Black exploitation film has been a genre I have taken an interest in for a few years now. A few years ago I just happened to stumble upon a documentary on IFC that was all about the history of Black Exploitation. Originally I only checked it out because Quentin Tarantino was one of the interviewees in it and I was familiar with Pam Grier (only because of Tarantino's "Jackie Brown"). So I watched the doc and learned about a genre that I never even knew existed. And I realized how influential and important this genre truly was.
The doc showed how films starring Pam Grier, were some of the biggest audience draws (Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Blacula II). I also learned more about Grindhouses- which were usually renovated burlesque theaters that showed exploiation films.
So when we went to watch the Petey Wheatstraw film, I was so excited because I knew what to expect- just cheesiness and a bunch of kung fu. I wish we could of watched the whole thing but now I will just have to add it to my NetFlix list.
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K well I just got home last night and turned on the tv and saw that the documentary about black exploitation was on IFC. If anyone wants to check it out- it is called Badaasss Cinema- and you will find out why it is called that upon viewing the doc-check it out- has interviews with Tarantino, Samuel L Jackson, Pam Grier, and a whole bunch of directors and stars from that era.
ReplyDeleteThere is actually a movie called badaassss! (not sure about the spelling but it's something like that) too. It's about a blaxploitation film the Mario Van Peebles dad made in the 70's and the film is directed by Mario and he plays his dad. It's pretty cool from what I remember.
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