Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

skyhowl Man this one was awesome,the movie just blew me away!As a black man and a movie buff i always knew about melvin van peebles and his great contribution, not just to ethnic filmmakers but to all entertainment as a whole.This man was 1 of the pioneer who truly changed entertainment as we know it.Filmmakers of less talent and courage get credit and attention while a man of true importance gets ignored.This was one of the most inspirational movies i have ever seen(view from the top was another)if you have a dream,i don't care what it is, this movie will make you want to push to the max to achieve it!great movie check it french

Randy This is a cool movie about a guy trying to make a film.. yes, we've seen that before… but this one is a true story about the first guy that tries, struggling against the studios, against "The Man ", to make his movie in an independent fashion. Directed and starring an actor I mostly never paid attention to, mostly because his movies suck, Mario Van Peebles. Surprisingly hes the son of the guy who made the first movie that started the whole Blaxpoitation era and the indie filmmaker way of life, Melvin Van Peebles…. There are some very cool bits about the way black people where portrayed back then and how that interfered with Melvins desire to do his movie "Sweet, Sweetbacks Badasssss song" For starters, how could a black man be the hero of a movie??? Blaaasphemy!!! There's a montage I liked later on about how not only black people where portrayed stereotypically, but also the Latinos, the "Indians", the Chinese (and the rest of the Asian community), etc. Of course it seems that if we played Cowboys & Indians right now it would seem disgraceful and politically incorrect. But anyways, another part of the movie was how they got their whole team and how they went about to filming the movie… there even comes a point where everything is going wrong, nobody believes in Melvin, not even him, but hes a Stubborn MoFo and at the end he only gets to distribute his film in one measly theater owned by some old Jewish twins but with a little help from radio advertising and the Black Panther coalition, the movie is a huge success and it gives way to this little gem of a film I just saw… now, the only thing left to do is see "Sweet, Sweet Backs bad ass song" Random Trivia learned from the movie: Did you know that Shaft was originally intended to played by a white guy? Shut! your mouth.

honeybearrecords BAADASSSSS (dir. by Mario Van Peebles) Man, I was so f*cking excited when I heard that this film was being made. When I was a kid, I would spend weekends with my Dad. There are two things I remember doing. One was shopping for model ships and airplanes from World War II. The other was going to see two or three movies in an afternoon. We saw EVERY Hong Kong action movie and EVERY blaxploitation flick that came out in the early '70s. So Melvin Van Peebles and "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" holds a special place for me in my memories.Based on his father's book, Mario Van Peebles recreated the story of the making of "Sweet Sweetback…" and the incredible struggle it took to get it funded and distributed. First, the major studios wanted nothing to do with a film about a black man turned revolutionary who kills a cop and gets away with it. They didn't want anyone making a film where city cops are exposed as racist and crooked. The racist unions wouldn't allow him to make a movie with a crew of whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians. To make matters worse, real racist cops step in and arrest half of the crew illegally.Basically, this film is "American Splendor" meets "Reds". It's the story of a guy working outside of the system eventually developing support from committed people who understood his vision with the ultimate triumph being the movie itself. Like "Reds", there are talking heads giving testimonials throughout. My favorite scene in "American Splendor" is the final moment where you get to see Harvey's actual retirement party with no actors and all real people. At the end of "Baadasssss" you get to see the real people and I thought I was going to cry. It's a great movie all the way to the very last second.

stefanie-10 I had been putting off seeing this, and then was pleasantly surprised.I didn't know much about Mario Van Peebles, nor of his father ("Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song" came out 2 years before I was born) but after seeing this homage to Mr. Van Peebles and seeing how much he risked - everything from finances to his family and his own health, for his dream of "the world" to really see life from the African American point of view, the way it really is, is well impressive to say the least. The unimaginable struggle, the pressure and the sheer will that Mario portrays in his father is a touching tribute. Mario reveals his father's motives for making "Sweetback" in a moving and heartfelt way, documenting how Hollywood portrayed races other than white - if you are not white, then you are the white man's servant - how at that time - no one and no other film had film portrayed a Black Man as a hero or the struggles that he or any other race faces. It is a tale that is bigger than him and despite the risk and struggle, he fights to tell it. This is a fitting homage to a pioneer of a Genre and a Father. "Baadasssss!" It also depicts the rugged world of guerrilla film-making and the rabid fight involved in making an indie film from inception to distribution. After seeing this I take a much greater heed of the Van Peebles Name, "Baadasssss!" is worthy film as a Drama in its own right, an Homage to a Pioneer and Father and as a Documenty Tribute to a Piece of Film History.