Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

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Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

R

1971

1h 37m

Crime

Drama

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Popcornmeter

73%

Tomatometer

30 Reviews

45%

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.

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Penelope Gilliatt

The New Yorker

01/29/2024

Impossible, haughty, not likable, but sometimes rather admirable in its context.

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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.

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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.

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Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

02/28/2023

Van Peebles' third film was a nuclear bomb.

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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...

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

07/06/2021

Farr more overtly political and experimental than anything subsequently bracketed in that ["Blaxploitation"] genre.

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Precious E

@RT11040780 May 19

After watching Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, the quality of the film was not the greatest; for example, it was not as clear. The background music seemed good overall. It was not a bad film to watch.

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Jaden G

@RT57257977 May 18

I do feel like the film wasn't the most well done in a filmmaking standpoint. It did feel like the budget was low and I couldn't help but notice that throughout watching. That being said, it gets more than 1 star from me because the plot clearly had a strong political statement in it with the lead beating up racist officers and helping out someone being discriminated against.

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Brandon M

@RT14839179 May 16

It wasn't the best movie I've ever since, but it was okay. I like of visual effects were wired in a sense where it felt like a fever dream. Overall, the movie was okay for what it is.

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Jack P

@RT76624209 May 16

Although the movie was clearly low budget I could definitely see the love behind it It's not my personal favorite but I can see where the people creating this were heading and I do definitely like that they tried

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Ella G

@RT54701566 May 15

Bucko is now apart of my vocabulary

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Gitana R.

@Gitana.R May 11

This movie was clearly made on a low budget because it had hardly any special effects. However, I feel like the film should be celebrated because it deals with current problems in our society. One of the major ones I found was police brutality.

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Melvin Van Peebles

Director

Melvin Van Peebles

Sweetback

Simon Chuckster

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Hubert Scales

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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