Blaxploitation: Through The History Of The Genre
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- DirectorMelvin Van PeeblesStarsMelvin Van PeeblesHubert ScalesJohn DullaghanAfter 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.The film that started the whole genre without being a true Blaxploitation-film. This film is dedicated to "Brothers and sisters who have had enough of the Man."
it's included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. - DirectorGordon ParksStarsRichard RoundtreeMoses GunnCharles CioffiA crime lord hires black private eye, John Shaft, to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.The most famous film in the whole genre. Also the first real Blaxploitation-film. This is the film that all or most of the films that came after modeled it's characters and storylines after. And also ofcourse the kind of violence that's known from the genre.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. - DirectorGordon Parks Jr.StarsRon O'NealCarl LeeSheila FrazierThe daily routine of cocaine dealer Priest who wants to score one more super deal and retire.From the same director as Shaft.
- DirectorWilliam CrainStarsWilliam MarshallVonetta McGeeDenise NicholasAn 18th-century African prince, turned into a vampire by Dracula, finds himself in modern-day Los Angeles.This film started a subgenre of Blaxploitation Horror films.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsTamara DobsonBernie CaseyBrenda SykesDuring the 1970s, U.S. Special Agent Cleopatra Jones proves to be an invaluable asset to the local police forces in the war on drugs.This film jumpstarted the possibility for black women to portray awesome and bad-ass strong-willed characters who kick ass.
- DirectorJack HillStarsPam GrierBooker BradshawRobert DoQuiA sexy Black nurse takes vigilante justice against inner-city drug dealers after her sister becomes their latest victim.
- DirectorJack HillStarsPam GrierAntonio FargasPeter BrownA voluptuous vigilante takes a job as a high-class prostitute to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsRoger MooreYaphet KottoJane SeymourJames Bond is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organisation and a reliable psychic tarot card reader.Not a true Blaxploitation picture, but a James Bond film that heavily borrowed a lot of elements and style of this genre because it became popular at this moment.
Live and Let Die was made to cash-in on the still-booming Blaxploitation genre of The '70s and gave the genre noticable appeal to the big studios. - DirectorBill GunnStarsDuane JonesMarlene ClarkBill GunnAfter being stabbed with an ancient, germ-infested knife, a doctor's assistant finds himself with an insatiable desire for blood.Spike Lee remade this film as Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsPam GrierSamuel L. JacksonRobert ForsterA flight attendant with a criminal past gets nabbed by the ATF for smuggling. Under pressure to become an informant against the illegal arms dealer she works for, she must find a way to secure her future without getting killed.This is Tarantino's tribute to the genre. The way the soundtrack, lighting, and casting (particularly of Pam "Foxy Brown" Grier) are used is quite similar to the style of such films.
- DirectorLarry CohenFred WilliamsonStarsFred WilliamsonJim BrownPam GrierWhen a gang shoots his father, Bookman (Fred Williamson) returns to his hometown, rounds up some of his own people and begins an all-out war to restore the neighborhood to its rightful sense of justice.This is a throwback to the genre.
- DirectorLarry YustStarsKiel MartinMel StewartDallas Edward HayesTwo Phildelphia con men try to evade gangsters they have conned and cops who are trying to put them in jail.
- DirectorGordon Parks Jr.StarsJim BrownFred WilliamsonJim KellyBlaxploitation film about three martial-arts specialists who prevent white supremacists from tainting the U.S. water supply with a toxin that's only harmful to black people.
- DirectorMichael CampusStarsRony ClantonDon GordonJoyce WalkerA gifted young man is caught up in gang life.
- DirectorRalph BakshiStarsBarry WhiteCharles GordoneScatman CrothersRabbit, a country-born trickster, takes over the organized crime racket in Harlem, facing opposition from the institutionalized racism of the Mafia and corrupt police.
- DirectorJamaa FanakaStarsLeon Isaac KennedyWilbur 'Hi-Fi' WhiteThomas M. PollardA hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's boxing team in an effort to secure an early parole and to establish his dominance over the prison's toughest gang.
- DirectorD'Urville MartinStarsRudy Ray MooreD'Urville MartinJerry JonesAfter he is released from jail, a pimp takes on the criminals and corrupt police officers who framed him in the first place.
- DirectorLee FrostStarsRod PerryCharles RobinsonPhil HooverGeneral Ahmed has started an inner-city People's Army to try and relieve the misery of the citizens of Watts. When the locals are put under increasing pressure by Mafia thugs, Ahmed's second-in-command Colonel Kojah asks for permission to start a protection squad to take more direct action. Ahmed fears this protection squad will just turn into a vigilante mob, and his prediction soon proves correct. Will Ahmed be able to wrest control back from the power-mad Kojah, or will he be the mob's next victim?
- DirectorMike BinderStarsDamon WayansDavid Alan GrierRobin GivensA simpleton inventor becomes a superhero with a bulletproof costume and a low budget.
- DirectorCirio H. SantiagoStarsJames IglehartCarmen ArgenzianoLeon Isaac KennedyAn American Vietnam soldier on his way home is left for dead and is saved by a pair of Japanese stragglers from WWII, who train him in the way of the samurai.
- DirectorEddie RomeroStarsPam GrierMargaret MarkovSid HaigA Black prostitute and a white revolutionary must form an uneasy alliance when they are busted out of prison, then pursued by guerrillas, bounty hunters and the Army.
