie McKinley Hutchison, known professionally as Willie Hutch was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s....
. - Scream Blacula ScreamScream Blacula ScreamScream Blacula Scream is a 1973 blaxploitation horror film, made under the working titles Blacula Is Beautiful and Blacula Lives Again!. This is the only sequel to the 1972 film Blacula...
: Sequel to Blacula; William H. Marshall resumes his role as Blacula/Mamuwalde. - Slaughter's Big Rip-OffSlaughter's Big Rip-OffSlaughter’s Big Rip-off is a 1973 Blaxploitation film which was released during the 1970s Blaxploitation film era. It is directed by Gordon Douglass...
: Jim Brown continues to battle against the Mob in this sequel to Slaughter (1972). - The Spook Who Sat By the Door is adapted from Sam GreenleeSam GreenleeSam Greenlee is an African American writer, best known for his novel The Spook Who Sat by the Door, first published in London by Allison & Busby in March 1969, which was made into the 1973 movie of the same name and won The Sunday Times Book of the Year award...
's novel and directed by Ivan DixonIvan DixonIvan Dixon was an American actor, director, and producer best known for his series role in the 1960s sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for his role in the 1967 telefilm The Final War of Olly Winter, and for directing hundreds of episodes of television series...
with music by Herbie HancockHerbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
. A token black CIA employee, who is secretly a black nationalist, leaves his position to train a street gang in CIA tactics in order to become an army of "freedom fighters". The film was reportedly pulled from distribution because of its politically controversial message and depictions of an American race warRace warRace war is a term referring to developing hostilities between ethnic groups divided on the basis of racial group or skin color. The term may refer to specific violent acts or to general overt or covert hostilities between ethnic groups; compare ethnic conflict.-Manson:The murders perpetrated by...
. Until its 2004 DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release, it was very difficult to obtain, save for infrequent bootlegBootleg recordingA bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
copies. - Trick BabyTrick BabyTrick Baby is a 1972 American crime-drama film starring Kiel Martin and Mel Stewart. The film is commonly associated with the blaxploitation genre of the period but is more plot and character driven than other blaxploitation films...
: Based on the book of the same name by ex-pimp Iceberg SlimIceberg SlimIceberg Slim aka Robert Beck was a reformed pimp and American author of urban fiction.-Early life:Born Robert Lee Maupin, in Chicago on August 4, 1918, he spent his childhood in Milwaukee and Rockford, Illinois until he returned to Chicago...
.
1974
- AbbyAbby (film)Abby is a 1974 blaxploitation horror film about a woman who is possessed by an African sex spirit. The film starred William H. Marshall, best known for portraying the lead role in Blacula, Terry Carter, and Carol Speed as the title character...
: A blaxploitation version of The ExorcistThe Exorcist (film)The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
and stars Carol SpeedCarol SpeedCarol Speed is an African-American actress best known for her roles in blaxploitation films of the 1970s . She has appeared in 16 films since 1970...
as a virtuous young woman possessed by a demon. Ms. Speed also sings the title song. William H. MarshallWilliam H. MarshallWilliam Horace Marshall was an American actor, director, and opera singer. He is best known for his title role in the 1972 blaxploitation classic Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream , as the "King of Cartoons" on the 1980s television show Pee-wee's Playhouse beginning with its second...
(of BlaculaBlaculaBlacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula...
fame) conducts the exorcism of Abby on the floor of a discotheque. A hit in its time, it was later pulled from the theaters after Warner Bros. successfully sued AIP over copyright issues. - Black Belt JonesBlack Belt JonesBlack Belt Jones is a 1974 American Blaxploitation action film. The main musical theme was performed by the funk guitarist Dennis Coffey. The film was featured as number 38 on the documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.-Plot:...
: Better known for his role as "Mister Williams" in the Bruce Lee film Enter the DragonEnter the DragonEnter the Dragon is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts co-production with Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. studios, directed by Robert Clouse; starring Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly and John Saxon. This is Bruce Lee's final film appearance before his death on July 20, 1973...
