Emma Mae (1976)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Jamaa Fanaka

Writer:

Jamaa Fanaka (writer)

Release Date:

1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Mess with her man and she'll bust your face.

Plot:

A native young girl from the South moves in with her relatives in a Los Angeles ghetto. At first she is made fun of...

Plot Keywords:

Blaxploitation | Hit In Crotch | Racial Slur | Independent Film

Cast

Jerri Hayes	...	Emma Mae
Ernest Williams II	...	Jesse Amos
Charles D. Brooks III	...	Ezekiel 'Zeke' Johnson
Leopoldo Mandeville	...	Chay
Malik Carter	...	'Big Daddy' Johnson
Eddie Allen	...	James
Gammy Burdett	...	Daisy Stansell
Teri Taylor	...	Dara Stansell
Synthia James	...	Ulika Stansell
Robert Slaughter	...	Devo
Eddy C. Dyer	...	Huari Stansell (as Eddy Dyer)
Laetitia Burdett	...	Melik Stansell
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Barrese	...	Cop at carwash
Stephanie A. Bell	...	Hun-ee
Pam Belson	...	Girl at party
Alex Brown	...	Uniformed cop
Al Cowart	...	Jerimi
Debra Crosby	...	Girl at party
Manny Cuprill	...	Cop at carwash
Michelle Davison	...	Shirley
Ruth Delahoussaye	...	Bea
Alicia Dhanifu	...	Belly dancer (as Alicia Dhanifu Jones)
Sherri Drake	...	Hun-ee
Charles Elder	...	Plainclothes policeman
Dwaine Fobbs	...	Dancer observer
Kristi House	...	Bank teller
Dexter King	...	Fight spectator
John Laird	...	Plainclothes policeman
Cynthia Mitchell	...	Sarah 'Slick'
Cheryl Moffitt	...	Hun-ee
James Moffitt	...	Hun
Smokey Oneil	...	Girl at party
Garst Reese	...	Police captain
Doug Sides	...	Conga drummer
Eddie Smith	...	Uniformed cop
Hank Smith	...	Mr. Davies
Tricia St. James	...	Carmen
Tyrone S.B. Thompson	...	'Businessman Leader'
Jewell Williams	...	Maddie
Ernest Wilson	...	Hun (as Ernest Wilson III)

Also Known As:

Black Sister's Revenge

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA | USA:R | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Compton, California, USA

Company:

Bob-Bea Productions

Quotes:

Emma Mae: Look at him! A man who goes on about gang wars and can't even hold his own against a woman!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: Emma Mae/Penitentiary (#1.35)" (2008)

An average and forgettable blaxploitation flick

The sweet but awkward and homely country girl Emma Mae moves to Los Angles to live with her aunt and uncle for a little while. After at first being made fun of Emma Mae finds a boyfriend and starts to organize a carwash with all of her friends in order to make money. After the car wash is shut down Emma Mae joins a radical black revolutionary group. "Black Sister's Revenge" (originally titled "Emma Mae" seems to have picked up quite a following as one of the unsung gems of the 70's blaxploitation sub-genre. Why, I don't know, because personally I thought it was a rather average and forgettable, if somewhat entertaining film. There is certainly good in "Black Sister's Revenge". First off Jerri Hayes gives a very convincing performance Emma Mae and handles her character arc very well. In addition the score is a good and atypical one, certainly a far cry in style from the scores of "Shaft", "Coffy", or "Black Caesar", but it still manages to work. And the plot is certainly decent enough and hits on a couple of good points. Ultimately however what renders "Black Sister's Revenge" an average film going experience is that it forgets the "exploitation" part of "blaxploitation". It moves at a leisurely pace, which I didn't mind for the most part, but it also drags many times. In addition, it's far too talky, which wouldn't have been a problem had the dialog been more interesting, but at lass it's not. Overall "Black Sister's Revenge" is a pretty mundane film, there are certainly worse blaxploitation films out there, but there are a lot better ones as well.