Melinda (1972) User Reviews

Frankie is a very pretty man...and he knows it. But he's also a very angry man as well!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 6 December 2016]

Apart from being Jim Kelly's first film, this is a rather ordinary blackspoitation film. It's neither an over the top bad but enjoyable film of the genre nor is it one of the outstanding ones...but lies somewhere in the middle.

When the film begins, Frankie (Calvin Lockhart) is a handsome and successful DJ...and he seems to know just how pretty he is. In fact, when he meets Melinda, he struts his stuff and impresses her so much she does the nasty with him...and they both are then inexplicably in love. However, after Frankie leaves, some unknown fiends come in and trash his pad...and kill Melinda. When Frankie returns, jerks cops arrest him but they cannot hold him...and Frankie decides to work his way up the chain of command in the black and white mobs until he finds Mr. Big and makes him play. And, wisely, for the big showdown, Frankie brings along his kung fu buddies and they have a hellacious smackdown.

If you are looking for pimps and the like, you won't find it in this one. Instead, it's much like a normal drama merged with a blacksploitation film...watchable and enjoyable but not especially memorable.

By the way, like many films in this genre, there is nudity, violence and rough language...which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone!

don't like the guy

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 18 January 2022]

In L. A., radio DJ Frankie J. Parker (Calvin Lockhart) learns karate from his friend Charles Atkins. He meets and has a fling with Melinda. When she's murdered, he's the prime suspect.

I don't like Frankie and it takes too long to get to the murder. It's also a missed opportunity to show the murder. It has many of the blaxploitation styles but to me, it's not strictly blaxploitation. It's just a murder conspiracy mystery. This is probably more notable for introducing black karate champion Jim Kelly. It's a year before his role in Enter the Dragon. There is opportunity to get bloodier into gory violence. It has some action. The fight action is fine although it could be staged better. I would like this much more if I actually like Frankie.

Not The Usual Blackploitation Flick

[hillari · 23 July 2001]

A smooth DJ falls for a woman he's just met. When he finds her dead a short time later, he discovers that she had been killed because of her ties to organized crime. The DJ decides to avenge her death, receiving the help of a woman (the late, great Rosalind Cash) whom he had scorned. This film doesn't exactly follow the bullets and blood formula of many other Blackploitation action films. It does a little better on characterization, especially of the DJ and his scorned gal pal. However, it doesn't get as deep as it promises to be.

Napsploitation

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 2/10 · 16 January 2022]

I thought when you went to the drive-in to watch bl2cksploitation movies it was for cheap thrills.

Where's the entertainment here? The lead actor isn't suave or cool. He's just some vain, obnoxious jagov. The first 40 minutes are consumed with this guy meeting a fine lady, making out, and then finding her dead in his apartment. This should have taken less than 10 minutes.

The rest is hardly any better. Something about the mob. Some karate. And a lot of really terrible acting. The fight scenes, in particular, are laughably bad.

It's all so boring.

A blaxploitaion classic

[galaxxy500 · 8/10 · 28 March 2005]

That super-ego brilliant Mutha Frankie J. Parker played by Calvin Lockhart is a ghetto disc jockey who smooth talks and womanizes until he meets a sultry gal named Melinda played by Vonetta McGee. Things go smoothly until Melinda winds up dead in Frankie's apartment. The mob is behind the hit since Melinda had one of their audio tapes concealed in a cigarette box. Frankie cant take on the mob all by himself so he rounds up a few buddies and struggling businessman and karate instructor Charlie Atkins played by Jim Kelly and together form a small army and go into combat. Kelly, who is responsible for the violence and Lockhart take on thugs, steal their cars and drive up to the mob boss's mob to "clear things up" and "close the deal". In the end Frankie rekindles a lost love interest and Kelly and his crew go back to the real world and leave Frankie and his old time gal to reconcile and understand each other throughout the end of the film. Through this violent action film I saw a lot of the characters emotions, the fear,the struggle,the anger,the courage, and the love and romance. At the end I felt good inside. I could Identify with the characters who went through all that. To me this film has been overlooked and underrated. "Melinda" should be digitally remastered and recorded on DVD. I strongly recommend this film to anyone. Look past the color and the genre. This is your kind of Black Film.

