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Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Melvin Van Peebles (written by)
Release Date:
23 October 1993 (Japan)
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Tagline:
The Film that THE MAN doesn't want you to see! more
Plot:
After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Black Man
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Run
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On The Run
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Hell's Angels
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Police
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NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
In Theaters: Black Dynamite
(From Movieline. 16 October 2009, 12:00 PM, PDT)
Exclusive Video: Michael Jai White Is Black Dynamite
(From MovieWeb. 12 October 2009, 2:03 PM, PDT)
(From Movieline. 16 October 2009, 12:00 PM, PDT)
Exclusive Video: Michael Jai White Is Black Dynamite
(From MovieWeb. 12 October 2009, 2:03 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
From Another Era
more (42 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Simon Chuckster | ... | Beetle | |
| Melvin Van Peebles | ... | Sweetback | |
| Hubert Scales | ... | Mu-Mu | |
| John Dullaghan | ... | Commissioner | |
| West Gale | |||
| Niva Rochelle | |||
| Rhetta Hughes | ... | Old Girl Friend | |
| Nick Ferrari | |||
| Ed Rue | |||
| John Amos | ... | Biker (as Johnny Amos) | |
| Lavelle Roby | |||
| Ted Hayden | |||
| Mario Van Peebles | ... | Young Sweetback / Kid (as Mario Peebles) | |
| Sonja Dunson | |||
| Michael Augustus |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Sweet Sweetback (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
97 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Mario Van Peebles's film debut.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Hebrew Hammer (2003)
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (42 total)
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This movie, when first watched by people from my generation (Gen X), doesn't seem to be very coherent. Something strange and psychedelic from a weird era. However, if you watch this movie and then watch How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass, which is a movie about making Sweet Sweetback, you'll see why this was so damn revolutionary. This was the first time Black America told White America on screen that the days of "kissing up to Shirley Temple's ass" were over. It was a political movie about Black America and even Minority America being tired of whiteness, as well as stating that Black America now has its own identity and society. It took some pretty strong courage to make this move when you consider the time frame that it came out in; the early seventies, a period that saw a shift from "I have a dream" to "By any means necessary." I believe this film opened the doors to allow black artistic media to be critical about white America, society, politics and corruption that generally would have been censored before. Sometimes I wonder if this helped pave the way for people like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and even Dave Chapelle. My father, a white man, told me that when he went to see this film back in 1971, the audience screamed and cheered during the opening scene when across the screen it read to "all the Brothers and Sisters who are tired of being held down by the Man." Nowadays people wouldn't really respond to that, not even black society I don't think, but back then it could have gotten you lynched, even in 1971. So when people screamed and cheered in the movie theater when they saw this, I think you can imagine how important a film like this must be in film history. No minority had ever dared to say that on the silver screen before.