, Jim KellyJim Kelly (martial artist)James M. "Jim" "the Dragon" Kelly is an American athlete, actor, and martial artist who came to prominence in the early 1970s. He is best known from his performance as Williams in the 1973 Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon.-Early life:...
was given a leading role in this martial arts film. He plays Black Belt Jones, a federal agent/martial arts expert, who takes on the mob as he avenges the murder of a karate school owner. - Black EyeBlack eyeA black eye , or or 'shiner', is bruising around the eye commonly due to an injury to the face rather than eye injury. The name is given due to the color of bruising. The so-called black eye is caused by bleeding beneath the skin and around the eye...
: An action-mystery starring Fred Williamson as a private detective investigating murders connected with a drug ring. - "The Black GodfatherThe Black GodfatherThe Black Godfather is a blaxploitation film released in 1974. It was written and directed by John Evans, and stars Rod Perry, Don Chastain, and Jimmy Witherspoon.-Plot:...
": a film starring Rod PerryRod PerryRodney Cornell Perry is an American football coach and former defensive back. He is currently a special assistant to the defense for the Indianapolis Colts.-External links:*...
as a man rising to underworld power based on The GodfatherThe GodfatherThe Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
. - The Black SixThe Black SixThe Black Six is a combination of blaxploitation and outlaw biker film released in 1974. The movie was written by George Theakos and directed by Matt Cimber. It starred several National Football League stars in the title roles. The plot had some similarities to The Magnificent Seven and Easy...
: About a black motorcycle gang seeking revenge, is a combination of blaxploitation and outlaw biker filmOutlaw biker filmThe outlaw biker film is a film genre that portrays its characters as motorcycle riding rebels. The characters are usually members of an outlaw motorcycle club.-History:...
. - Foxy Brown: Largely a remake of her hit film Coffy, Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
once again plays a nurse on a vendetta against a drug ring. Originally written as a sequel to Coffy, the film's working title was Burn, Coffy, Burn! - Get Christie Love!Get Christie Love!Get Christie Love! is a 1974 made-for-television film starring Teresa Graves as an undercover female police detective who is determined to overthrow a drug ring. This film is based on Dorothy Uhnak's crime-thriller novel, The Ledger...
(TV movie later released to some theaters): A police drama, this time with an attractive young black woman (Teresa GravesTeresa GravesTeresa Graves was an American actress and singer. As the star of Get Christie Love!, Graves is credited as being the first African American woman to star in her own hour long drama television series....
) as an undercover cop. Later made into a short-lived TV series. - Johnny Tough: starring Dion Gossett and Renny Roker.
- Space Is the PlaceSpace Is the PlaceSpace Is the Place is an 82-minute film made in 1972 and released in 1974.It was produced by Jim Newman, directed by John Coney, written by Sun Ra, Joshua Smith and features Sun Ra and his Arkestra...
: Psychedelically-themed blaxploitation film featuring Sun RaSun RaSun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
& His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra. - Three the Hard WayThree the Hard Way (film)Three the Hard Way is a 1974 action blaxploitation film starring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly, written by Eric Bercovici and Jerrold L. Ludwig and directed by Gordon Parks, Jr....
. Three black men (Fred WilliamsonFred WilliamsonFred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...
, Jim KellyJim Kelly (martial artist)James M. "Jim" "the Dragon" Kelly is an American athlete, actor, and martial artist who came to prominence in the early 1970s. He is best known from his performance as Williams in the 1973 Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon.-Early life:...
, and Jim BrownJim BrownJames Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
) must stop a white supremacist plot to eliminate all blacks with a serum in the water supply. Directed by Gordon Parks, Jr.Gordon Parks, Jr.Gordon Roger Parks, Jr. was an American film director best known for the film Super Fly.Parks was the son of Sally Alvis and late photographer and director Gordon Parks... - T.N.T. JacksonT.N.T. JacksonT.N.T. Jackson is a 1974 American film directed by Cirio H. Santiago.The film is also known as Dynamite Jackson , Dynamite Wong and TNT Jackson .- Cast :...
: Starring Jean BellJean BellJean Bell was one of the first of Playboy magazine's African American Playmates of the Month.-Biography:...
