Beginning in the early 1970s, a wave of so-called blaxploitation cinema, with one foot in exploitation thrills and one foot in avant-garde provocation, sent shockwaves through American film audiences. Though the term was originally deployed to criticize sensationalized images of African Americans, there was far more to the blaxploitation boom than mere stereotypes: it cemented a new generation of stars for the Black-is-beautiful era (Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree) while creating vital opportunities for daring Black filmmakers to experiment behind the camera. The two sides of an often-misunderstood movement are on display in this survey of pulp classics and blaxploitation-adjacent rarities, which brings together kick-ass action extravaganzas like SHAFT’S BIG SCORE!, TRUCK TURNER, and FRIDAY FOSTER, as well as unclassifiable, mind-expanding films such as SPACE IS THE PLACE, the recently rediscovered TOP OF THE HEAP, and LORD SHANGO, which defy genre by incorporating elements of Afrofuturism, surrealism, psychedelia, and Black mysticism. Taken together, they offer a fuller picture of a time when Black artists both in front of and behind the camera were breaking political and aesthetic boundaries to reclaim their image on-screen.
Please be advised: some of the films contain offensive racist language and stereotypes.
This introduction by film scholar Racquel J. Gates was recorded in 2022.
Directed by Melvin Van Peebles • 1971 • United States
Starring Melvin Van Peebles, Simon Chuckster, Hubert Scales
A landmark of Black and American independent cinema that would send shock waves through the culture, SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG was Melvin Van Peebles’s second feature film, a...
Directed by Barry Shear • 1972 • United States
Starring Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa
Evocatively shot on location in 1970s Harlem, this gut-punching crime drama combines film noir and blaxploitation tropes into an explosive portrait of simmering social and racial tensions. Yaph...
Directed by Gordon Parks • 1972 • United States
Starring Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Drew Bundini Brown
Richard Roundtree reunites with director Gordon Parks for this sequel to their trendsetting Blaxploitation landmark SHAFT. New York City private detective John Shaft (Roundtree) gets a pred...
Directed by Christopher St. John • 1972 • United States
Starring Christopher St. John, Paula Kelly, Florence St. Peter
Christopher St. John (SHAFT) wrote, produced, directed, and stars in this unique, unsung blend of psychological thriller and Afrofuturist fantasy. George (St. John) is a police ...
Directed by Ivan Dixon • 1972 • United States
Starring Robert Hooks, William Smithers, Paul Winfield
Twentieth Century Fox’s answer to SHAFT casts Robert Hooks as the unflappably cool private detective Mr. T, who takes on a seemingly routine robbery case only to realize he’s been drawn into a se...
Directed by Jack Starrett • 1973 • United States
Starring Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes
A Turkish poppy field is torched—and a U.S. drug trafficker known as Mommy (Shelley Winters) is feeling pretty burned. She phones the local cops she owns and orders a retaliatory strike on an inne...
Directed by Larry Cohen • 1973 • United States
Starring Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry, Art Lund
A brutal assault at the hands of a racist cop changes the life of Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson), who will grow up to become the reigning head of Harlem’s Black mafia in this blistering blaxploitation...
Directed by Robert Clouse • 1974 • United States
Starring Jim Kelly, Gloria Hendry, Scatman Crothers
The mob crosses the wrong man when it takes on a martial-arts teacher in the Watts section of Los Angeles. Now it’s the gangsters versus Black Belt Jones (Jim Kelly) as he battles to save his sch...
Directed by Ralph Bakshi • 1974 • United States
Starring Philip Michael Thomas, Barry White, Charles Gordone
One of the most controversial films of its era, animator Ralph Bakshi’s daring satire of African American stereotypes is an unrestrained update of the “Uncle Remus” stories in which Broth...
Directed by John Coney • 1974 • United States
Starring Sun Ra, Barbara Deloney, Raymond Johnson
Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social comment...
Directed by Paul Maslansky • 1974 • United States
Starring Marki Bey, Robert Quarry, Don Pedro Colley
Pray you never cross a woman out for revenge and her squad of zombie hitmen! When a nightclub entrepreneur gets taken out by the mob, his girlfriend, Diana “Sugar” Hill (Marki Bey), calls upon t...
Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. • 1974 • United States
Starring Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly
Gordon Parks Jr.’s follow-up to his blockbuster SUPER FLY casts Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly as a trio of tough-guy heroes who must stop a secret white-supremacist organization that pl...
Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. • 1974 • United States
Starring Max Julien, Vonetta McGee, George Murdock
Blaxploitation’s answer to BONNIE AND CLYDE follows the exploits of early-twentieth-century bounty hunter Thomasine (Vonetta McGee) and the bandit Bushrod (Max Julien), who, after they rekindle...
Directed by Jonathan Kaplan • 1974 • United States
Starring Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Alan Weeks
In this high-octane thriller, Truck Turner (Isaac Hayes, who also composed the soundtrack) is a bounty hunter who’s tracking a sadistic pimp on the mean streets of Los Angeles. Armed with his brute ...
Directed by D’Urville Martin • 1975 • United States
Starring Rudy Ray Moore, D’Urville Martin, Lady Reed
Dolemite is the role that made Rudy Ray Moore a midnight movie icon. The famously foulmouthed stand-up comedian and party-record king (who also served as producer and writer) plays the brash ...
Directed by Arthur Marks • 1975 • United States
Starring Pam Grier, Yaphet Kotto, Godfrey Cambridge
The legendary Pam Grier stars as photojournalist Friday Foster in this adaptation of the 1970s comic strip of the same name. After being warned by her boss that her personal involvement in the sto...
Directed by Ray Marsh • 1975 • United States
Starring Marlene Clark, Lawrence Cook, Wally Taylor
This fascinating, long-overlooked fusion of supernatural horror and Afrocentric mysticism has earned comparisons to Bill Gunn’s reclaimed independent landmark GANJA & HESS. Like that film, LORD SHANG...
Directed by Arthur Marks • 1976 • United States
Starring Glynn Turman, Louis Gossett Jr., Joan Pringle
Law student Ike (Glynn Turman) is enjoying a night on the town with his friends when his life changes dramatically. Taking part in a nightclub hypnosis act, he becomes possessed by the spirit o...
Directed by Frank Packard • 1977 • United States
Starring J. Walter Smith, Tobar Mayo, Roxie Young
When a Black revolutionary (Tobar Mayo) working as a bodyguard for a scientist developing a superpower serum is transformed into an indestructible, telekinetic man of steel, he sets about unleashin...
Directed by Cliff Roquemore • 1977 • United States
Starring Rudy Ray Moore, Sy Richardson, Jimmy Lynch
The great Rudy Ray Moore created a worthy successor to his iconic Dolemite with this uproariously inappropriate horror comedy. He stars as Petey Wheatstraw, a nightclub stand-up and born player...
Directed by Larry Cohen • 1996 • United States
Starring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier
Blaxploitation icons Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Ron O’Neal, and Richard Roundtree return to the genre that made them famous. Bookman (Williamson), a former hood who went on to become a big-t...