Melinda

[gentk · 8/10 · 22 May 2007]

of all the blaxplotation films in the 70's, Melinda ranks on my list with Shaft, Superfly, Trouble Man, Cotton comes to Harlem, and such like. i had'nt seen it since 1974 maybe, and have been looking for it for more than 30 years. finally, i found it in San Francisco. the DVD was a good print although you knew it was as old as it is/was. Calvin Lockhart was brilliant as the narcissistic Frankie J Parker, and Rosiland Cash's role of Terry, displayed the strength and resolve of a strong Black woman of the time. violent and dark, with a hint of mystery and overloaded with the rage of revenge, Melinda was a thriller. as i watched again, for the first time, the lines all came back and i can remember how many of Lockhart's lines, i began using. incredible how influential movies can be to a 20year old African-American in the 70's.

Just too Sweeet!

[Elbow · 28 March 2001]

This is one in a long line of blaxploitation films made during the 70's that were designed as money making vehicles. Most of them are simply terrible, but Melinda is actually a cool one.

Its basically a revenge tale, but it is chock full of melodrama and excitement. The story is an overdone one, but the films' cheapness actually benefits it. The settings seem authentic and the movie actually manages to capture some street life in it.

Admittedly, the acting is not excellent, but somehow the film manages to be entertaining in a "ghetto" way. Don't go out of your way to see it, though.

Calvin Lockheart is great

[hicksbrya · 10/10 · 24 January 2006]

I enjoyed this movie and Calvin Lockheart is a great actor and he is good on the eyes. I love his voice I have been looking for this movie Melinda for years I can not find it anywhere.All of the actors and actresses did good the plot was good and I enjoyed the action. I have seen Calvin Lockheart in other movies and he did good an all of them as well I would like to see him in something now, I know he is much older now but there are movies for older men also THERE ARE TV shows that he could be on he helped to make the way for actors and actresses of today.He could appear on shows like Girlfriends also The Parkers. That is only a couple of suggestions.I would like to see him in a movie about his life.If anyone know where I can get the movie please post it.

Melinda Showcases Smoldering Chemistry Between Calvin Lockhart & Vonetta McGee

[asgbeat · 8/10 · 20 September 2008]

Though their on-screen time together is short, the dashing Calvin Lockhart and the mesmerizing Vonetta McGee made quite a delicious pair in "Melinda." His mocha complexion and swiftly-melting-heart against her café au lait luminescence and wariness-turning-to-warmth are bewitching to behold in the early seduction scenes of this R-rated, '70s Black cast rarity. From their first encounter in a funky supper club to "back at Frankie's place" and the few days they get to spend together, there is an intoxicating mix of mental chess play, crackling sexuality, sweet humor and soul-baring communicated by veteran Lockhart and then-budding starlet McGee - both wonderful actors.

My frustration with this set up is that because the love scene between "Frankie" and "Melinda" is so potentially erotic (remember there were very few full-on lovemaking scenes between Black actors on the big screen in '72 - especially between two this attractive), someone at MGM deemed it necessary to mute that eroticism by having a henchman follow the first-time lovers home, stand outside the door eavesdropping, become aroused and bring himself to a simultaneous orgasm along with the pair inside. It's truly a travesty. "Melinda" is a mob boss thriller, not "Flip Wilson Sends Up Shaft!" The music and vibe senselessly switch from seductive to comedic as the bad guy outside is making goofy faces while the gorgeous people inside are getting it on all over the living room floor. The lovin' is low-lit by the fireplace which adds an air of mystery yet is ultimately ruined because the editors keep cutting back and forth between the sex-down inside and the brightly lit bulls**t outside. Without the cold shower of "comic relief," this could have gone down as among the era's most arousing love scenes - Black and beyond.

It feels like another case of Hollywood being uncomfortable with and/or afraid of Black sexuality. I wish Mr. Robertson or Mr. Lockhart were still here to reflect on this. Perhaps Ms. McGee could answer me. Did some cigar-chomper at MGM or in the MPAA, after reading the script or seeing the dailies, say, "O.K., we can only keep the sex hot-n-heavy if we break it up every few seconds with some completely out of character (for a thug) stupidity, or just call it a wrap with a fade-to-black at the foreplay stage on the sofa." The "guidelines" for such things were, and still are, just that whimsical...administered on an impossible to pin down case-by-case basis.

Beyond Lockhart & McGee, "Melinda" is a cool slice of diverting entertainment. The controllers of the MGM film library should make this title available in a high quality DVD. As another commenter expressed, even though the budget for "Melinda" was obviously low, director Hugh A. Robertson and the cast created an earthy snapshot of Black Los Angeles better than most from the 70's so-called "blaxploitation" flicks.