(one of the first black PlayboyPlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
playmates), this film is partly set in Hong Kong, and notable for blending blaxploitation with the then-popular "chop-socky" martial arts genre. - Truck TurnerTruck TurnerTruck Turner is a 1974 blaxploitation film, starring Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The screenplay was written by Michael Allin, Jerry Wilkes and Oscar Williams...
: Starring Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Nichelle NicholsNichelle NicholsNichelle Nichols is an American actress, singer and voice artist. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting...
, and directed by Johnathan Kaplan. Former football player turned bounty hunter is pitted against a powerful prostitution crime syndicate in Los Angeles. - Sugar HillSugar HillSugar Hill commonly refers to Sugar Hill, Manhattan, a section of Harlem, New York City, New York, US. The term may also refer to:Places:* Sugar Hill in Modoc National Forest, California* Sugar Hill, Georgia* Sugar Hill, New Hampshire...
: Set in Houston, this film features a female fashion photographer (played by Marki Bey) who wreaks revenge on the local crimeCrimeCrime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
MafiaMafiaThe Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
that murdered her fiance with the use of voodoo magic. - Together BrothersTogether BrothersTogether Brothers is a 1974 film directed by William A. Graham. It stars Ahmad Nurradin and Anthony Wilson.-Cast:*Ahmad Nurradin as H.J.*Anthony Wilson as Tommy*Nelson Sims as A.P.*Kenneth Bell as Mau Mau*Owen Pace as Monk...
: Set in Galveston, TexasGalveston, TexasGalveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, a street gang solves the murder of a Galveston, TX police officer (played by Ed BernardEd Bernard----Ed Bernard born July 4, 1939 in Philadelphia, USA, is an American actor.- Career :Most of his career was made on television, standing for playing the role of Det. Joe Styles, in the classic TV series Police Woman. He played the character in 91 episodes between...
who has been a mentor to the gang leader). This was the first Blaxploitation film to feature a transgenderTransgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
character as the film's villain. Galveston, TX native Barry WhiteBarry WhiteBarry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
composed the film's score. The soundtrack features music by the Love Unlimited Orchestra. - Willie DynamiteWillie DynamiteWillie Dynamite is a 1974 blaxploitation film starring Roscoe Orman, Joyce Walker, Thalmus Rasulala, and Diana Sands. Willie Dynamite is a pimp in NYC who strives to be number one in the city...
: Roscoe Orman (Gordon from Sesame Street fame) plays a pimp. As in many Blaxploitation films, the lead character drives a customized Cadillac Eldorado Coupe (the same car was used in Magnum ForceMagnum ForceMagnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series...
).
1975
- Sheba, BabySheba, BabyThe action movie Sheba, Baby is a 1975 blaxploitation film starring Pam Grier as Sheba Shayne. In the film, Sheba returns to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, to confront thugs who are trying to intimidate her father into dissolving or handing over his family business...
: A female private eye (Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
) tries to help her father save his loan business from a gang of thugs. - The Black GestapoThe Black GestapoThe Black Gestapo is a 1975 nazi-blaxploitation film about a vigilante named General Ahmed, who starts an inner-city "People's Army" to protect the black citizens of Watts...
: Rod Perry plays General Ahmed who has started an inner-city People's Army to try and relieve the misery of the citizens of Watts, Los Angeles. When the Mafia moves in, they establish a military style squad. - Black ShampooBlack ShampooBlack Shampoo is an American 1976 blaxploitation drama film directed by Greydon Clark and starring John Daniels.-Plot:John Daniels plays Jonathan Knight, the owner of "Mr. Jonathan's", the most successful hair salon for women on the Sunset Strip...
: A take off of the Warren BeattyWarren BeattyWarren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
hit ShampooShampoo (film)Shampoo is a 1975 satirical film written by Robert Towne and directed by Hal Ashby. It stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn, with Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill and in an early film appearance, Carrie Fisher....
. - Boss NiggerBoss NiggerBoss Nigger is a 1975 blaxploitation film directed by Jack Arnold. It stars former football player Fred Williamson, who both wrote and co-produced the film. Boss Nigger is the first film for which Williamson was credited as screenwriter or producer....
