The Story of a Three-Day Pass.

Review #2354: The Story of a Three-Day Pass.

Cast: 

Harry Baird (Turner), Nicole Berger (Miriam), and Hal Brav (Turner's Captain) Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles (#1970 - Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and #2184 - Watermelon Man)

Review: 

"I never did decide to become a director. That’s very flattering and nice, but I never decided to become a director. I just decided to show folks, especially minorities, like I saw them, not like they kept being shown around in cinema."

Melvin Van Peebles had made a handful of short films and looked for a job in Hollywood. He received a job offer as an Elevator operator or dancer. He elected to go to Amsterdam to study for a PHD in astronomy (as one does when having the GI Bill). But his films got shown in France (as aided by avantgarde ciné-club founder Amos Vogel) that had attracted curiosity. He moved to France and taught the language to himself. Evidently, he found that he could get a temporary director's card to bring one's work to the screen. He became a journalist and published his own novels before getting the director's card to bring one of his works to fruition with La Permission (which he wrote as a screen treatment and published as a novel before the film was released). He got enough funding by the French government and shot it in six weeks. The movie initially premiered at the San Francisco Film Festival (representing France) in October of 1967 before getting a release in later months. The film had a star-crossed starring duo. It was the last movie role of Berger, who had performed in film in her native France for a handful of years before suffering a tragic car accident that saw her die at the age of 32 in April of 1967. Baird (born in British Guiana and educated in Canada and Britian) had done a handful of movies and TV since the late 1950s but this was his one notable lead role prior to glaucoma sidelining him by the 1970s and his death in 2005 at the age of 73. The movie attracted attention in Hollywood (go figure) and from that Van Peebles got an offer to do Watermelon Man, and the rest is history.

It is a curious love story, mainly because it features flawed beings trying waywardly to cope with the idea of being with anyone. The nightclub sequence in which one gets to see quite the curious shot of our lead has to be seen to be believed in the apparent talent of its director, complete with expectation versus the actual reality. It isn't too far from a French New Wave movie when you get down to it. Baird and Berger are a curious pair to see play out, namely because they each have scenes where they are imagining the other in scenarios distinctly different from each other (one as an aristocrat and the other as a tribal man). The inner voice of Baird talks at times during the film about the conflict that arises with staying in the system (the military - incidentally, Van Peebles served in the Air Force) in the face of nagging difficulties. Berger is shaky in gracefulness that comes with one's own challenges in ambition versus reality, particularly since they only see Baird through a specific prism that can only be surprised at how Baird reacts to specific incidents because of his race (such as being called a certain phrase or being seen by his white comrades). Brav makes for an effective side presence in condescending authority when it comes to trust (imagine saying any of what is heard for a newly "promoted" person). Their double act together can only go so far in a time and place that still reminds them of who they are - one black, one white, complete with a varied understanding of oneself and the languages (you get both English and French). There is no hope of just having an easy out (nothing such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, for example) within a movie that can be tender just as much as it can be subversive. As a whole, it shows the potential of its director in what one can accomplish with a cast and style all to oneself. 

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Watermelon Man.

Review #2184: Watermelon Man.

Cast: 

Godfrey Cambridge (Jeff Gerber), Estelle Parsons (Althea Gerber), Howard Caine (Mr. Townsend), D'Urville Martin (Bus Driver), Mantan Moreland (Counterman), Kay Kimberley (Erica), Kay E. Kuter (Dr. Wainwright), Scott Garrett (Burton Gerber), Erin Moran (Janice Gerber), Irving Selbst (Mr. Johnson), and Emil Sitka (Delivery Man) Directed by Melvin Van Peebles (#1970 - Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song)

Review: 

