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Information

Year
1971
Runtime
97 min.
Director
Melvin Van Peebles
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rating *
5.5
Votes *
2,390
Checks
1,846
Favs
52
Dislikes
76
Favs/checks
2.8% (1:36)
Favs/dislikes
1:1
* View IMDb information

Top comments

  1. Public Enemy's avatar

    Public Enemy

    Even if you didn't like the film, read up on it's history. This isn't something like Brakhage making stuff safely. Instead, you have a director doing his own stunts, getting an STD from a scene, working with motorcycle gangs, and being forced to arm himself and the crew because it wasn't a union film. 11 years 9 months ago
  2. Shingwauk's avatar

    Shingwauk

    Does no one have a problem with the scene with the prostitute having sex with a child! 6 years 7 months ago
  3. Siskoid's avatar

    Siskoid

    Blaxploitation meets art house in Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, a historically and culturally significant film, but no easy watch, opening as it does with a disturbing pedophilic sequence where young Sweetback has simulated sex with a grown woman (you've been warned). Director and star Melvin Van Peebles was evidently inspired by the French New Wave in his approach to editing, but there are so many interesting effects that if I were a film maker, I'd want to perpetually "quote" this movie. It's certainly rough, guerilla film making, with a lot of non-actors, and the plot is thin and secondary to creating transgressive, hallucinatory vignettes. Van Peebles is working in the same mode as John Waters, but with righteous anger rather than a comic approach. The key is in the title. This is jazz cinema, a violent, sex-fueled ton poem set to a great groove and not to be understood in the usual narrative terms. It would be true to say that I admire more than like it. 2 years 9 months ago
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In 12 official lists

  1. This movie ranks #7 in Slate's The Black Film Canon
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    Slate's The Black Film C…

    7
  2. This movie ranks #36 in Tim Dirks's 100+ Most Controversial Films of All-Time
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    Tim Dirks's 100+ Most Co…

    36
  3. This movie ranks #85 in BFI's 100 American Independent Films
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    BFI's 100 American Indep…

    85
  4. This movie ranks #215 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
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    Harvard's Suggested Film…

    215
  5. This movie ranks #278 in Jennifer Eiss's 500 Essential Cult Movies
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    Jennifer Eiss's 500 Esse…

    278
  6. This movie ranks #293 in 366 Weird Movies
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    366 Weird Movies

    293
  7. This movie ranks #488 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films: 1001-2500
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    TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…

    488
  8. This movie ranks #527 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
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    1001 Movies You Must See…

    527
  9. This movie ranks #851 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
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    The New York Times's Boo…

    851
  10. This movie ranks #854 in Library of Congress's National Film Registry
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    Library of Congress's Na…

    854
  11. This movie ranks #870 in The Guardian's 1000 Films to See Before You Die
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    The Guardian's 1000 Film…

    870
  12. This movie ranks #1332 in The Criterion Collection
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    The Criterion Collection

    1332
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