: Along with his friend Amos (D’Urville MartinD'Urville MartinD'Urville Martin was an American actor and director in both film and television. He appeared with regularity in numerous 1970s movies in the blaxploitation genre of films. He also appeared in the first two pilots of what would become All in the Family as Lionel, the role later played by Mike Evans...
), Boss Nigger (Fred WilliamsonFred WilliamsonFred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...
) takes over the vacated position of Sheriff in a small western town in this WesternWestern (genre)The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
Blaxploitation film. Because of its controversial title, it was released in some markets as The Boss, The Black Bounty Killer or The Black Bounty Hunter. - CoonskinCoonskin (film)Coonskin is a 1975 American animated film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi, about an African American rabbit, fox, and bear who rise to the top of the organized crime racket in Harlem, encountering corrupt law enforcement, con artists and the Mafia...
: An animated/live-action, controversial Ralph BakshiRalph BakshiRalph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
film about Br'er Fox, Br'er Rabbit, and Br'er Bear in a blaxploitation parody of Disney's Song of the SouthSong of the SouthSong of the South is a 1946 American musical film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. The live actors provide a sentimental frame story, in which Uncle Remus relates the folk tales of the...
. It features the voice of Barry WhiteBarry WhiteBarry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
as Br'er Bear. - Darktown Strutters (1975): A farce produced by Roger CormanRoger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
's brother, Gene, and directed by William Witney. A Colonel SandersColonel SandersHarland David "Colonel" Sanders was an American fast food businessman who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, now re-branded as KFC...
-type figure with a chain of urban fried chicken restaurants is attempting to wipe out the black race by making them impotent through his drugged fried chicken. - Dr. Black, Mr. HydeDr. Black, Mr. HydeDr. Black, Mr. Hyde is a 1976 blaxploitation horror film. It was loosely inspired by the novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film stars Bernie Casey and Rosalind Cash and was directed by William Crain, who had also directed the successful Blacula for...
: The retelling of the Jekyll and Hyde tale, starring Bernie CaseyBernie CaseyBernard Terry "Bernie" Casey is a professional actor who initially had a career as an interscholastic, intercollegiate and professional football player. Casey was also a record-breaking track and field athlete for Bowling Green State University...
. - DolemiteDolemiteDolemite is a 1975 blaxploitation feature film, and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack...
: Also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray MooreRudy Ray MooreRudy Ray Moore was an American comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer. He was perhaps best known as Dolemite , the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado...
, who co-wrote the film. Moore had developed the alter-ego as a stand-up comedian and released several comedy albums using this persona. The film was directed by D'Urville MartinD'Urville MartinD'Urville Martin was an American actor and director in both film and television. He appeared with regularity in numerous 1970s movies in the blaxploitation genre of films. He also appeared in the first two pilots of what would become All in the Family as Lionel, the role later played by Mike Evans...
, who appears as the villain Willie Green. The film has attained something of a cult status, earning it a following and making it more well-known than many of its counterparts. A sequel, The Human TornadoThe Human TornadoThe Human Tornado also known as Dolemite II, a 1976 cult blaxploitation film, was the sequel to Dolemite. It starred Rudy Ray Moore as Dolemite and Ernie Hudson as Bo.-Plot:...
, was released in 1976. - MandingoMandingo (film)Mandingo is a 1975 film, based on the novel Mandingo by Kyle Onstott and upon the play based thereon by Jack Kirkland. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and featured James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, Lillian Hayman, boxer-turned-actor Ken Norton, and bodybuilder and pro...
: Based on a series of lurid Civil War novels, this focuses on the abuses of slavery and the sexual relations between slaves and slave owners. It was followed by a sequel, DrumDrum (1976 film)Drum is the 1976 sequel to the film Mandingo, and released by United Artists. Starring Warren Oates, Pam Grier , and Ken Norton and directed by Steve Carver, it parodies nineteenth century American slavery like its predecessor...
