[DunkMachine]

It was the best movie I've seen in years.

Synopsis: In "Baadasssss!" Mario Van Peebles pay tribute to his dad, pioneer black filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. The Movie dramatically recounts the saga of what his father went through more than 30 years ago when Melvin decided to go against every grain in American filmmaking to make his breakout hit, "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song."​

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Following the success of his directing debut, "The Watermelon Man," made for a Hollywood studio in 1970, Melvin decides against all conventional wisdom to make a movie about a black street hustler turned revolutionary running from racist cops. And the only way to do this is with independent financing. He doesn’t stop there, though. Melvin insists on a multiethnic crew. To throw the then-white unions off the scent, he pretends he is making a porno. Every step is an uphill battle: raising money, crewing up, losing financing, recasting when SAG won’t sign off, running out of money, then refusing to submit the film to the all-white MPAA ratings board, meaning an automatic X rating. After sinking his heart, soul and family money into the project, Melvin discovers that only two theaters in the United States will play such a film. Encouraging Melvin are his white co-producer Bill (Rainn Wilson), his long-suffering secretary Priscilla (Joy Bryant), Clyde (David Alan Grier), a black porn producer anxious to break into films where people wear clothes, his Latino B camera crew operator Jose (Paul Rodriguez) and his even longer-suffering girlfriend Sandra (Nia Long).​

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So my question: Who's going to see it? If you won't than I urge you to change you mind, you won't regret it. The funk music is awesome, Badasssss! is funny, sexy, and dramatic. It tells its story with verve and pace, making you wish that you, too, could’ve been part of Melvin’s crew. And most importantly, Badasssss! reminds us of the social context of filmmaking--that it doesn’t just have to be mindless entertainment but that it can change how people think and how they act.

 

[Rocketta]

I wish I could see it but I live in the country and no way in hell it's playing at a theatre near me...

I've heard nothing but good about this movie and watched the little behind the scenes thing on HBO....

 

[kiwifan]

Great flick!!!

Saw it the first chance I got!!!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

While the movie they made was pretty shitty (more important for its role in film history than its actual quality) you gotta give respect where respect is due. :worship::worship: :worship:

When I was a little kid (5-7 years old) Shaft and Superfly (and Michael Jackson ) were almost every little black kid's heroes and Sweetback made this all possible.

One of the undercurrent themes of the flick is a lesson for all film makers, that it really takes help from everywhere to make the indy world work. From (don't want to give to much away) several wealthy famous people to undiscovered talent that would go on to become famous to the neighborhood bums and hustlers :lol: ; you have to "see" the "talent" all around you - both in front of and behind the camera.