"Melinda" also boasts one of the first screen appearances by Black karate champion Jim Kelly (who later co-starred in "Enter the Dragon" with Bruce Lee, and his own star vehicle "Black Belt Jones"). Plus, there is a righteous score by African American composer/arranger Jerry Peters featuring R&B singing great Jerry Butler. If you ever come across a copy of the rare soundtrack Lp (on Pride Records), grab it.

If "Melinda" is ever respectfully released on DVD, the sorely underrated Calvin Lockhart will flash one of his dazzling pearly white smiles from Heaven above - boasting enough wattage to illuminate a month of soulful Sundays.

Not bad, not bad at all

[willandcharlenebrown · 8/10 · 2 July 2019]

Surprisingly pleased at the plot, the leading characters performance and the rest of cast. Even has some funny scenes I just had to record on my phone to send to friends!

Drab blaxploitation effort

[Wizard-8 · 24 December 2016]

The idea of Metro Goldwyn Mayer dipping its toe into the blaxploitation genre may at first sound strange, but actually MGM did this several times, most notably with the "Shaft" films. But while the "Shaft" films are well know to this day, "Melinda" has been all but forgotten today. It doesn't take long upon watching it to figure out why. The first third of the movie is incredibly slow and dull. The next two-thirds has a bit more speed and action, but too little and too late. Director Hugh A. Robertson was obviously hampered by a poor screenplay, but he was also obviously restricted with a limited amount of money, since the movie looks more like an effort for television than for the silver screen. But that's not to say that Robertson should be totally absolved of fault. There are some very poorly directed sequences, and his instructions to the movie's star Calvin Lockhart make the talented actor's character come across as selfish, obnoxious, and cruel. I have a feeling that even the target audience at the time found this a sub par effort, though I'll admit I have seen much worse 1970s blaxploitation films.

Once you get past the 'sploitation, there's quite a good film there.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 9 June 2022]

Calvin Lockhart's Los Angeles D. J. isn't exactly someone that the audience likes as the film begins. He is quite a narcissist, looking in the mirror as if he was the queen in "Snow White", his ego involving his looks making him ridiculously silly and his treatment of women making him a bit of a cad. That seems to change though when he meets the beautiful Vonette McKee and reveals some details from the innermost hidden parts of his soul. Estranged from girlfriend Rosalind Cash (beautiful but the type that puts up with no nonsense), Lockhart seems to genuinely fall in love with her, showing up back at his apartment when his shift is over with flowers, only to find it ransacked and her butchered to death. He must now find a way to get himself out of this mess, and ironically, it's Cash who steps up to help him.

I was surprised to see Paul Stevens show up in this as the man McKee had been in love with previously, a powerful white man with obvious mob connections, begrudging the fact that someone in his organization went too far in dealing with her. Having enjoyed his work as the honest lawyer and town mayor Brian Bancroft on "Another World", it was nice to see him playing a darker character even if here he's not entirely evil.

What is really good about this film is the character detail used to make the viewer change their minds about the leading character, going from one extreme to another, and making Lockhart much more human. I could also imagine The audiences cheering Cash on when she has a rant inside a bank so she can get into McKee's safety deposit box. She may be trying to commit a con, but even so, it's a great scene.

The film had quite a few erotic scenes, the one between Lockhart and McKee one of the hottest ever (complete with another character getting his jollies listening outside the door), and other ones played in a comical manner which always result in Lockhart bursting in and kicking the guy's butt, obviously ruining the mood. Certainly this had all the elements that make blaxploitation a powerful 70's genre, but other elements that gave it mainstream interest as well.

bad frankie j takes on the mob

[fatherpoole · 10/10 · 31 October 2005]

one of the few black films overlooked by the same studios that were saved by these so called blackploitation films.bad genre title,the only thing exploited were the actors who were not paid the money they deserved.lot of action,and dramatic acting.the late great miss cash should have won an Oscar for performance for her dual role in this film. a great introduction for Jim Kelley who should have had a great action film career as the great chuck Norris.these films in the early 1970s were just plain great fun and escapism.studios be aware there are millions to be made on forgotten films such as black belt Jones, three the hard way,trouble man,Melinda,abbey,hit-man,Gordon's war,sparkle and others that should be remastered to DVD.just check out the profits to already released titles

such as the mack,super fly,foxy brown and Corly high.please surprise us fans of a bygone and special era.

great action career as the great chuck Norris