(1976) starring Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
. - The Candy Tangerine Man: The film opens with pageantry pimp Baron (John Daniels) driving his customised two-tone red and yellow Rolls Royce around downtown L.A at night. His ladies have been coming up short lately and he wants to know why. It turns out that two L.A.P.D. cops - Dempsey and Gordon, who have been after Baron for some time now, have resorted to rousting his girls every chance they get. Indeed in the next scene they have set Baron up with a cop in drag to entrap him with procurement of prostitutes.
1976
- Ebony, Ivory & JadeEbony, Ivory & JadeEbony, Ivory & Jade is a 1976 film by director Cirio Santiago, made in Manila, Philippines. A relatively well-budgeted martial arts feature by Santiago's standards, the film was seen mainly in US drive-in movies, where it was first released as She-Devils in Chains...
: By Cirio Santiago (also known as She Devils in Chains, American Beauty Hostages, Foxfire, Foxforce). Three female athletes are kidnapped during an international track meet in Hong Kong and fight their way to freedom. Another cross-genre blend of blaxploitation and martial arts action films. - The Muthers: Another Cirio Santiago combination of Filipino martial arts action and women-in-prison elements. Jeanne Bell and Jayne Kennedy rescue prisoners held at an evil coffee plantation.
- Passion Plantation (a.k.a. Black Emmanuel, White Emmanuel): A blend of the Mandingo, and EmmanuelleEmmanuelle (film)Emmanuelle is a 1974 French softcore erotic film, directed by Just Jaeckin, and starring Sylvia Kristel. The screenplay was written by Jean-Louis Richard, based on the novel Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman by Emmanuelle Arsan. The music score is by Pierre Bachelet. The film was highly successful in...
are erotic films with interracial sex and savagery. - Velvet SmoothVelvet SmoothVelvet Smooth is a 1976 blaxploitation film.Somebody's running a takeover on crime lord King Lathrop's operation using bogarts in Hannibal Lector lookin’-like masks. Clueless, King Lathrop calls private detective Velvet Smooth for help...
. Johnnie Hill is the titular Velvet Smooth: a female private detective hired to infiltrate the criminal underworld. - Human Tornado. Rudy Ray Moore plays in the sequel to the 1975 film Dolemite.
1977
- Black Fist: A film featuring a streetfighter who goes to work for a white gangster and a corrupt cop. The film is in the public domain. Cast members include Richard LawsonRichard LawsonRichard Lawson is an American actor who has starred in movies and on television. He is perhaps best-known for his roles in science fiction—he portrayed Ryan in the 1982 hit movie Poltergeist, and Dr...
and Dabney ColemanDabney ColemanDabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor, best known for his roles in 9 to 5, WarGames, You've Got Mail, Sworn to Silence, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess and Recess: School's Out.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary... - Black SamuraiBlack SamuraiBlack Samurai is a 1977 American blaxploitation film directed by Al Adamson, starring Jim Kelly. The script is credited to B. Readick, with additional story ideas from Marco Joachim...
: Based on a novel of the same name by Marc Olden, is directed by Al Adamson and stars Jim KellyJim KellyJames Edward Kelly is a former American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the USFL's Houston Gamblers....
. The script is credited to B. Readick, with additional story ideas from Marco Joachim. - Bare KnucklesBare KnucklesBare Knuckles is a 1977 blaxploitation film, starring Robert Viharo, Sherry Jackson and Gloria Hendry. The film was written and directed by Don Edmonds....
: Stars Robert Viharo, Sherry JacksonSherry JacksonSherry Jackson is an American actress and former child star. She made her film debut at seven years old in the musical You're My Everything, starring Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey. During the course of appearing in several of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies during the 1950s as Susie Kettle, one of the...
and Gloria HendryGloria HendryGloria Hendry is an American actress. She is sometimes credited as "Gloria Henry."-Career:Hendry began her acting career in the 1968 Sidney Poitier film For Love of Ivy....
