Baadasssss Cinema

TIFF [2002]

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(2002, USA/UK)
Directed by Isaac Julien
With appearances by: Quentin Tarantino, Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Afeni Shakur, Elvis Mitchell, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, Gloria Hendry

This long overdue history of the notorious “blaxploitation” era of the 1970s disappoints in its brevity and lack of focus, as past and present players pose many questions but in the end, have precious little to say about the period other than it was short-lived and the clothes were outrageous. I found similar criticism with the IFC’s last genre documentary, “American Nightmare”, but at least that one had a general consensus that 70s independent horror films were born as responses to the temperament of their era. Plus, it was enlivened by a surprising wealth of clips, considering the troubled histories and questionable ownerships of such classics as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Night Of The Living Dead” (which arguably belongs in this documentary, too).

Isaac (“Young Soul Rebels”) Julien, during the post-screening Q&A, admitted that many of the films he sought to include were ultimately excised from the documentary because he couldn’t obtain the necessary rights. As a result, “Baadasssss” feels compromised throughout, with far too many talking heads amidst a meager sampling of poor-quality clips. While there is some good stuff here (I didn’t know that “Shaft” was originally intended for a white actor, and that Tupac Shakur’s mother was an original member of The Black Panthers), a mediocre recent cash-in like Larry Cohen’s “Original Gangstas” is given more screen time than vintage classics like “The Mack”, and with solid efforts like Isaac Hayes’ “Truck Turner” (which has aged well) and more outrageous entries like “Black Gestapo” (one of the all-time greatest exploitation movie posters ever) not cited at all. Even “Blacula”, which is generally acknowledged to be a serious and worthy entry into the vampire genre despite its title, is only mentioned to get an easy laugh from the MST3K crowd.

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The expected choices are all here, though: “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song”, “Shaft”, “Coffy”, and “Superfly”. It’s fun to watch Melvin Van Peebles pontificate on the significance of his groundbreaking “Sweet Sweetback”, entirely convinced of his own importance in the cinematic canon. We are shown vintage news footage of a young Jesse Jackson calling for a boycott of all so-called “blaxploitation” films, and Fred Williamson relishes the opportunity to challenge the term itself (“I made money, they made money—who was being exploited?”) and defend his low-budget potboilers produced in Gary, Indiana on shoestrings because Hollywood wouldn’t let him win all of his fights or get the girl (“If I wanted her, that is”). Motormouth Quentin Tarantino—whose “hip” clothing elicited consistent jeers from the audience--waxes poetically on his pre-pubescent discovery of Pam Grier and positions her as the very ideal of womanhood, and watching some of the choice clips, is not hard to see where he’s coming from. Grier herself regrets that black filmmakers and audiences, in her eyes, succumbed to greed and easy stereotypes and killed the genre before Hollywood accountants had the chance.

After this potentially combustible remark, the film further disappoints by climaxing into something of a glorified promo for Miramax’s “Jackie Brown”. Now, Tarantino’s 1997 feature is one of my absolute favorite films of the last ten years, but just two days before this screening, I’d purchased the special edition DVD and was more than happy with the deluge of supplements on Disc 2—I didn’t think I’d have to attend the TIFF for any additional hoopla (have you seen this package? I didn’t think there was anything left!).

More of a “For Dummies” intro than official chronicle, “Baadasssss Cinema” works nicely with the book “What It Is, What It Was” as a sampler until the definitive history comes along.

- Robert L

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