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Film:Superfly

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:07:23 GMT

Title: Superfly
Year: 1972
Director: Gordon Parks, Jr.
Plot: An African-American man finds that leaving behind his life of crime is harder than he imagined in this groundbreaking crime drama. Priest (Ron O'Neal) is a stylish and successful cocaine dealer who drives a fancy car, commands a small army of street salesmen, and lives a life of luxury. However, Priest is just smart enough to know that there's no real future in dealing coke, and one day he makes a proposal to his partner Eddie (Carl Lee) -- they take their 300,000-dollar savings, buy 30 kilos of cocaine, and use their street team to move it out in four months, leaving a million dollar profit for both Priest and Eddie, allowing them to get out of the business for good. Eddie is wary but willing to go along, but Scatter (Julius Harris), a former dealer who set Priest up in the cocaine trade, is both unwilling and unable to sell them that much product. As Priest looks for a new source for his big score, one of his underlings, Fat Freddie (Charles McGregor) is picked up by the police, and under violent interrogation, Freddie tells the cops about Priest's underground empire. When Priest is confronted by the police, however, he learns they're less interested in putting him behind bars than in making him a partner. While Superfly was a box-office smash and (along with Shaft and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song) one of the key films of the nascent blaxploitation movement of the early '70s, it's best remembered today for the soundtrack composed and performed by Curtis Mayfield, which included the hit songs "Freddie's Dead," "Pusherman," and the title tune. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 3
Number of Lists: 4
Number of blog posts: 3
Number of discussion threads: 1
SpoutRating: 3

Spout Post: Re:Which of these movie Draculas from movies based on the original novel is your favorite?

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:07:23 GMT

Post By: Dr_Gor
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 12/13/2008 8:07:23 PM
Body: Blacula[quote user="Risselada"] [quote user="Dr_Gor"] God I LOVED that movie! George Hamilton was the most tanned Dracula in the history of motion pictures! < GOR > [/quote] He is probably the darkest skinned white man alive, but what about Blacula? [/quote] I LOVED that movie! I have a VHS copy somewhere in this apartment but I first saw Blacula at the Drive-In. That came out at the height of the 70's "blaxploitation movies" like Shaft or Superfly or Coffee . There was a sequel, also starring William Marshall, called Scream, Blacula, Scream ... I have a copy of that one around here somewhere as well ... It is not only HILARIOUS but even a little bit scary and entertaining! Great movies!

Spout Post: Tideland Superfly

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:07:19 GMT

Post By: dibot
Post To: dibot Blog
Post Date: 10/3/2007 1:07:19 PM
Body: This will probably be a rant.The DVD of Tideland starts with an introduction by director Terry Gilliam ("The Brothers Grimm") where he tells us that many of us will not like the film and many of us will not understand it. And then he says that some will love it. Also, it seems that Gilliam has a small girl inside him. I don't know that that's really a surprise. But, by starting out with the negative, I got the feeling that he was saying that this was a mess of a film and his intro was just a ploy to stem criticism by implying that the audience who did not enjoy the film just wasn't smart enough to understand his vision. Well, f you, Mr. Gilliam. I don't want my films to come with an explanation or an apology. And I don't like my intelligence to be insulted before I even get a chance to delve into the movie.So the whole 122 minutes, I had the taint of this intro in my mind and I got angrier and angrier as this mess of a movie played out. The story, and I use the term loosely, follows a young girl with horrible parents who die and then she has to fend for herself. So she creates an imaginary world. This fantasy Gilliam develops for her is in no way original. It's a blatant rip-off of Alice in Wonderland with hints of every other famous kid's story, The Secret Garden, Beatrix Potter, The Wizard of Oz, to name a few. All the adults are horrible, over-acting and extremely messed up. The young girl, Jodelle Ferland ("Good Luck Chuck"), is forced to do a Southern accent as well as several other voices which she is just not capable of pulling off.On a side not, I'm sick of Southern characters being trashy and unbalanced.Then the little girl, and I'm not sure how old she's supposed to be, 10 at the oldest, starts seducing a retarded man. It's f-ed up and for no reason. There's no point. Nothing happens for what seems like hours at a time. And when an action does occur, it is ridiculously implausible.I hated this movie so much that Gilliam, who I usually have some affection for, is now on the bus. And it will take a whole lot of convincing from people I trust to even get me to approach one of his films in the future.I do give this film one point for some excellent visuals. But they are not worth putting yourself through the torture of the story line.Superfly is my second blaxploitation film. I liked it better than Sweet Sweetback, but it's still not my cup of tea. The main character is a cocaine dealer planning one big sale before he gets out of the business. The story is okay. The acting average. But the soundtrack is magnificent. Curtis Mayfield is amazing.