There was one film made by Melvin Van Peebles under a major studio, and, well, here is that result. The brainchild for the film actually was from Herman Raucher. He had been an ad executive in the time that he had started writing for live television (often considered as the Golden Age of Television) before focusing more on writing, which also included the stage. Sweet November (1968) was his first screenplay that he did for film. before he co-wrote a script with Anthony Newley for Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? [1969]. The basis for what became this film was what Raucher saw from his liberal friends when it came to prejudicial habits. Columbia Pictures liked what they saw but felt they needed a black director. Enter Melvin Van Peebles, who had directed The Story of a Three-Day Pass to critical notice on the festival circuit in 1968 (after having to move to Europe in the first place to even get a shot at making features despite his experience with shorts). Believe it or not, there were other titles considered for the film: The Night the Sun Came Out and The Night the Sun Came Out on Happy Hollow Lane. It was Van Peebles who steered the casting for Cambridge, because Columbia seriously had ideas of casting someone like Jack Lemmon...for the whole film. Raucher took the screenplay with its intended ending and turned it into a novel after clashes with Van Peebles on set about the approach of the film, since he had envisioned a satire rather than a film of black empowerment. The ending differed from the film (seriously, Raucher wanted it to end as if the whole thing was a "nightmare") because Van Peebles told Columbia to let him shoot multiple endings and he simply shot only the one he was going to use and "forgot" to shoot the other one. The result was a movie that made a bit over a million dollars on release in 1970. Raucher is perhaps best known today for his next major effort as a writer with a memoir that he had written based on his experiences as a youth in the summer of 1942 that took ages to get off the ground for a film that became Summer of '42 in 1971, with both the film and book being runaway hits. As for Van Peebles, well, the film was a hit, but he wanted to go with a different approach in mind with his next effort and that result was Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. A book about the film and its legacy was only just released in 2023.

You have to remember that this was a film about poking fun at white people in a certain way. People are weird, but this weirdness becomes apparent in a particular way when one's worldview is thrown for a loop, whether that involves a new experience in work or, well, something a bit more offbeat in having their skin turn a new color. It isn't as easy to look on the world a certain way when one's reality is different, especially when it now involves one's perceived "tolerant" significant other. In the words of the film and its music (as done by Van Peebles), “naw, this ain't America, you can't fool me." Cambridge happened to have this film and Cotton Comes to Harlem release on the same day (May 27), which surely must have been a fun double-header for those who loved the celebrated comedian, who had once received a Tony Award nomination for his work on Broadway eight years prior. It is a shame that we did not see Cambridge get a chance to do further work as an actor before his sudden death in 1976 (at age 43), because his dry timing works exquisitely well here in conveying the dueling methods of both situation comedy and sly satire of now being a black man in a world that likes to shine a bright light on certain things. Whiteface makeup and all, he sells the personality shift that comes in making humor from both a man who had ridiculous notions of amusement as someone comfortable in their life (running to the bus stop, making cracks about seeing race riots) and then the other side in being thought as an "other" in both business and as a person. Parsons (already a noted supporting presence in film and stage) reflects the sensibilities of the bleeding-heart liberal that reflects pretty well today when it comes to the illusions of tolerance...to a certain point, which works pretty well to the film's advantage in that certain kind of chuckle. Among the supporting presences, consider Moreland, who had once been at the forefront of comedy in steady work in vaudeville and film before the late 1940s saw a reassessment of how black people were portrayed on screen when it came to stereotypes had seen him appear in film less by the 1950s. This was the third-to-last film with Moreland, who died in 1973 at the age of 71. He and Martin have distinct reactions when looking on Cambridge, who went from happy-go-lucky "barbs" to some other type of observation that is curious to try and define. People are far more than their job or their color, but it takes action to get things across. There are a handful of scenes one could highlight when it comes to that growing feeling of metamorphosis, such as Cambridge trying to get calls from the doctor only to have to hear with ones threatening him to leave home (with a certain word used for emphasis) that strikes differently when presented with a dry presence acting it out. Of course, the scene where he bargains his own house away by playing to stereotypes is also pretty funny when one gets down to it. As a whole, the film rests on the amusement of its situations and how timely it all still seems now for a worthwhile showcase in director and star that shows a certain type of empowerment worth letting play out on its own terms.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Posse (1993)

Review #2180: Posse.

Cast: 

Mario Van Peebles (Jesse Lee), Stephen Baldwin (Jimmy J. "Little J" Teeters), Billy Zane (Colonel Graham), Tone-Lōc (Angel), Melvin Van Peebles (Joe "Papa Joe"), Tom Lister Jr (Obobo), Big Daddy Kane ("Father Time"), Reginald VelJohnson (Preston), Blair Underwood (Sheriff Carver), Isaac Hayes (Cable), Charles Lane ("Weezie"), Robert Hooks (David "King David" Lee), Richard Jordan (Sheriff Bates), Pam Grier (Phoebe), Nipsey Russell (Snopes), Paul Bartel (Mayor Bigwood), Salli Richardson (Lana), and Woody Strode (The Storyteller) Directed by Mario Van Peebles (#1978 - New Jack City)

