No man is an island. But one man is a movie, a cartoon and a kung fu master all rolled into one.
Los Angeles
Joined September 2008
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Ganja & Hess (1973), directed by Bill Gunn, is a landmark avant-garde art-horror film and a cornerstone of Black independent cinema. The film uses vampirism and an unquenchable thirst for blood as a complex metaphor for addiction, generational trauma, and spiritual emptiness.
Blacula, Dracula's soul brother! The 1972 horror film is celebrated as a pioneering force in Black horror. Star William Marshall portrayed Prince Mamuwalde, marking the first time a Black vampire was featured as a lead in a major Hollywood feature.
Daddy Rich, played by the great Richard Pryor, is a flamboyant, money-preaching televangelist, in the 1976 classic comedy Car Wash. Even though Pryor's appearance is a brief, high-energy cameo rather than a lead role, it became one of the most memorable parts of the film.
The 1974 blaxploitation action film Three the Hard Way, directed by Gordon Parks Jr., holds major cultural and genre significance.
Rudy Ray Moore self-financed his 1975 blaxploitation hit Dolemite using money he saved from selling X-rated party records out of his car.
#blaxploitation #comedy
Mean Mother (1973) starring Clifton Brown was originally a Spanish film called "El hombre que vino del odio" (1971).
Black Hooker (a.k.a. Street Sisters) is an obscure 1974 melodrama was written and directed by a man named Arthur Roberson, who adapted the material from his own play.
"Buy me some time, baby. Time that isn't all f*cked with things we gotta do! Just to be free."
#superfly #blaxploitation #cinema
Master Ron Van Clief a.k.a. The Black Dragon is a pioneering martial artist, actor, and veteran who broke barriers as one of the first Black action stars to lead a Hong Kong martial arts film.
In the 1976 martial arts documentary "The Superweapon," Master Ron Van Clief a.k.a. The Black Dragon demonstrated his abilities, which he also used in his films: The Black Dragon (1974), Way of the Black Dragon (1978) and The Black Dragon's Revenge (1975.)
The Black Connection (1974) A Las Vegas drug dealer is in deep with the Italian mob over a large amount of missing cocaine. He must get creative to get out from under the mob before they take the ultimate course of action.
Emma Mae [a.k.a. Black Sister's Revenge] (1976) is a brilliant film made by the late Jamaa Fanaka. Shot on location in Watts, California, and with a cast of mostly non-professional actors; this film is a great example of vivid and independent filmmaking in the 1970s.