InAmerican cinema,Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from theexploitation film genre that began in the 1960s and flourished throughout the early to mid 1970s,[1] consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the blackcivil rights movement, theblack power movement, and theBlack Panther Party, political and sociological circumstances that facilitated black artists reclaiming their power of the representation of the black ethnic identity in the arts. The termblaxploitation is aportmanteau of the wordsBlack andexploitation, coined byJunius Griffin, president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood branch of theNAACP in 1972. In criticizing the Hollywood portrayal or mockery of the multiracial society of the US, Griffin said that theblaxploitation genre was "proliferating offenses" to and against the black community, by perpetuating racist stereotypes of inherent criminality.[2]
After the cultural misrepresentation of black people in therace films of the 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s, the Blaxploitation movie genre presented black characters and black communities as the protagonists and the places of the story, rather than as background or secondary characters in the story, such as theMagical negro or as the victims of criminals.[3] To counter the racist misrepresentations ofBlackness in the American movie business,UCLA financially assisted black students to attend film school. The cultural emergence of the Blaxploitation subgenre was facilitated by theHollywood movie studios adopting a permissive system of film ratings in 1968.[4]
Initially, blaxploitation films were black cinema produced for the entertainment ofBlack people in the cities of the US, but the entertainment appeal of the black characters and human stories extended into the mainstream cinema of corporateHollywood.[5] Recognizing the profitability of the financially inexpensive blaxploitation films, the corporate movie studios then produced blaxploitation movies specifically for the cultural sensibilities of mainstream viewers. The movie-business magazineVariety reported the filmsSweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) andShaft as themainstream blaxploitation films that followed the assimilation of blaxploitation into mainstream cinema, by way of the filmCotton Comes to Harlem (1970).[6] Blaxploitation films were the first to featuresoundtracks offunk andsoul music.[7]
[S]upercharged, bad-talking, highly romanticized melodramas about Harlem superstuds, the pimps, the private eyes and the pushers who more or less singlehandedly make whitey's corrupt world safe for black pimping, black private-eyeing and black pushing.
Blaxploitation films set in theNortheast orWest Coast mainly take place in poor urban neighborhoods. Pejorative terms for white characters, such as "cracker" and "honky", are commonly used. Blaxploitation films set in theSouth often deal withslavery andmiscegenation.[9][10] The genre's films are often bold in their statements and use violence, sex, drug trafficking and other shocking qualities to provoke the audience.[3] The films usually portray black protagonists overcoming "The Man" or emblems of the white majority that oppresses the black community.
Following the example set bySweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, many blaxploitation films featurefunk andsoul jazz soundtracks with heavybass, funky beats andwah-wah guitars. These soundtracks are notable for complexity that was not common to the radio-friendly funk tracks of the 1970s. They also often feature a rich orchestration which included flutes and violins.[11]
Blaxploitation was one of the first film categories to have female leads portray brave, heroic, active protagonists. Actresses such asPam Grier inCoffy andGloria Hendry inBlack Belt Jones opened the door for actresses to become action stars which inspired later films such asKill Bill andSet It Off.
Afeni Shakur claimed that every aspect of culture (including cinema) in the 1960s and 1970s was influenced by theBlack Power movement.Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was one of the first films to incorporate black powerideology and permit black actors to be the stars of their own narratives, rather than being relegated to the typical roles available to them (such as the "mammy" figure and other low-status characters).[12][13] Films such asShaft brought the black experience to film in a new way, allowing black political and social issues that had been ignored in cinema to be explored.Shaft and its protagonist, John Shaft, broughtAfrican-American culture to the mainstream world.[13]Sweetback andShaft were both influenced by the black power movement, containingMarxist themes, solidarity and social consciousness alongside the genre-typical images of sex and violence.
Knowing that film could bring about social and cultural change, the Black Power movement seized the genre to highlight black socioeconomic struggles in the 1970s; many such films contained black heroes who were able to overcome the institutional oppression of African-American culture and history.[3] Later films such asSuper Fly softened the rhetoric of black power, encouraging resistance within thecapitalist system rather than a radical transformation of society.Super Fly still embraced theblack nationalist movement in its argument that black and white authority cannot coexist easily.
