Hubert Scales, John Dullaghan, Melvin Van Peebles

Renegade pimp Sweetback hits the road after hacking up two corrupt police officers who were busying themselves with brutally beating up a young black man.

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53% liked it

2,460 ratings

Critics

79% liked it

14 critics

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Melvin Van Peebles

Release Date: January 1, 1971

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DVD Release Date: January 14, 2003

Stats: 217 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (217)


  • October 16, 2009
    This is a landmark film for many reasons, and although it is rough around the edges, I urge everyone to at least watch it once, and then watch the story of the making of this film, Baadasssss! (A.K.A. How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass), made by the directors son, Mario Van...( read more) Peebles.

    It is very easy for a modern audience to perhaps overlook this film as one of the slew of 'Blaxpliotation' films produced in the 70s, however this stands out firstly as virtually the originator of that mode of films, and as a crusade for a young, talented black artist and director to make a film that is both honest and challenging about the representation of black people in cinema.

    If nothing else you must respect Melvin Van Peebles for the Guerrilla film making techniques that created this movie.

    This film is a great argument for the importance to minority groups within any society to gain access to and control of media production in order to challenge dominant ideologies and representations put forward in mainstream media.

    It is also virtually impossible to view Baadasssss! without a tear coming to your eyes, so difficult and harrowing was Melvin Van Peebles journey to get this film made.
  • January 3, 2008
    On one hand, a vibrant but muddled fugitive-on-the-run story... on the other, a remarkable cultural milestone. Independent, amazingly low-budget and experimental, Van Peebles work influenced the way in which African-Americans would break the color-barrier in film by directly spaw...( read more)ning the Blaxploitation genre.

    That said, this movie is NOT Blaxploitation, instead having all the earmarks of an independent experimental film... Blaxploitation was merely Hollywood's response to this movies groundbreaking thematic content. To look at this movie without context, only looking at its technical execution, loses much of what made it powerful. While later films would also have low-budgets and deal with similar militant themes, they nowhere near reached the raw content and reality of this film: Peebles' actually contracted Gonorrhea from the sex-scenes in the film, for god sakes. There are some movies which would be impossible to ever duplicate, and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song proudly stands as one of them.
  • April 16, 2009
    A truly independent vision and the cornerstone of blaxploitation cinema.
  • May 30, 2008
    Bad.
  • May 16, 2008
    After hearing all the hype, I was a bit let down.
  • November 19, 2009
    While Sweetback (Melvin Van Peebles) is being taken to the police station for questioning, the cops pick up another black man and start beating on him. Sweetback comes to the rescue and kills the cop and spends the rest of the movie on the run.
    This is considered the first blax...( read more)ploitation film (coming out before 'Shaft' by a few months) and was made with a very limited budget. The first half of the movie is okay with Sweetback trying to find a safe haven within the black community that he has become a legend within. After the first forty minutes it's basically scene after scene of Sweetback running through the city and the desert as if they had run out of script or didn't have much of a script to work with in the first place.
    Mario Van Peeples made a great movie about the making of this one called 'Badass.' I'd say watch that movie with this one. This one on it's own without the history behind it isn't that great of a movie.
  • October 9, 2009
    Wow, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I don't think it was this. A landmark of cinema, this film doesn't pull any punches, from the first memorable scene where young Sweetback gets his name, via a bunch of violence, sex and racism, through to the second half which mostly i...( read more)nvolves running a lot. An Earth Wind and Fire soundtrack, but you won't be hearing any of their hits. One of a kind. .
  • September 4, 2009
    Truly a one of a kind movie that deserves to be seen more than once. In my own opinion to truly appreciate this film you have to go see Mario Van Peebles Badassssss. It'll explain the films need to be made in the first place plus it shows how hard making a film really is especial...( read more)ly one of this caliber.
  • August 2, 2009
    The ultimate in grungy guerrilla filmmaking. It's very wild and very explicit, but very enjoyable as Blaxploitation.
  • January 16, 2009
    Love what it did for African-American cinema but, when push comes to shove, it really isn't a very good film. Not without its own idiosyncratic style, but it's basically 80 minutes of a man runnin' & f**kin'.

Comments


  • rayman0071
    January 14, 2008
    This was the movie that opened a LOT OF DOORS for black Hollywood during the 1970's and this was one of them. Without Melvin Van Peebles,we would have never heard of other black films that exploded during the 70's.
    One of the highest grossing independent films of 1971,and was also historical as well by being the first "X" rated movie to feature an all-African American cast. Worth seeing too.

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Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song Trivia


  • Baadasssss! tells the story of Melvin Van Peebles as he tries to make which movie?  Answer »
  • Is this a real movie title? Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971...maybe)  Answer »

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