. The film is written and directed by Don Edmonds. Follows L.A. bounty hunter Zachary Kane (Viharo) on the hunt for a masked serial killer on the loose. - Petey Wheatstraw (a.k.a. Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-In-Law): A blaxploitation film written by Cliff Roquemore and stars popular blaxploitation genre comedian Rudy Ray MooreRudy Ray MooreRudy Ray Moore was an American comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer. He was perhaps best known as Dolemite , the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado...
along with Jimmy Lynch, Leroy Daniels, Ernest Mayhand, and Ebony Wright. It is typical of Moore's other films of the era, DolemiteDolemiteDolemite is a 1975 blaxploitation feature film, and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack...
and The Human TornadoThe Human TornadoThe Human Tornado also known as Dolemite II, a 1976 cult blaxploitation film, was the sequel to Dolemite. It starred Rudy Ray Moore as Dolemite and Ernie Hudson as Bo.-Plot:...
, in that it features Rudy Ray Moore's rhyming dialogue.
1978
- Death DimensionDeath DimensionDeath Dimension is a 1978 American B-list action and martial arts film by Al Adamson starring Jim Kelly, Harold Sakata, George Lazenby, Terry Moore, and Aldo Ray.The plot is about a scientist, Professor Mason, who invented a powerful freezing bomb for a gangster leader...
: An action and martial arts film by Al Adamson starring Jim KellyJim KellyJames Edward Kelly is a former American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the USFL's Houston Gamblers....
, Harold Sakata, George Lazenby, Terry Moore, and Aldo RayAldo RayAldo Ray was an American actor.-Life and career:Ray was born in Pen Argyl, PA, to an Italian family of five brothers and one sister. His brother Mario lettered in football at USC in the years 1952-54...
. The movie also goes by the names Death Dimensions, Freeze Bomb, Icy Death, The Kill Factor, and Black Eliminator. The plot revolves about a scientist, Professor Mason, who has invented a powerful freezing bomb for a gangster leader nicknamed "The Pig" (Sakata).
1979
- Disco GodfatherDisco GodfatherDisco Godfather is a 1979 Action film starring Rudy Ray Moore and Carol Speed. Commonly considered a blaxploitation film, the plot centers on Moore's character, a retired cop, who owns and operates a Disco and tries to shut down the local angel dust dealer after his nephew gets "whacked out" on...
(also known as The Avenging Disco Godfather): An action film starring Rudy Ray MooreRudy Ray MooreRudy Ray Moore was an American comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer. He was perhaps best known as Dolemite , the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado...
and Carol SpeedCarol SpeedCarol Speed is an African-American actress best known for her roles in blaxploitation films of the 1970s . She has appeared in 16 films since 1970...
. The plot centers on Moore's character, a retired cop, who owns and operates a discoDiscoDisco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and who tries to shut down the local angel dustPhencyclidinePhencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
dealer after his nephew becomes hooked on the drug.
Post 1970s Blaxploitation Films
- The Last DragonThe Last DragonThe Last Dragon is a 1985 martial arts musical film produced by Rupert Hitzig for Berry Gordy and directed by Michael Schultz. The film was a critical disappointment but a financial success, The Last Dragon is now considered a cult classic. The film stars Taimak, Vanity, Julius Carry, Christopher...
(1985): A blaxploitation of prior Bruce LeeBruce LeeBruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
films in which the lead character is sometimes referred to as Bruce LeRoy. The film was produced by Motown record executive Berry GordyBerry GordyBerry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...
. - I'm Gonna Git You SuckaI'm Gonna Git You SuckaI'm Gonna Git You Sucka is a 1988 blaxploitation parody film written by, directed by and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans. Featured in the film are several black actors who were part of the blaxploitation phenomenon; including Jim Brown, Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas and Isaac Hayes...
(1988) is a comedic spoof of the classic 1970's Blaxploitation movie which features many of its stars: Jim BrownJim BrownJames Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
, Bernie CaseyBernie CaseyBernard Terry "Bernie" Casey is a professional actor who initially had a career as an interscholastic, intercollegiate and professional football player. Casey was also a record-breaking track and field athlete for Bowling Green State University...
, Antonio FargasAntonio FargasAntonio Juan Fargas is an American actor famous for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation movies, as well as his portrayal of Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series Starsky and Hutch.-Biography:...
, Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
etc. - Original GangstasOriginal GangstasOriginal Gangstas is a 1996 action movie set in urban Gary, Indiana starring Blaxploitation film stars such as Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Jim Brown, and Richard Roundtree....
(1996): An action movie which brings together '70s blaxploitation stars Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
, Richard Roundtree, Fred WilliamsonFred WilliamsonFred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...
, and Jim BrownJim BrownJames Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
. - Jackie BrownJackie Brown (film)Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard and pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films....
(1997): Starring Pam GrierPam GrierPamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
, Samuel L. JacksonSamuel L. JacksonSamuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
, and an all-star supporting cast, director Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
pays homage to the blaxploitation genre. Based on the Elmore LeonardElmore LeonardElmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...
novel Rum Punch, Tarantino's title change, casting of Grier, and '70s-style poster art, are all references to Grier's 1974 film Foxy Brown. - SteelSteel (film)Steel is a 1997 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character John Henry Irons, who first appeared in 1993 during the Reign of the Supermen! storyline in the Superman comic book titles. The film stars Shaquille O'Neal as Irons and his alter ego Steel, Annabeth Gish as his wheelchair...
(1997): A film adaptation of the DC ComicsDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
characterSteel (John Henry Irons)Steel , also known as the Man of Steel, is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Universe. First appearing in The Adventures of Superman #500 , he is the third character known as Steel and was created by Louise Simonson and artist Jon Bogdanove...
, stars Shaquille O'NealShaquille O'NealShaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...
and Richard Roundtree. - Pootie TangPootie TangPootie Tang is an American comedy film written and directed by Louis C.K. and released in 2001. It was adapted from a comedy sketch that first appeared on The Chris Rock Show. The character Pootie Tang is a satire of the stereotyped characters who appeared in old blaxploitation films...
(2001): A comedy film incorporating many blaxploitation elements. - Undercover BrotherUndercover BrotherUndercover Brother is a 2002 American comedy film starring Eddie Griffin and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The screenplay is by Michael McCullers and co-executive producer John Ridley, who created the original internet animation characters. It spoofs blaxploitation films of the 1970s as well as a...
(2002): Comedy film centered around a blaxploitation-style secret agent. - Full ClipFull ClipFull Clip is an action movie starring Busta Rhymes, Xzibit, Bubba Smith, Tiny Lister and Mark Boone Junior. It is directed by mink and written by Kantz.-Plot summary:...
(2004): made in the graphic novelGraphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
style. - Hookers In RevoltHookers In RevoltHookers in Revolt is a 2006 Exploitation Film, with the unlikely thematic inspiration of George Orwell's Animal Farm to help back up its radicalized politics, Hookers in Revolt is an inventive, throwback to early 70s blaxploitation, with its prevalence of tough-talkin' pimps and hoes.-Plot:Used and...
(2008): Starring and directed by Sean WeathersSean WeathersSean Weathers is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, editor and actor. Weathers is a no budget horror filmmaker. He began with House of the Damned but has shown improvement with his other two productions...
, with its prevalence of pimps and prostitutes it is an inventive throwback to early 70's Blaxploitation. - Black DynamiteBlack DynamiteBlack Dynamite is a 2009 American film starring Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson, Arsenio Hall, Kevin Chapman and Tommy Davidson. It is a spoof of 1970s blaxploitation films...
(2009): Starring Michael Jai WhiteMichael Jai WhiteMichael Jai White is an American actor and martial artist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, having starred as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 film Spawn...
, is a spoof of blaxploitation films.
See also
- Race recordRace recordRace records were 78 rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans during the early 20th century, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s. They primarily contained race music, comprising a variety of African American musical genres including blues, jazz, and gospel music, though comedy...
- List of blaxploitation films
- Stereotypes of African Americans#Film and television
- List of topics related to Black and African people#Cinema and theater
Further reading
- What It Is...What It Was!; The Black Film Explosion of the ’70s in Words and Pictures by Andres Chavez, Denise Chavez, Gerald Martinez ISBN 0-7868-8377-4
- "The So Called Fall of Blaxploitation" by Ed Guerrero, The Velvet Light Trap #64 Fall 2009
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/the_velvet_light_trap/v064/64.article01_sub12.html