Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
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73% of critics liked it
(15 reviews) -
49% of users liked it
(3,230 ratings)
Produced, directed, written, scored by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles, this landmark "blaxploitation" film was as controversial as it was popular for its then X-rated story of one African-American man's triumph over the Man. After beating a couple of white cops he witnessed… More Produced, directed, written, scored by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles, this landmark "blaxploitation" film was as controversial as it was popular for its then X-rated story of one African-American man's triumph over the Man. After beating a couple of white cops he witnessed brutalizing a local black revolutionary, sex show performer Sweetback (Van Peebles) has to go on the run. As he flees through decrepit South Central Los Angeles, Sweetback demonstrates his formidable potency through sex as well as violence, evading the police manhunt by any means necessary. As Sweetback runs off into the sunset, however, Van Peebles warns that the story, like the 1960s racial strife, isn't over. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Directed By
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Written By
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Classics
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1971 Wide
- Studio
- Xenon
Critic Reviews
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Michael Kerbel, Village Voice
The first black director to break into commercial cinema, Van Peebles obviously feels deeply about black oppression. But he has chosen, paradoxically, to make the kinds of unrealistic films for which blacks have justly criticized white film-makers.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
A shrewd and powerful mix of commercial ingredients and ideological intent.
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Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Totally uncompromising and grindingly repetitive, the film nevertheless accumulates a kind of hallucinatory groove, with unexpected shafts of bizarre humour and vigorous, experimental new wave direction.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
Instead of dramatizing injustice, Van Peebles merchandizes it.
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, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A landmark in Black filmmaking in the U.S., this angry, extravagant, loud, belligerent movie reaches a high pitch early on and stays there.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Melvin Van Peebles
as Sweetback
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Simon Chuckster
as Beetle
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Hubert Scales
as Mu-Mu
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John Dullaghan
as Commissioner
- West Gale
- Niva Rochelle
- John Amos
- Nick Ferrari
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Rhetta Hughes
as Old Girl Friend
- Lavelle Roby
- Ed Rue