- DirectorCharles BailStarsTamara DobsonStella StevensNi TienWhen fellow operatives (and childhood friends) Matthew Johnson and Melvin Johnson disappear during an undercover mission in Hong Kong, Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) travels there to find them. With the help of local detective Mi Ling, Cleopatra discovers that her friends' disappearance has to do with The Dragon Lady, a much-feared blonde "lipstick lesbian" who runs a Macao casino and controls a major chunk of the local drug trade.
- DirectorCliff RoquemoreStarsRudy Ray MooreLady ReedJimmy LynchDolemite flees to California, where he helps Queen Bee and her Kung Fu prostitutes battle a local gangster.
- DirectorGilbert MosesStarsRoscoe OrmanDiana SandsThalmus RasulalaA social worker tries to get a pimp to change his ways.
- DirectorMichael SchultzStarsSheila E.Joseph SimmonsDarryl McDanielsThe story of a man who has started a new hip-hop/rap label called Krush Groove.
- DirectorLarry CohenStarsFred WilliamsonGloria HendryArt LundRaised in Harlem, Tommy Gibbs becomes a successful mob boss but he clashes with the rival Mafia and his old enemy, dirty cop McKinney.
- DirectorMichael SchultzStarsTaimakVanityChristopher MurneyIn New York City, a young man searches for a Master to obtain the final level of martial arts mastery known as the Glow.
- DirectorTed V. MikelsStarsRichard GildenRima KutnerHarry LovejoyAfter a black man's daughter is killed by the KKK, he seeks revenge by becoming a Klansman.
- DirectorArthur MarksStarsPam GrierYaphet KottoGodfrey CambridgeAt Los Angeles airport, magazine photographer Friday Foster witnesses an assassination attempt against billionaire Blake Tarr and is drawn into a murky political conspiracy.
- DirectorArthur MarksStarsFred WilliamsonPam GrierThalmus RasulalaAfter being hassled by The Man in a southern town, a cool operator asks some violent friends for help. After all, if you can't trust another brother, who can you trust?
- DirectorJack HillStarsRoberta CollinsPam GrierJudith BrownBeautiful female prisoners are abused in a Philippine prison until five of them plot an escape by taking the evil female warden hostage with reluctant help from two male fruit vendors.
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsIsaac HayesYaphet KottoAlan WeeksWhile tracking a strong-armed pimp who has skipped bail, a bounty hunter discovers a contract has been put out on him and must go on the run.
- DirectorGerardo de LeonStarsJudith BrownRoberta CollinsJennifer GanAmerican women prisoners in a foreign country. Sex and action.
- DirectorSteve CarverStarsMargaret MarkovPam GrierLucretia LoveWhen the Romans force a group of sex slaves to become gladiatrices, two such fighters - a Nubian dancer and a Gaulish priestess - form an alliance to lead the others in rebellion.
- DirectorMichael CampusStarsMax JulienDon GordonRichard PryorGoldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up King of the pimping game. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time.
- DirectorGordon ParksStarsRichard RoundtreeMoses GunnDrew Bundini BrownShaft is back to find the murderer of an old friend on the cold hard city streets with a little help from his new friends.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsRichard RoundtreeFrank FinlayVonetta McGeePrivate investigator John Shaft is recruited to go undercover to break up a modern slavery ring where young Africans are lured to Paris to do chain-gang work.
- DirectorBob KelljanStarsWilliam MarshallDon MitchellPam GrierThe vampire Mamuwalde (a.k.a. Blacula) is resurrected by voodoo and forced to kill again.
- DirectorScott SandersStarsMichael Jai WhiteArsenio HallTommy DavidsonBlack Dynamite is the greatest African-American action star of the 1970s. When his only brother is killed by The Man, it's up to him to find justice.An affectionate parody of the genre.
- DirectorOssie DavisStarsPaul WinfieldCarl LeeDavid DowningFour Vietnam Vets go to war against the drug dealers and pimps of Harlem.A film directed by the amazing actor Ossie Davis, who later collaborated with Spike Lee on a number of films, most notable of all would be Do The Right Thing (1989).
- DirectorCraig R. BaxleyStarsCarl WeathersCraig T. NelsonVanityVengeance drives a tough Detroit cop to stay on the trail of a power-hungry auto magnate who is systematically eliminating his competition.
- DirectorKeenen Ivory WayansStarsKeenen Ivory WayansBernie CaseyAntonio FargasIn this parody of blaxploitation movies, a black hero wannabe reunites former black heroes from the 70s to help him get revenge on Mr. Big.
- DirectorRobert TownsendStarsRobert TownsendCraigus R. JohnsonHelen MartinAn actor limited to stereotypical roles because of his ethnicity, dreams of making it big as a highly respected performer. As he makes his rounds, the film takes a satiric look at African American actors in Hollywood.
- DirectorPerry HenzellStarsJimmy CliffJanet BartleyCarl BradshawWishing to become a successful reggae singer, a young Jamaican man finds himself tied to corrupt record producers and drug pushers.
- DirectorOssie DavisStarsGodfrey CambridgeRaymond St. JacquesCalvin LockhartTwo Harlem cops investigate a robbery, believing that a reverend has staged it in order to steal the money he's collected for a local fundraiser.
- DirectorRobert ClouseStarsBruce LeeJohn SaxonJim KellyA Shaolin martial artist travels to an island fortress to spy on an opium lord - who is also a former monk from his temple - under the guise of attending a fighting tournament.