Review: 

Oh sure, "revisionist Western" isn't exactly the newest thing for the 1990s, but, hey, I dig action Westerns or ones with interesting ensembles, and I had this film in mind for last February, so screw it. This was the second film directed by Mario Van Peebles, following the resounding success of New Jack City (1991), and it perhaps makes sense to make a big spectacle Western film and have yourself as the star. Hell, if Eastwood or Poitier can do it...anyway, the film was written by rookie screenwriters Sy Richardson and Dario Scardapane. The film was a modest hit with audiences at the time, at least on a reported budget of $3 million. Strode, who had previously been featured in a variety of Westerns alongside documentaries such as Black Rodeo (1972), is featured for parts in the beginning and end, which also includes a clip from Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) to go with clips from older black cowboys such as The Bronze Buckaroo (1939). Of course, like Buck and the Preacher, it never hurts to have something to jog interest in actual historical things, such as with Buffalo Soldiers, the U.S. Army regiments consisting of African Americans that served on the frontier for the latter years of the 19th century and early 20th century. In 1997, Van Peebles wrote and starred in a made-for-TV/video film called Los Locos, which was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (director of future films such as Dallas Buyers Club), which was billed in some places as "Posse Rides Again", even though it really isn't related to this film. Van Peebles has kept busy over the years in directing (sometimes in television), whether that involves television or his latest film, which appropriately or not, is titled Outlaw Posse (2024).

It is a frantic film that seems like a tribute to the energetic Spaghetti Westerns along with blaxploitation features, which means one has a film that sometimes looks like it is going to collapse under its overwhelming nature. Is it overproduced and underdeveloped in characters? Maybe, but if you throw a bunch of likeable folks and a few cute moments together, then why not? What, one has to say they are a serious Western in order to be thought of as such? Fun indulgence when it comes to spinning a "town defense" story generally wins most of the time. This is a film with dueling narratives of "revenge and perseverance" that flashes off for start and end of 111 minutes with a bit of flabbiness in the middle. The persistent flashbacks remind me of High Plains Drifter (1973), which I can see as both interesting and slightly overproduced by the time one sees a sepia tone sequence involving folks you know are responsible again (which is where you see Hooks at any point of the film). The strong silent type works fine for Van Peebles, because in a film of generally familiar roles, he doesn't strain himself one bit, unless one finds macho posturing to be some sort of bad thing (one isn't exactly expecting a comedy Western like Blazing Saddles). Of the folks around him in the "posse", probably Baldwin does best when it comes to conniving relief, although Kane's relaxed composure is close at hand. If one accepts the array of appearances that might as well be cameos, it is fine to see folks like Hayes appear briefly (and yes, one does get a scene or so with father and son of Van Peebles, which I would expect for indulgences). Zane chomps the screen from time to time in general skullduggery that is totally in line with a fun Western outlook (complete with eyepatch and ridiculous final scene), while Jordan (in his penultimate film role prior to his death in 1993) strikes at the heart of venom and malice that is also fair to appreciate in acting. As a whole, the film is frenzied and probably a bit slipshod when it comes to doing anything particularly new with the genre, but I appreciate the attempt to make a black cowboy film on one's own terms. It was fun enough to watch once and get a few kicks out of the execution of action, and it might work out just as well for you if one is the mindset for what it is selling. 

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.

Review #1970: Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.

Cast: 

Melvin Van Peebles (Sweetback), Hubert Scales (Mu-Mu), Simon Chuckster ("Beetle"), John Dullaghan (Commissioner), with West Gale, Niva Rochelle, Rhetta Hughes (Old Girl Friend), Nick Ferrari, Ed Rue, and John Amos (Biker) Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles.

Review: 

“I made the picture because I was tired of taking the Man's crap and of having him define who we were to us. Sick and tired of watching the parade of jigaboos, valets and tap-dancing cooks on the big screen, I felt we had the right to define who we were ourselves. I am most proud of the fact that I decided to do something about it.”

