Melvin Van Peebles essential films. Container of (work): Sweet Sweetback's baadasssss song (Motion picture) Container of (work): Baadasssss! (Motion picture)
Notes:
Sweet Sweetback's baadasssss song: Melvin Van Peebles, Simon Chuckster, Hubert Scales, John Dullaghan, Niva Ruschell, Rheta Hughes, Mario Van Peebles. Baadasssss!: Joy Bryant, T.K. Carter, Terry Crews, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Nia Long, Paul Rodriguez, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Schiavelli, Khleo Thomas, Mario Van Peebles, Karimah Westbrook, Rainn Wilson. Released as part of the five-disc Blu-ray boxed set Melvin Van Peebles essential films. Title from disc labels. Videodisc releases of the 1971 (Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss song) and 2003 (Baadasssss!) motion pictures.
Contents:
Baadasssss! / Showtime Independent Films presents ; a MVP Filmz production ; a Mario Van Peebles Film ; screenplay by Mario van Peebles & Dennis Haggerty ; produced and directed by Mario Van Peebles (109 min.). Baadasssss! / Showtime Independent Films presents ; a MVP Filmz production ; a Mario Van Peebles Film ; screenplay by Mario van Peebles & Dennis Haggerty ; produced and directed by Mario Van Peebles (109 min.). Special features, Sweet Sweetback's baadasssss song: Audio commentary from 1997 by Melvin Van Peebles -- Introduction by Van Peebles from 1997 -- New conversation between Mario Van Peebles and film critic Elvis Mitchell -- Interview from 1971 with Melvin Van Peebles on Detroit Tubeworks -- Episode of Black Journal from 1971 / featuring Van Peebles, and critics Clayton Riley, Francis Ward and A. Peter Bailey -- New conversation between scholars Gerald R. Butters Jr., Novotny Lawrence, and Amy Abugo Ongiri -- Trailer. Special features, Baadasssss!: Commentary with Mario and Melvin Van Peebles -- The story behind "Baadasssss!: The birth of black cinema, a 2004 featurette on the making of Baadasssss! -- Melvin Van Peebles: The real deal, a 2002 interview with the director on the making of Sweet Sweetback's baadasssss song -- Excerpts from a 2004 interview with Van Peebles for the Directors Guild of America Visual History Program.
Summary:
Sweet Sweetback's baadasssss song: A young hustler's aimless pleasure-seeking turns to radicalism after witnessing the beating of a Black revolutionary by two white cops. Baadasssss!: A candid portrait of Melvin Van Peebles' struggles as a young, black director during the society-shifting 70's. Determined to make a film that matters, Melvin deals with two-faced backers, a rag-tag crew, threatening creditors, and various shades of Hollywood hypocrisy. With everything on the line, his only choice is to stick to his guns and do whatever it takes to get his neo-blaxploitation epic to the audience for which it was envisioned.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.