The genre's role in exploring and shapingrace relations in the United States has been controversial. Some held that the blaxploitation trend was a token of black empowerment, but others accused the movies of perpetuating commonwhite stereotypes about black people.[14] As a result, many called for the end of the genre. TheNAACP,Southern Christian Leadership Conference andNational Urban League joined to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation. Their influence in the late 1970s contributed to the genre's demise. Literary criticAddison Gayle wrote in 1974, "The best example of this kind of nihilism / irresponsibility are the Black films; here is freedom pushed to its most ridiculous limits; here are writers and actors who claim that freedom for the artist entails exploitation of the very people to whom they owe their artistic existence."[15]
Films such asSuper Fly andThe Mack received intense criticism not only for the stereotype of the protagonist (generalizing pimps as representative of all African-American men, in this case) but for portraying all black communities as hotbeds for drugs and crime.[16][17][18]
Blaxploitation films likeShaft,Car Wash, andSuper Fly feature hypermasculine women, effeminate men, and 'jester-like' comic relief homosexual caricatures. These depictions have been criticized for reinforcing stereotypical notions of black homosexuality, though some films likeCar Wash have been noted in allowing queer characters to respond to pejorative accusations levied against them.[19]
Blaxploitation films such asMandingo (1975) provided mainstream Hollywood producers, in this caseDino De Laurentiis, a cinematic way to depict plantation slavery with all of its brutal, historical and racial contradictions and controversies, including sex, miscegenation, rebellion. The story world also depicts the plantation as one of the main origins of boxing as a sport in the U.S.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed black film makers, particularlySpike Lee (Do the Right Thing),John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), andAllen and Albert Hughes (Menace II Society) focused on black urban life in their movies. These directors made use of blaxploitation elements while incorporating implicit criticism of the genre's glorification of stereotypical "criminal" behavior.
Alongside accusations of exploiting stereotypes, the NAACP also criticized the blaxploitation genre of exploiting the black community and culture of America, by creating films for a profit that those communities would never see, despite being the vastly misrepresented main focus of many blaxploitation film plots. Many film professionals still believe that there is no truly equal "Black Hollywood" as evidenced by the "Oscars So White" scandal in 2015 that caused uproar when no black actors were nominated for "Best Actor" at the Academy Awards.[13]
Slavesploitation, a subgenre of blaxploitation in literature and film, flourished briefly in the late 1960s and 1970s.[20][21] As its name suggests, the genre is characterized by sensationalistic depictions of slavery.
Abrams, arguing thatQuentin Tarantino'sDjango Unchained (2012) finds its historical roots in the slavesploitation genre, observes that slavesploitation films are characterized by "crassly exploitative representations of oppressed slave protagonists".[22]
One early antecedent of the genre isSlaves (1969), which Gaines notes was "not 'slavesploitation' in the vein of later films", but which nonetheless featured graphic depictions of beatings and sexual violence against slaves.[23] Novotny argues thatBlacula (1972), although it does not depict slavery directly, is historically linked to the slavesploitation subgenre.[24]
By far, the best-known and best-studied exemplar of slavesploitation isMandingo, a1957 novel which was adapted into a1961 play and a1975 film. Indeed,Mandingo was so well known that a contemporary reviewer ofDie the Long Day, a 1972 novel byOrlando Patterson, called it an example of the "Mandingo genre".[25] The film, panned on its release, has been subject to widely divergent critical assessments.[26]Robin Wood, for instance, argued in 1998 that it is the "greatest film about race ever made inHollywood, certainly prior to Spike Lee and in some respects still".[27]
Blaxploitation films have had an enormous and complicated influence on American cinema. Filmmaker and exploitation film fanQuentin Tarantino, for example, has made numerous references to the blaxploitation genre in his films. An early blaxploitation tribute can be seen in the character of "Lite", played bySy Richardson, inRepo Man (1984).[28][29] Richardson later wrotePosse (1993), which is a kind of blaxploitationWestern.
John Singleton'sShaft (2000), starringSamuel L. Jackson, is a modern-day interpretation of a classic blaxploitation film. The 1997 filmHoodlum starringLaurence Fishburne portrays a fictional account of black mobsterEllsworth "Bumpy" Johnson and recasts gangster blaxploitation with a 1930s twist. In 2004,Mario Van Peebles releasedBaadasssss!, about the making of his father Melvin's movie (with Mario playing Melvin). 2007'sAmerican Gangster, based on the true story of heroin dealerFrank Lucas, takes place in the early 1970s in Harlem and has many elements similar in style to blaxploitation films, specifically its prominent featuring of the song "Across 110th Street".
