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Poster for Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

The Film that THE MAN doesn't want you to see!

1971 · 1h 38m · R Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Directed by Melvin Van Peebles

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Overview

After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
72%
Tomatometer
Rotten

The first black director to break into commercial cinema, Van Peebles obviously feels deeply about black oppression. But he has chosen, paradoxically, to make the kinds of unrealistic films for which blacks have justly criticized white film-makers.

Michael Kerbel, Village Voice
Fresh

Most of the many vignettes are absorbing in themselves, notably an encounter with a white motorcycle gang.

Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh

A shrewd and powerful mix of commercial ingredients and ideological intent.

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Fresh

Totally uncompromising and grindingly repetitive, the film nevertheless accumulates a kind of hallucinatory groove, with unexpected shafts of bizarre humour and vigorous, experimental new wave direction.

Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Rotten

Instead of dramatizing injustice, Van Peebles merchandizes it.

Vincent Canby, New York Times

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