Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
March 31, 1971Release Date
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
March 31, 1971Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Amazon Video, Alamo on Demand
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
Melvin Van Peebles
Sweetback
Hubert Scales
Mu-Mu
John Dullaghan
Commissioner
Simon Chuckster
Beetle
Mario Van Peebles
Sweetback
Max Van Peebles
Sweetback
Robert Maxwell
Cinematographer
Rhetta Hughes
Old Girl Friend
John Amos
Biker
Megan Van Peebles
Kid
Wesley Gale
Actor
Curt Matson
Actor
Jerry Gross
Producer
Maurice White
Orchestrator
Philip Bailey
Orchestrator
Verdine White
Orchestrator
Robert Maxwell
Cinematographer
Jeremy Hoenack
Assistant Editor
Cliff Wenger
Special Effects
Clyde Houston
Production Manager / Assistant Director
Winfred Tennison
Production Assistant
John H. Newman
Sound Editor
Nora Maxwell
Makeup Supervisor
Skip Karnas
Production Assistant
Chic Borland
Production Assistant
Clark Will
Sound
Luke Wolfram
Sound Editor
Jose Garcia
Camera Operator / Second Unit Director
Priscilla Watts
Production Assistant
Chesley Noone
Vincent Barbi
Lavelle Roby
Media.
Details.
Release DateMarch 31, 1971
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 37m
Content RatingNC-17
Budget$150,000
Box Office$15,200,000
Genres
Wiki.
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is a 1971 American film written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles. His son Mario Van Peebles also appears in a small role, playing the title character as a young boy. The film tells the picaresque story of a poor black man fleeing from the white police authorities.
Van Peebles began to develop the film after being offered a three-picture contract for Columbia Pictures. No studio would finance the film, so Van Peebles funded it himself, shooting it independently over 19 days, performing all of his own stunts and appearing in several sex scenes, some reportedly unsimulated. He received a $50,000 loan from Bill Cosby to complete the project. The film's fast-paced montages and jump-cuts were unique features in American cinema at the time. The picture was censored in some markets, and received mixed reviews. However, it has left a lasting impression on American cinema.
The musical score of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was performed by Earth, Wind & Fire. Van Peebles did not have money for traditional advertising methods, so he released the soundtrack album prior to the film's release in order to generate publicity. Initially, the film was screened in only two theaters in the United States (in Atlanta and Detroit). It went on to gross $15.2 million at the box office. Huey P. Newton celebrated and welcomed the film's revolutionary implications, and Sweetback became required viewing for members of the Black Panther Party. According to Variety, it demonstrated to Hollywood that films which portrayed "militant" Blacks could be highly profitable, leading to the creation of the blaxploitation genre, although critic Roger Ebert did not consider this example of Van Peebles' work to be an exploitation film.In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".