Blaxploitation films have profoundly impacted contemporaryhip-hop culture. Several prominenthip hop artists, includingSnoop Dogg,Big Daddy Kane,Ice-T,Slick Rick, andToo Short, have adopted the no-nonsensepimp persona popularized first by ex-pimpIceberg Slim's 1967 bookPimp and subsequently by films such asSuper Fly,The Mack, andWillie Dynamite. In fact, many hip-hop artists have paid tribute to pimping within their lyrics (most notably50 Cent's hit single "P.I.M.P.") and have openly embraced the pimp image in theirmusic videos, which include entourages of scantily-clad women, flashy jewelry (known as "bling"), and luxuryCadillacs (referred to as "pimpmobiles"). The most famous scene ofThe Mack, featuring the "AnnualPlayers Ball", has become an often-referencedpop culture icon—most recently byChappelle's Show, where it was parodied as the "Playa Hater's Ball". The genre's overseas influence extends to artists such as Norway's hip-hop duoMadcon.[30]
In 1980, opera directorPeter Sellars (not to be confused with actorPeter Sellers) produced and directed a staging ofMozart's operaDon Giovanni in the manner of a blaxploitation film, set in contemporary Spanish Harlem, with African-American singers portraying the anti-heroes as street-thugs, killing by gunshot rather than with a sword, using recreational drugs, and partying almost naked.[32] It was later released on commercial video and can be seen onYouTube.[33]
A 2016 video game,Mafia III, is set in the year 1968 and revolves around Lincoln Clay, a mixed-race African-American orphan raised by"black mob".[34] After the murder of his surrogate family at the hands of theItalian mafia, Lincoln Clay seeks vengeance on those who took away the only thing that mattered to him.
The notoriety of the blaxploitation genre has led to many parodies.[35] The earliest attempts to mock the genre,Ralph Bakshi'sCoonskin andRudy Ray Moore'sDolemite, date back to the genre's heyday in 1975.
Coonskin was intended to deconstruct racial stereotypes, from earlyminstrel show stereotypes to more recent stereotypes found in blaxploitation film itself. The work stimulated great controversy even before its release when theCongress of Racial Equality challenged it. Even though distribution was handed to a smaller distributor who advertised it as an exploitation film, it soon developed a cult following with black viewers.[6]
Dolemite, less serious in tone and produced as a spoof, centers around a sexually active black pimp played by Rudy Ray Moore, who based the film on hisstand-up comedy act. A sequel,The Human Tornado, followed.
Robert Townsend's comedyHollywood Shuffle features a young black actor who is tempted to take part in a white-produced blaxploitation film.
The satirical bookOur Dumb Century features an article from the 1970s entitled "Congress Passes Anti-Blaxploitation Act: Pimps, Players Subject to Heavy Fines".
FOX's network television comedy,MADtv, has frequently spoofed theRudy Ray Moore-created franchiseDolemite, with a series of sketches performed by comic actorAries Spears, in the role of "The Son of Dolemite". Other sketches include the characters "Funkenstein", "Dr. Funkenstein" and more recentlyCondoleezza Rice as a blaxploitation superhero. A recurring theme in these sketches is the inexperience of the cast and crew in the blaxploitation era, with emphasis on ridiculous scripting and shoddy acting, sets, costumes, and editing. The sketches are testaments to the poor production quality of the films, with obvious boom mike appearances and intentionally poor cuts and continuity.
Another of FOX's network television comedies,Martin starringMartin Lawrence, frequently references the blaxploitation genre. In the Season Three episode "All The Players Came", when Martin organizes a "Player's Ball" charity event to save a local theater, several stars of the blaxploitation era, such asRudy Ray Moore,Antonio Fargas,Dick Anthony Williams andPam Grier all make cameo appearances. In one scene, Martin, in character as aging pimp "Jerome", refers to Pam Grier as "Sheba, Baby" in reference to her 1975 blaxploitation feature film of the same name.
