NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

tomgillespie2002 A young black orphan is picked up by a group of women who feed him and give him a job as a towel boy in their brothel. One of the women seduces him and the two have sex. Due to his apparently large member, the woman, in a fit of ecstasy, nicknames him 'Sweetback'. When Sweetback is grown, he is employed as a male prostitute who performs for rich folk. When he witnesses police brutality on a black man, he beats up two police officers and goes on the run. The film follows his plight in a picaresque fashion, and he makes his way across a corrupt and discriminative America.Generally regarded as the first blaxploitation film (although whether it is in fact exploitation is questionable), Sweet Sweetback influenced a whole generation of film-makers, and gave a new voice to a social minority with a lot more to say than the majority. Director Melvin van Peebles (father to Mario), who also plays the eponymous hero, funded the project himself (with a little help from Bill Cosby), and the film went onto gross $4.1 million. The film became required viewing for members of the Black Panthers, and Sweetback himself can be seen giving the Panther first sign.As socially and historically important as this film is, it's still not very good. Apart from van Peebles' use of some innovative jump-cuts and camera-work, I found the film hard work. The terrible editing often renders scenes unwatchable, and I had trouble even following what was happening during some of the fight scenes. Often characters just babble seemingly meaningless rubbish at the camera. I must also mention the very uncomfortable first sex scene which borders on child porn, which depicts a boy (played by Mario) of around 12 having sex with a woman, the both of them being completely naked. Very weird.Van Peebles himself appears in a few sex scenes, that are apparently unsimulated. He actually contracted gonorrhoea during the shoot, and claimed workers compensation. This is a film all about black domination - Sweetback's large penis and sexual prowess standing for black superiority. As well as sexually, the black community are seen as superior mentally (the community pull together to outwit the police and protect Sweetback) and physically (Sweetback overpowers two policemen in a bar brawl). You can feel the anger and the desire to fight back in every scene.Still, as interesting as the film is in a social context, this is extremely amateurish stuff. The last half an hour sees Sweetback running endlessly while the camera jumps around showing various landmarks to the sound of an extremely repetitive soundtrack. It goes on and on and on. But I suppose that any film that is indirectly responsible for Disco Godfather can't be all bad.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

screenman In the first instance, this item is memorable for having one of the most unusual titles in movie history. Not many words have five consecutive 's's.Secondly; the director Van Peebles, plays the starring role and runs further than any actor in any other movie. He hardly ever stops.Thirdly; it contains the grossest scene of child sexual-abuse that I have ever observed in a general-release movie. I can hardly imagine that it would be acceptable even today, let alone in 1971. We see a young, pubescent boy being forcibly 'broken-in' by an ugly middle-aged woman, whilst other adults engage in a gratuitous 'encouragement'. Even if no intercourse actually took place and the child depicted is actually above the age of consent; I just do not understand how the imagery is not pornographic.Many commentators refer to the themes of so-called 'black-sploitation'. Few of those self-righteous hypocrites mention the seeming-exploitation of black children at at the hands of black adults.The movie in general is of inferior production quality, with nothing to recommend its direction, editing, lighting or other technical elements. Its comparative rarity has endued it with a certain cult status, but I see nothing to justify that.

xxxpirata I just watched that stupid "movie" hours ago and I just can't say anything about it except that it is a fully piece of trash. First of all, the director of the movie didn't have a better idea that using his OWN LITTLE SON performing a simulated SEX SCENE, completely naked and moving on top of a naked middle-aged woman. I just don't understand how he managed to avoid going to jail for child porn exploitation. Really incredible! Is it right to do so if you are a black American in the early seventies? I wonder what the black community felt about it. Did they approve it for the sake of the film? In the second place, the "hero" of the "movie" - Sweetback- is nothing but a prostitute and -as the story develops- a murderer running away from the police. Third, the WHITE men, those responsible for all the oppression and poorness of the NEGRO people, are nothing but a bunch of stupid jerks. You might think if being that makes you so powerful as to be so formidable oppressors! And if it weren't much, the women here -most of all black women- are depicted as filthy horny bitches just willing to have sex encounters with Sweetback. I just kind of feel disappointed with this piece of crap, specially by the way it characterizes the same people it is supposed to defend -the blacks. I'm not a black one -as a matter of fact I'm a South American Mestizo- but if I were one, especially in the United States, I would feel very SERIOUSLY OFFENDED by that kinky motion picture, the most racist movie I've ever seen. To all the brothers and sisters -and everybody who really feels proud and respect for themselves, regardless of race or gender- keep away from this stupid piece of SH*T!

Lee Eisenberg Some people are probably going to object to my 5/10 rating. After all, Melvin Van Peebles sought to show the world what the black community in the United States was experiencing. But it's weird to think that a movie about racism had some stereotypes (namely, the sex scene portraying the black man as great in bed). The plot of course has political activist Sweetback (Melvin Van Peebles) running from The Man after killing some cops who were attacking a Black Panther. All in all, "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song" is good for what it's trying to show. What would have been really neat would have been if they'd lid-locked Nixon and forced him to watch this.