Melvin Van Peebles was born on 21 August 1932.
He made three films that I know him for. They all deal with racial issues in different ways. And all of them are thoughtful and even challenging in a modern context.
His first feature film was The Story of a Three-Day Pass, which he shot in France. It starred Harry Baird, who I remember most fondly for his last film, Four of the Apocalypse.
Based on the success of that film, he went to Hollywood. He directed Watermelon Man from a screenplay by Herman Raucher. This was unusual as normally Van Peebles wrote his own films. It’s a funny film with perfect casting of Godfrey Cambridge in the lead.
But he is most remembered for his third film: Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. It is his most important. It more or less invented blaxpoloitation. And in some ways, I see it as the only blaxploitation film. To me, the genre is defined as films by Black filmmakers for Black audiences. Non-Black filmmakers made most blaxploitation films. And even with films like Shaft, the effort was to appeal to a wider audience. There’s nothing wrong with this. It is important for films to make money.
Note that Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is not an easy film. The opening sequence is brilliant but it is also hard to watch — especially how it is extended long past what was required. And the production values are not great. I still recommend that everyone watch it. It’s hard to find a good widescreen print of the film, but OK.RU has one.
But for modern viewers, I recommend watching Baadasssss (2003) to celebrate Melvin Van Peebles birthday. It is directed and co-written by Melvin’s son, Mario Van Peebles. Additionally, he stars as his father, which is interesting since Mario played Sweetback as a child in the original film. In addition to providing a good overview of the original film, he does a great job of contextualizing it. And this is a great print:
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song starring Melvin Van Peebles poster via Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.
I’ll have to watch Badassss! Sounds great!
Gordon Parks of Shaft was an accomplished photojournalist before he directed films. A Saint Paul guy, he chronicled Black life in the Twin Cities. The local history museum did an exhibit about his photography one time.
He directed a TV version of 12 Years A Slave that is in some ways better than the later movie version. With Avery Brooks from Trek in the main role. Of course Ejiofor was great in the movie but Brooks had his strengths too.
Parks was an amazing guy! He should be an inspiration for anyone who wants to do creative work late in life. But I’m just too exhausted. I loved Badassss. Of course, I knew the original film well so it answered a lot of my questions. But I do think most people are better off with it. The original film is pretty amazing. But remember what I said about exploitation filmmakers tending to be assholes? I tend to think Van Peebles was. But his son seems to have turned out well. Based on Badassss, I think he was a bit of a con artist too. He comes off well in the film, though. But he’s definitely one of those “anything to get this film made” kind of guys.