In the movieLeprechaun in the Hood, a character played byIce-T pulls a baseball bat from his Afro. This scene alludes to a similar scene inFoxy Brown, in whichPam Grier hides a small semi-automatic pistol in her Afro.
Adult Swim'sAqua Teen Hunger Force series has a recurring character called "Boxy Brown" – a play on Foxy Brown. An imaginary friend ofMeatwad, Boxy Brown is a cardboard box with a crudely drawn face with a French cut that dons an afro. Whenever Boxy speaks, '70s funk music, typical of blaxploitation films, plays in the background. The cardboard box also has a confrontational attitude anddialect similar to many heroes of this film genre.
Some of the TVs found in the action video gameMax Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne feature a Blaxploitation-themed parody of the originalMax Payne game calledDick Justice, after its main character. Dick behaves much like the original Max Payne (down to the "constipated" grimace and metaphorical speech) but wears an afro and mustache and speaks inEbonics.
Duck King, a fictional character created for the video game seriesFatal Fury, is a prime example of foreign black stereotypes.
Jefferson Twilight, a character inThe Venture Bros., is a parody of the comic-book character Blade (a black, half human, half-vampire vampire hunter), as well as a blaxploitation reference. He has an afro, sideburns, and a mustache. He carries swords, dresses in stylish 1970s clothing, and says that he hunts "Blaculas".[36]
A scene from the Season 9 episode ofThe Simpsons, "Simpson Tide", shows Homer Simpson watchingExploitation Theatre. A voice-over announces fake movie titles such asThe Blunch Black of Blotre Blame.
Uptight, a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It was intended as an updated version of John Ford's 1935 filmThe Informer, based on the book of the same name by Liam O'Flaherty, but the setting was transposed from Dublin to Cleveland. The soundtrack was performed byBooker T. & the MG's. This movie follows the story of a Black nationalist organization in Cleveland (largely based in the Hough and Glenville neighborhoods) that becomes disillusioned with non-violence after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and prepares for urban guerilla warfare.
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is written, produced, scored, directed by and starsMelvin Van Peebles. The hero, named Sweetback because of his sexual powers, is an apolitical sex worker. His pimp, Beadle, makes a deal with a couple of police officers to let them take Sweetback into the station so it looks like the cops are picking up suspects. While Sweetback is in custody, the police arrest a young black militant and take him to a rural area to torture him. Sweetback steps in and beats the police unconscious. With the police chasing him, Sweetback comes to understand the power of the black community sticking together. He uses his ingenuity and survival skills to outwit the police and escape to Mexico.[37] Music byEarth, Wind & Fire.
The Bus Is Coming is a 1971 American drama film about a young black soldier who returns home to Los Angeles from combat in Vietnam to find out that his brother had been killed by a gang of racist cops. He struggles between maintaining his beliefs surrounding liberalism and centrism, or being radicalized from his brother's death, and possibly joining the black nationalist organization the Black Fist. This movie was directed by Wendell James Franklin and starred Mike B. Simms and, Burl Bullock.
Come Back, Charleston Blue, starring Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques, loosely based on Chester Himes' novel The Heat's On. It is a sequel to the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem. All tracks written byDonny Hathaway except "Little Ghetto Boy"
Hit Man (dir.George Armitage) is the story of anOakland hit man, played by formerNFL playerBernie Casey, who comes toLos Angeles after his brother is murdered. He learns that his niece has been forced into pornography. She is eventually murdered. He sets out to murder everyone directly involved, from a porn star (Pam Grier), to a theater owner (Ed Cambridge), to a man he looked up to as a child (Rudy Challenger), and a mobster (Don Diamond).
Hammer (dir. Bruce D. Clark) stars Fred Williamson as B.J. Hammer, a boxer who gets mixed up with a crooked manager who wants him to throw a fight for the Mafia.
Blacula is a take onDracula which features an African prince (played byWilliam H. Marshall) who is bitten and imprisoned byCount Dracula. Once freed from his coffin, he spreads terror in modern-day Los Angeles.
Melinda (dir. Hugh Robertson) features music by Jerry Peters and Jerry Butler.[40]
Slaughter stars Jim Brown as an ex-Green Beret who seeks revenge against a crime syndicate for the murder of his parents. It spawned the sequel,Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973).
