Rotten Tomatoes
Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

Play trailer Poster for Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song R 1971 1h 37m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
73% Tomatometer 30 Reviews 46% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Sweet Sweetback (Melvin Van Peebles) is a black orphan who, having grown up in a brothel, now works there as part of a sex show. When the police need a patsy for a murder in the black community, Sweetback's employer gives him up to two white cops, whom Sweetback ends up killing. Suddenly the target of a massive manhunt, he decides to flee to Mexico. As he makes his way there, he is captured by, and escapes from, both the cops and a chapter of the Hell's Angels.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

Critics Reviews

View More
Penelope Gilliatt The New Yorker 01/29/2024
Impossible, haughty, not likable, but sometimes rather admirable in its context. Go to Full Review
Gary Arnold Washington Post 01/29/2024
People who believe that all that smoke must indicate one hell of a fiery movie might be rather dismayed by the movie itself. Go to Full Review
Richard Brody The New Yorker 01/31/2022
For all its horror, the film has an exuberant, hedonistic excitement (including a sexual showdown in a Hell's Angels den); Sweetback's spirit of outrage and revolt gives rise to bitter, exasperated ironies. Go to Full Review
Brian Susbielles InSession Film 02/28/2023
Van Peebles' third film was a nuclear bomb. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand 03/12/2022
The unusual mix of agitprop and exploitation is directed in a jagged style that recalls what Jean-Luc Godard was doing in France and set to a funky score performed by Earth, Wind, and Fire... Go to Full Review
Dennis Harvey 48 Hills 07/06/2021
Farr more overtly political and experimental than anything subsequently bracketed in that ["Blaxploitation"] genre. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
valeria S @valeriasalgado 6d It was an interesting movie to say the least. While I do believe Sweetback could have done a different approach I do like what he stood for and I dp like how lot of people from the black community but from different levels of life worked together to protect him. See more isa C @isacruz Feb 25 More engaging than I anticipated I believe because it took real world issues like the targeting and mistreatment of the black community by the police force and built off that. See more Marc G @MarcG118 Feb 17 The jazzy soundtrack was a treat, and those bursts of action were also nice, but the slow pace in between makes it something I would not watch again. See more Michael @Michael3333 Feb 16 It was ok. Overall I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. A few things I liked was the music and effects. It also felt slow at times. See more Jacqueline N @Jnunez145 Feb 16 The movie wasn’t bad but it wasn’t for me. I enojes how the film was shot and the sound effects See more Elias M @Elias_miguel_502 Feb 15 the entire story was quite gruesome, a tad bit at first, but once you entice yourself into the story that sweet tells, i seriously enjoyed the story. the idea of police brutality and mistreatment towards people of race was horrible to see, but also gave a extreme realistic portrayal of the reality. these kind of movies weren't something you'd find publicly simply due to it's message. It's like "To Kill A Mocking Bird" 's cousin, it's similar since both show the necessity of understanding racial injustice when it comes to people of power, but one is more well known with it's message than the other. See more Read all reviews
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Trouble Man 14% 64% Trouble Man Watchlist Shaft 88% 68% Shaft Watchlist Across 110th Street 85% 77% Across 110th Street Watchlist Foxy Brown 58% 66% Foxy Brown Watchlist Superfly 93% 70% Superfly Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Sweet Sweetback (Melvin Van Peebles) is a black orphan who, having grown up in a brothel, now works there as part of a sex show. When the police need a patsy for a murder in the black community, Sweetback's employer gives him up to two white cops, whom Sweetback ends up killing. Suddenly the target of a massive manhunt, he decides to flee to Mexico. As he makes his way there, he is captured by, and escapes from, both the cops and a chapter of the Hell's Angels.
Director
Melvin Van Peebles
Producer
Jerry Gross, Melvin Van Peebles
Screenwriter
Melvin Van Peebles
Distributor
Image Entertainment Inc., Direct Cinema Limited, Criterion Collection, New World Pictures
Production Co
Yeah
Rating
R
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 23, 1971, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 17, 2020
Runtime
1h 37m
Sound Mix
Mono
Most Popular at Home Now