This movie was great. I remember when I was a youngster in the early 70's, I heard about this Sweetback" movie. My father and his friends joked about being bad as "Sweetback", but I never understood it. Later on in high school, I finally heard about the movie, but was never in any situation where I could see it. When I was thirty-something, I finally saw Sweet Sweetback on VHS and I thought it was a trip with the grainy pictures and the sex scenes and the cops and the music. I did not understand then what a big deal the movie was when it came out twenty years earlier, and ultimately I thought that this movie could not have done well. When I saw Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, I really became engaged in the making of movies because I wanted to know what moved Spike to make such a film. I read everything he put out about making Do the Right Thing, as well as She's Gotta Have It and School Daze. This movie making sojourn took me back to earlier movie production efforts and led me to understand the struggles of early black film makers. Ultimately, I came upon Sweetback again. My new found research uncovered that Earth Wind and Fire had played the music for the movie. Needless to say EWF is treasured in my household, (Love's Holiday from their greatest album ever, (All N All 1977) is the song my wife and I were married to) After that epiphany, I wondered what it took to put this movie together.
Mario Van Peebles brought it home for me. This movie 'Baddasss' was such a great story, I wish I was enlightened when I was 12 or 13 when it came out just to say I was. Mario's portrayal of Melvin was surreal; some clips had Mario actually seem darker skinned, like Melvin. The exhaustive, demanding, stressful pursuit of his goal; the single-minded determination to succeed despite all of the barriers; and the supporting figures throughout the cause really was amazing! I don't know what a spoiler is but this may count, I thought the cameos and stories of the participants at the end were fantastic, especially Maurice and Verdine White and the last cameo.
I saw the movie on cable PPV at home and I gave it a standing ovation. I hope this movie gets Mario a well-deserved Academy nomination, but more importantly, I hope it gets seen by any aspiring film-maker.
This movies is a fitting honor to a phenomenal trailblazer. Rod Walker
Mario Van Peebles brought it home for me. This movie 'Baddasss' was such a great story, I wish I was enlightened when I was 12 or 13 when it came out just to say I was. Mario's portrayal of Melvin was surreal; some clips had Mario actually seem darker skinned, like Melvin. The exhaustive, demanding, stressful pursuit of his goal; the single-minded determination to succeed despite all of the barriers; and the supporting figures throughout the cause really was amazing! I don't know what a spoiler is but this may count, I thought the cameos and stories of the participants at the end were fantastic, especially Maurice and Verdine White and the last cameo.
I saw the movie on cable PPV at home and I gave it a standing ovation. I hope this movie gets Mario a well-deserved Academy nomination, but more importantly, I hope it gets seen by any aspiring film-maker.
This movies is a fitting honor to a phenomenal trailblazer. Rod Walker