Trouble Man starsRobert Hooks as "Mr. T.", a hard-edged private detective who tends to take justice into his own hands. Although the film itself was unsuccessful, it did enjoy a successful soundtrack written, produced and performed byMotown artistMarvin Gaye.
The Final Comedown (dir. Oscar Williams) features music by Grant Green and Wade Marcus, and stars Billy Dee Williams. The film is an examination of racism in the United States and depicts a shootout between a radical black nationalist group and the police, with the backstory leading up to the shootout told through flashbacks.
Black Gunn is a 1972 American neo-noir crime thriller film, directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Jim Brown, Martin Landau, Brenda Sykes, Herbert Jefferson Jr. and Luciana Paluzzi. The film is considered an entry blaxploitation sub-genre, but is unique to the genre in several different ways. The film is set in Los Angeles where a nighttime robbery of an illegal mafia bookmaking operation is carried out by the militant African-American organization BAG (Black Action Group). Though successful, several of the bookmakers and one of the burglars are killed. The mastermind behind the robbery, a Vietnam veteran named Scott, is the brother of a prominent nightclub owner, Gunn. Seeking safe haven, Scott hides out at his brother's mansion after a brief reunion.
Cleopatra Jones (1973) and its sequel,Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975), starTamara Dobson as a karate-chopping government agent, with the mutual support of the Black Nationalist B&S (Brothers & Sisters) House. The first film marks the beginning of a subgenre of blaxploitation films focusing on strong female leads taking an active role in shootouts and fights. Some of these films includeCoffy,Black Belt Jones,Foxy Brown andT.N.T. Jackson.
Coffy,Pam Grier stars as Coffy, a nurse turned vigilante who takes revenge on all those who hooked her 11-year-old sister on heroin.Coffy marks Grier's biggest hit and was re-worked forFoxy Brown,Friday Foster andSheba Baby.
Detroit 9000 is set inDetroit, MI and features street-smart white detective Danny Bassett (Alex Rocco) who teams with educated black detective Sgt. Jesse Williams (Hari Rhodes) to investigate the theft of $400,000 at a fund-raiser for Representative Aubrey Hale Clayton (Rudy Challenger). Championed byQuentin Tarantino, it was released on video byMiramax in April 1999.
Gordon's War starsPaul Winfield as a Vietnam vet who recruits ex-Army buddies to fight the Harlem drug dealers and pimps responsible for the heroin-fueled death of his wife.
Live and Let Die, aJames Bond movie directed byGuy Hamilton and starringRoger Moore. Many of the villains and allies are based on stock blaxploitation characters.
Scream Blacula Scream is the sequel toBlacula. William H. Marshall reprises his role as Blacula/Mamuwalde.
The Spook Who Sat By the Door is adapted fromSam Greenlee's novel and directed byIvan Dixon with music byHerbie Hancock. A token blackCIA employee, who is secretly ablack nationalist, leaves his position to train a street gang in CIA tactics and guerilla warfare to become an army of "freedom fighters". The film was reportedly pulled from distribution because of its politically controversial message and depictions of an Americanrace war. Until its 2004DVD release, it was hard to find, save for infrequentbootlegVHS copies. In 2012, the film was included in the USA Library of Congress National Film Registry.[42]
Willie Dynamite,Roscoe Orman (Gordon fromSesame Street fame) plays a pimp. As in many blaxploitation films, the lead character drives a customized Cadillac Eldorado Coupe (the same car was used inMagnum Force).
Abby is a version ofThe Exorcist and starsCarol Speed as a virtuous young woman possessed by a demon. Ms. Speed also sings the title song.William H. Marshall (ofBlacula fame) conducts the exorcism of Abby on the floor of adiscotheque. A hit in its time, it was later pulled from the theaters after Warner Bros. successfully sued AIP over copyright issues.
Black Belt Jones,Jim Kelly, who is better known for his role as "Mister Williams" in theBruce Lee filmEnter the Dragon, is given a leading role. He plays Black Belt Jones, a federal agent/martial arts expert who takes on the mob with the support of a Black Nationalist organization, the "Black Student Union", as he avenges the murder of a karate school owner.
Black Eye is an action-mystery starring Fred Williamson as a private detective investigating murders connected with a drug ring.