Well, what can you expect from a movie that was written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by one man in Melvin Van Peebles? The Chicago native studied in literature at Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in the mid 1950s. He served in the United States Air Force almost immediately after graduation, doing so for three years serving as a navigator and bombardier in the Strategic Air Command. Afterwards, he moved to San Francisco and worked as a cable car gripman, where a passenger suggested for him to be a filmmaker (he also wrote during this time). His short films didn't attract Hollywood, but it did attract French favor, and he spent a variety of years there writing before his first feature film came with The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1968), the story of an African American soldier stationed in France in an interracial relationship. The success of the film (made in France with French and English dialogue) inspired curiosity from Columbia Pictures, who hired him to direct a film for them with a script by Herman Raucher (the studio wanted to do the film, but only with a black director). Van Peebles did not enjoy the experience of what became Watermelon Man (1970) too much, considering that he wished to change the script from a satire of white liberal America to a black power movie. The movie was a hit, and Columbia offered Van Peebles a contract for three films. Van Peebles chose to do this film instead. A free spirit, Van Peebles directed seven films (one for television and one that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival before getting a video release) from 1968 to 2008; he also spent his time with work in the theater and trading on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. Van Peebles died at the age of 89 in 2021; his son Mario became an actor and director himself, and he made a film depicting the struggle of making Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song with the 2003 biodrama Baadasssss! Incidentally, Mario had played a younger version of the title character in the 1971 film and then he starred as his father in this film.

Technically, this is the first "blaxploitation" film, because it came out a few months before the release of Shaft. Both films ended up with their own type of cultural impact, with this film being cited as "required viewing" for members of the Black Panther Party (as decreed by its founder Huey Newton). The musical group Earth, Wind, and Fire was behind the music of this film, as composed by Van Peebles, who released the soundtrack months before the film to attract attention. I can't really call it the father of that genre, because Cotton Comes to Harlem was released a year before it, and Sweetback probably shares more similarities to Billy Jack (released the same year as this and self-distributed by its title star to roaring success) more than the other big 1971 hit Shaft, in that I feel it is more of an offbeat fable of what Van Peebles envisions empowerment to be. Think about it: both Billy Jack and Sweetback involve a lead character who speaks lightly, both involve characters spurred to action by seeing someone get assaulted (whether hippies or activists), both movies involve a family member being cast for things usually not done in movies (one had their wife play a character that goes through a sexual assault, the other casted their son as a younger version of the title character being depicted as having their way with a prostitute), and both have a lead trying to get their way across an oppressive authority that leads to some sort of moral victory (i.e. "The Man" doesn't kill them). A series of vignettes is either a series of loose connections with varying levels of filmmaking success or a series of vignettes that make a jumbled mess: it is up to the viewer to decide what the hell they are watching. It is a fragmented, odd, and incendiary movie that you have to figure out what edges work out best for 97 minutes. It is a movie where a man got gonorrhea from doing a sex scene and used it as a way to get compensation from the Directors Guild for being "hurt on the job" before needing a personal loan from a once-famous comedian to keep the movie rolling, which was shot in under three weeks. The camerawork is a mixture of hand-held shots, montages, split-screen effects that all goes for a film "dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man". The most striking scene is probably the one that gets things started in loose plotting: our passive lead not being able to take it anymore when he sees (white) cops taking an activist out of the car to beat. Well, that or the scene where he argues for the activist to be taken by motorcycle rather than him because of the importance of the activist for the future. The cops taking things out on a random black man sleeping with a white woman regardless of how much he looks like Sweetback is also another striking scene whether for 1971 or 2023.

So yes, the movie is a success in terms of delivering perspective that isn't numbingly hypocritical, but that doesn't mean I have to call it a great classic. The Spook Who Sat by the Door, released three years later, crafted a far more interesting story of taking back the system in perspective (which incidentally was a movie suppressed by the studio behind it), but I digress. Granted, the criticisms of the film lie similar to ones made at films labeled part of the "blaxploitation" genre when it comes to presenting African Americans in stereotypes. But you know, there is one thing to mention when it comes to film and giving it a spotlight: if it is consistent enough for me, it is a winner all the way. The only one who should judge a film for themselves when it comes to spreading "ideas" is the viewer, not others trying to allege a moral high ground in authority (incidentally, this argument for worthwhile action films works just as well for horror films, since I guess ratings boards and family groups love to pair up). With that in mind, Melvin Van Peebles made a picaresque film that might as well pass for fable in the best way possible for what it means to him to be a Black man in America, one that doesn't stand passively when someone gets shelled, and one that finds the importance of not letting anything stand in the way of who they are. Whether thought of as a revolutionary classic or not, the world was left a better place with films such as this rather than left out in the cold. It might grow on you the more you watch it, but the impact is still there to talk about when it comes to Black cinema.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: Trouble Man (1972).