Spout Post: Blaxploitation CInema

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 20:11:00 GMT

Post By: analogzombie
Post To: analogzombie Blog
Post Date: 6/24/2007 4:11:00 PM
Body: Most people who watch Blaxploitation movies do so with tongue firmly in cheek. They laugh at the clothes, the music, the hairstyles, the bad special effects, and the usually out of place nudity. I must admit that I too, am guilty of the same sort of kitsch exploration that prompts many to pick up a copy of Detroit 9000, or Black Caesar. While these films do provide laughs for the wrong reasons it would be to your detriment to merely dismiss them all as trite, fluff pieces. In many of these films there is a lot of serious social and political commentary taking place. It’s just that Pam Grier’s breasts can sometimes get in your way of seeing this. Many consider Mario Van Peebles 1969 classic: Sweet Sweetback’s Badasss Song, to be the first Blaxploitation film. It was the first to be written, directed, and produced by a primarily black crew. The unexpected success (unexpected by the white bread establishment that is) of this film made many small studios, and even some large ones, take notice. It seemed that black people, wanted to see movies about, gasp, black people!?? This set into motion a whole slew of films created independently and by studios such as American International Pictures. It was these early AIP films that so epitomized what the genre had to offer. By 1970 AIP was a flagging, medium sized studio. The success they had had with the gothic horror films of Vincent Price in the 60’s was ending and there was no clear direction for them. When Sweet Sweetback hit, AIP jumped on the bandwagon, by creating some of the most vicious, and intelligent black films of the decade. Their first super hit was 1973’s Coffy starring Pam Grier, and directed by Larry Cohen (who would go on to make the It’s Alive series). A white guy directed the film, like much of AIP’s Blaxploitation fare. Some people decry this as an affront to the genre, but when you consider the quality of their films compared to something like Rudy Ray Moore’s Dolemite, the argument loses weight. Coffy is a perfect example of the first wave of important Blaxploitation films: films that have a message and intelligently propose it, while not skimping on the action. The movie concerns Pam Grier, by day a nurse, by night a one-woman shotgun wielding avenger of her inner city neighborhood. When the white mafia threatens her good-cop boyfriend, Coffy must go under cover as a Jamaican hooker to infiltrate this white dominated crime world. These are classic themes of the genre: white devil criminals preying on the black community, which is at war with itself over its own future. It’s a community being pulled apart by the lingering socio-economic effects of Jim Crowe and slavery. Characters like Coffy and her boyfriend represent the positive, hopeful, forward-looking members of the community who seek true equality so they can pull their culture out of despair. They are always at odds with weaker social members, like Coffy’s brother, who is hopelessly locked in a downward spiral of black on black crime. The film embodies the promise of the civil rights movement i.e. we can better our community if given the chance, and we don’t want any help from whitey either. These ideas of hope, self-determination, and pride in community are reflected again in films like Foxy Brown, Shaft, Across 110th St., and Superfly. The latter however, takes it into a whole new realm. Directed by the son of legendary photographer Gordon Parks, Superfly is often dismissed as a colorful romp through the life of a pimp. Upon further inspection though, it becomes evident that the film is an indictment of the social conditions that led Priest, the main character, to become a hustler to begin with. I’m sure everyone had heard the famous title song: Superfly by Curtis Mayfield, but I doubt many have actually bothered to listen to the lyrics. “Superly, you’re gonna make you’re fortune by and by, but if you lose, don’t ask no questions why. The only game you know is do or die.” This is as succinct a portrait of Priest as one could paint. He is a strong, intelligent, man who just happens to be a hustler. The film proposes that had he born been into a different condition he might very well be a lawyer, or legitimate businessman. It is society’s fault that he is what he is. The condition of Harlem, and the racism of America has given Priest no other avenue for success. If he wants money, women, and a decent lifestyle he must be a criminal because all other avenues are closed to him. This is an incendiary claim, however, many did not even get the message because the movie also plays as a straight action piece, much like Shaft. Superfly is about a man trying to turn his back on his hustler life. As in Coffy, Priest is confronted by the usual obstacles to his freedom white criminal underworld, and black friends manipulated by this white devil establishment to keep their community down. In the end he overcomes, and outwits all these obstacles with the help of a strong, good woman, and his intelligence. The film also features the prerequisite fights, car chases, shoot-outs, and explosions that mark all films within the genre. This initial positive voice was short lived though, by 1974 most Blaxploitation films had given up including intelligent messages in their context. Where films like Coffy, and Superfly were a great mix of entertainment, the films that came later split into two categories. They either took the notion of the black do-gooder battling against the white criminal establishment to comic book, PG rated depths as in Cleopatra Jones, and Friday Foster, or they exploded with meaningless violence directed at any and all comers, like Dolemite and Hell Up In Harlem. While either avenue offers merely a watered down version of what the genre began to be, it is this last, violent, type that so squandered the message. Take Dolemite for example, a film so indebted to Superfly that a lawsuit could easily be filed. It concerns a pimp, again, who is trying to grow his business in opposition to the white mafia. The main difference however, besides its atrocious script and production values, is that Dolemite does not seek to ‘get out of the life’ as Priest did. Instead he is content to consolidate his power as a pimp, and go to great lengths to remain the stereotype that he is. This turn is important, not only in the genre, but in black culture as a whole. It is a sign that the promise and hopes of the civil rights movement, the desire to overcome your obstacles, and better yourself through education and a functioning community, are on the wane. Dolemite doesn’t care about any of those things he just wants to get paid, by any means necessary. In a way Dolemite’s line of reasoning is kind of genius. Because it’s like saying “That’s who you think we are? Ok, we are going to make money off you honkey bastards by epitomizing your stereotype of us. We are going to wear the blackface this time.” It’s a way of circumventing the ‘white’ norm of success by succeeding through the portrayal of violence, ignorance, and racial bias. All you have to do is look at music videos, or films today to see how this trend has played out. From Master P’s video featuring a golden basketball court and black men in ape suits, to Snoop Dogg’s film Soul Plane, we are witnessing the end product of the mentality proposed by Dolemite. Coffy, Priest, or Jesse Jackson might say: “sure you’re getting rich, but at what price to the community, don’t these negative stereotypes hurt the social accomplishments of the 60’s?” For a few short years (1969 – 1974) Blaxploitation cinema offered a socially progressive, and hugely entertaining option for cinema patrons. By the middle of that decade, however, the progressive aspect had been sapped out of it, leaving only trite fare behind. The legacy of the genre is with us still however, and every now and then that initial thread of worth pops up in films like Hollywood Shuffle, Do the Right Thing, and Boyz n’ tha Hood. For the most part though, it’s as if Superfy lost the battle, and his conniving, backstabbing friend, Freddie, won. As Curtis Mayfield sings: “Freddie what have you done? Turned your back on your friend, sold him out, and in the end, your just another tool for the man.”