Foxy Brown is largely a remake of the hit filmCoffy. Pam Grier once again on a vendetta against a drug ring, who seeks help from the Black Panthers.[44] Originally written as a sequel toCoffy, the film's working title wasBurn, Coffy, Burn!. The soundtrack was recorded by Willie Hutch.
Get Christie Love! is a TV movie later released to some theaters. This police drama, starring an attractive young black woman (Teresa Graves) as an undercover cop, was later made into a short-lived TV series.
Space Is the Place is a psychedelically themed blaxploitation film featuringSun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra.
Sugar Hill is set in Houston and features a female fashion photographer (played byMarki Bey) who wreaks revenge on the local crime Mafia that murdered her fiancé with the use ofvoodoo magic.
TNT Jackson starsJean Bell (one of the first blackPlayboy playmates) and is partly set in Hong Kong. It is notable for blending blaxploitation with the then-popular "chop-socky" martial arts genre.
Together Brothers is set inGalveston, Texas, where a street gang solves the murder of a police officer (played byEd Bernard) who had been a mentor to the gang leader. This was the first blaxploitation film to feature atransgender character as the villain. Galveston, TX nativeBarry White composed the score. The soundtrack features music by theLove Unlimited Orchestra.
Truck Turner (dir.Jonathan Kaplan) stars Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto andNichelle Nichols. A former football player turned bounty hunter is pitted against a powerful prostitution crime syndicate in Los Angeles. Music by Isaac Hayes.[45]
Sheba, Baby, a female private eye (Pam Grier) tries to help her father save his loan business from a gang of thugs.
The Black Gestapo, Rod Perry plays General Ahmed, who has started an inner-city People's Army to try to relieve the misery of the citizens of Watts, Los Angeles. When the Mafia moves in, they establish a military-style squad.
Boss Nigger, along with his friend Amos (D'Urville Martin), Boss Nigger (Fred Williamson) takes over the vacated position of Sheriff in a small western town in thisWestern blaxploitation film. Because of its controversial title, it was released in some markets asThe Boss,The Black Bounty Killer orThe Black Bounty Hunter.
Coonskin (dir.Ralph Bakshi) is a controversial animated/live-action film about Br'er Fox, Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Bear in a blaxploitation parody ofDisney'sSong of the South. It features the voice ofBarry White as Br'er Bear.
Darktown Strutters (dir. William Witney) is a farce produced byRoger Corman's brother,Gene. AColonel Sanders-type figure with a chain of urban fried chicken restaurants is trying to wipe out the black race by making them impotent through his drugged fried chicken.
Dolemite is also the name of its principal character, played byRudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the script. Moore had developed the alter-ego as a stand-up comedian and released several comedy albums using this persona. The film was directed byD'Urville Martin, who appears as the villain Willie Green. The film has attained cult status, earning it a following and making it more well-known than many of its counterparts. A sequel,The Human Tornado, was released in 1976.
Mandingo is based on a series of lurid Civil War novels and focuses on the abuses of slavery and the sexual relations between slaves and slave owners. It featuresRichard Ward andKen Norton. It was followed by a sequel,Drum (1976) starringPam Grier.
The Candy Tangerine Man opens with pageantry pimp Baron (John Daniels) driving his customized two-tone red and yellow Rolls-Royce around downtown L.A at night. His ladies have been coming up short lately and he wants to know why. It turns out that two L.A.P.D. cops - Dempsey and Gordon, who have been after Baron for some time now, have resorted to rousting his girls every chance they get. Indeed, in the next scene they have set Baron up with a cop in drag to entrap him with procurement of prostitutes.
Welcome Home Brother Charles. After being released from prison, a wrongfully imprisoned black man takes vengeance on those who previously crossed him by strangling them with his penis.
Ebony, Ivory & Jade (dir.Cirio Santiago) (also known asShe Devils in Chains,American Beauty Hostages,Foxfire,Foxforce), features three female athletes who are kidnapped during an international track meet in Hong Kong and fight their way to freedom. This is another cross-genre blend of blaxploitation and martial arts action films.
The Muthers is another Cirio Santiago combination of Filipino martial arts action and women-in-prison elements. Jeanne Bell and Jayne Kennedy rescue prisoners held at an evil coffee plantation.
Passion Plantation (a.k.a.Black Emmanuel, White Emmanuel) is a blend of theMandingo andEmmanuelle, erotic films with interracial sex and savagery.
