SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG

Showings

Ped Mall -Scene 1 Wed, Jun 27, 2018 10:00 PM
Series Info
Series:Late Shift at the Grindhouse
Film Info
Rating:X by an all-white jury
Runtime:97 minutes
Director:Melvin Van Peebles
Year Released:1971
Production Country:USA
Language:English
Website:www.facebook.com/ICgrindhouse
Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rD1OzJVoWY&

Description

 

Wednesdays get weird when Late Shift hosts Ross Meyer, Joe Derderian and Aaron Holmgren dig up low-budget b-movies, horror and gore-fests, and camp classics for your viewing pleasure. Buy your ticket and take a ride in our Time Machine! Punch in and earn a bonus! $3 Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboys and $2 small popcorn! PLUS -- special custom trash trailer reel curated by Ross with cheap swag and prize giveaways!

 

“You can't have a serious discussion about the blaxploitation cycle without mentioning Melvin Van Peebles. It would be like talking about the Bible and not mentioning Jesus." Andrew Rausch, Reflections on Blaxploitation: Actors and Directors Speak

“Audiences - both black and white - went crazy when Sidney Poitier slapped the shit out of Larry Gates in In The Heat of the Night; but Melvin Van Peebles did more than just slap racist white men, he killed the motherfuckers."
- David Walker, BadAzz Mofo

“Van Peebles' celluloid classic shook up the world of cinema much as a brash young pugilist originally known as Cassius Clay had done in the boxing ring some years earlier. The film merged European modernism and the avant-guard with the urgent demands of black power, creating a cinematic document echoing sentiments articulated in the urban streets of 1970s America."
Todd Boyd, The Root

Iowa premiere of a brand new 4K restoration! Included in MoMA's permanent collection and considered to be among the most significant features ever by an African-American filmmaker, Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song is a brutal and shocking story of survival and is credited as one of the first blaxploitation films.

Director/writer/producer/editor/composter Melvin Van Peebles stars as a black orphan raised in a brothel and groomed to be a sex show performer. Set up by his boss and two corrupt cops for a murder he didn't commit, Sweetback escapes custody and is trust into an increasingly hallucinogenic world of violence and bigotry where no one can be trusted, and the possibility of death lurks at every corner...

Featuring a rousing score from a nascent Earth, Wind & Fire, as well as surrealist visuals from stalwart genre cinematographer Robert Maxwell (The Candy Snatcher), Van Peebles creates an unforgettable study of perseverance in the face of racism.

Courtesy of Xenon Pictures, Vinegar Syndrome and the American Genre Film Archive.