Spout Post: Superfly (spoilers)

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 04:18:57 GMT

Post By: jklugman
Post To: jklugman Blog
Post Date: 6/4/2007 12:18:57 AM
Body: After suffering through Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and being underwhelmed by Shaft, I had low expectations for my third blaxploitation film. I was pleasantly surprised by Superfly, and I ended up loving it. The acting in this film is actually good. Ron O'Neal and Carl Lee , as the film's "heroes", play off each other very well. O'Neal's Youngblood Priest is serious and reflective, realizing his life as a cocaine dealer is not all there is. Carl Lee's Eddie is more flippant and ultimately corruptable. When he tells Priest he is OK with being owned, his character becomes simultaneously pathetic and scary, because we know there is nothing to stop him from selling out his friends. Unlike in SSBS and Shaft, the police are convincing villains, they are effective, corrupt, and pose a real threat to the hero (whereas in the other films they come off more as clowns). Finally, the ending is unusual, in that the hero does have a climatic confrontation with the film's villain and triumphs over him, but his victory is a tentative and ironic one, and the viewer is left to doubt if Priest will truly be able to escape his cage. It goes without saying that my enjoyment of the film was probably due in no small part to Curtis Mayfield's musical score. The music, the setting, the costumes, all scream "1970s" and I loved it.

Spout Tag:drugs

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:36:00 GMT

drugs
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Spout Tag:gangster

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:37:08 GMT

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Spout Tag:corruption

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT

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Spout Tag:police

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:56:49 GMT

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Spout Tag:soundtrack

Wed, 13 May 2009 14:51:53 GMT

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Spout Tag:retirement

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:01:55 GMT

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Spout Tag:blaxploitation

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:13:16 GMT

blaxploitation
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Spout Tag:coke

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:45:08 GMT

coke
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Spout Tag:crossculturalrelations

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:01:16 GMT

crossculturalrelations
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Spout Tag:badguyturnsgood

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:02:29 GMT

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Spout Tag:powmia

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:01:35 GMT

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