Velvet Smooth, Johnnie Hill is a female private detective hired to infiltrate the criminal underworld.
Black Fist features a street fighter who goes to work for a white gangster and a corrupt cop. The film is in the public domain. Cast members includeRichard Lawson andDabney Coleman.
Black Samurai (dir. Al Adamson) is based on a novel of the same name by Marc Olden, and starsJim Kelly. The script is credited to B. Readick, with additional story ideas from Marco Joachim.
Petey Wheatstraw (a.k.a.Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-In-Law) is written byCliff Roquemore and stars popular blaxploitation genre comedianRudy Ray Moore along with Jimmy Lynch, Leroy Daniels, Ernest Mayhand and Ebony Wright. It is typical of Moore's other films of the era,Dolemite andThe Human Tornado, in that it features Moore's rhyming dialogue.
Death Dimension is a martial arts film directed by Al Adamson and starringJim Kelly, Harold Sakata, George Lazenby, Terry Moore, andAldo Ray. The film also goes by the namesDeath Dimensions,Freeze Bomb,Icy Death,The Kill Factor andBlack Eliminator. A scientist, Professor Mason, invents a powerful freezing bomb for a gangster leader nicknamed "The Pig" (Sakata).
Disco Godfather, also known asThe Avenging Disco Godfather, is an action film starringRudy Ray Moore andCarol Speed. Moore's character, a retired cop, owns and operates a disco and tries to shut down the localangel dust dealer after his nephew becomes hooked on the drug.
Penitentiary (dir. Jamaa Franklin) follows the travails of Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone (Leon Isaac Kennedy) after his wrongful imprisonment. Set in a prison, the film exploits all of the tropes of the genre, including violence, sexuality and the eventual triumph of the lead character.
Original Gangstas (1996) brings together 1970s blaxploitation stars Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson and Jim Brown.
Jackie Brown (1997, dir.Quentin Tarantino) starsPam Grier andSamuel L. Jackson in an homage to the blaxploitation genre. Based on theElmore Leonard novelRum Punch, Tarantino's title change, casting of Grier and 1970s-style poster art, are all references to Grier's 1974 filmFoxy Brown.
Pootie Tang (2001) incorporates many blaxploitation elements comedically.
The Return of Dolemite (2002), the third chapter to theDolemite series, later retitled asThe Dolemite Explosion for the DVD release.
Hookers In Revolt (2008, dir.Sean Weathers). With its prevalence of pimps and prostitutes, it is an inventive throwback to early 1970s blaxploitation.[46]
Get Christie Love! (2018), a made-for-TV remake of the 1974 film starringKylie Bunbury which, unlike the original, was never picked up for a TV series.
^Gaines, Mikal J. (2005).The Black Gothic Imagination: Horror, Subjectivity, and Spectatorship from the Civil Rights Era to the New Millennium (MA thesis).College of William and Mary. p. 239.OCLC986221383.
^Symmons, Tom (2015). "'The Birth of Black Consciousness on the Screen'?: The African American Historical Experience, Blaxploitation, and the Production and Reception ofSounder (1972)".Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.35 (2):277–299.doi:10.1080/01439685.2014.933645.
^Andrew Dawson, "Challenging Lilywhite Hollywood: African-Americans and the Demand for Racial Equality in the Motion Picture Industry, 1963–1974" The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45, No. 6, 2012
^Ed Guerrero,FRAMING BLACKNESS. Temple U. Press. pp. 95–97.
"The Rise and Fall of Blaxploitation" by Ed Guerrero, inThe Wiley-Blackwell History of American Film, eds. Cynthia Lucia, Roy Grundmann, Art Simon, (New York, 2012): Vol 3, pp. 435–469,ISBN978-1-4051-7984-3.
What It Is ... What It Was!; The Black Film Explosion of the '70s in Words and Pictures by Andres Chavez, Denise Chavez, Gerald MartinezISBN0-7868-8377-4
"The So Called Fall of Blaxploitation" by Ed Guerrero,The Velvet Light Trap #64 Fall 2009
Wright (2014). "Black Outlaws and the Struggle for Empowerment in Blaxploitation Cinema".Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men.2 (2): 63.doi:10.2979/spectrum.2.2.63.
