Storyline "A Black Man can't catch a cab in New York." Written by Anthony B. Major (Super Spook), Bill Jay stars in this silent short film of his trials and tribulations on trying to catch a cab in the Big Apple. He starts with just trying to signal one down, but when that fails he offers money to a passing by Marki Bey (Sugar Hill, The Landlord) to catch one for him. When that fails he dressed up in a variety of costumes to try and catch a cab. Music for the film is done by Rheet Taylor.
"Anthony B. Major
wrote and directed the Award winning short "Off-Duty", segments for the
NBC-TV syndicated That Teen Show and directed and produced, based on his
original idea, the nationally and internationally distributed feature film, "SuperSpook", a parody on super heroes."
Storyline In the pre-civil war American south, Emanuelle, a plantation owner's
daughter, while outwardly a dainty southern belle, brutally abuses the
slaves in her charge. When her fiance is bitten by a snake, he falls for
Emanuelle's beautiful African-American maid who's kindness and skill
saved his life. Insanely jealous, Emanuelle continues her sadistic
behaviour towards her charges, and when her fiance announces he plans to
wed the maid, Emanuelle "gives" her to her even more brutal hired men,
and her fiance is powerless to stop them. Can Emanuelle learn an
important lesson in love before it's too late for everyone?
Storyline When a group of friends plan to smuggle a ton of marijuana from Mexico
to the US, they don't realize the size of the job ahead of them. It
seems that the group has to contend with the crooked double crosser who
sold the weed to them, the harsh environment of the Mexican desert, a
group of black bikers who have laid claim to their load of weed, and the
Mexican police who are hot on their tail.
The Department of Afro-American Research and Culture (DAARAC) has built a reputation of discovering and presenting lost treasures of Black Cinema. Our mission is to preserve the
history of Black Cinema world wide while educating communities on the
accomplishments of Afro-Americans in the film industry. This has been a focus for our organization since 2008. We have helped preserve the Blaxploitation Era, which was the roots of how DAARAC was started. Eventually, the discovery of Blaxploitation films started to slow down, so we decided to help preserve the Race Film Era as well as other eras. While discovering and presenting Race Films of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, it was apparent that many of the films we were looking for were destroyed or lost. A huge perspective of Afro-American history was erased. But what was fascinating was how those Race Films were discovered in the first place. You can see from this promotional video narrated by the great Ossie Davis which was released as part of Kino Lorber's Pioneers of African-American Cinema.
There is one thing that the United States of America and South Africa shared in common, which was the violation of Civil Rights towards Blacks through Jim Crow (United States) and Apartheid (South Africa). The cultural response not only echoed through the movements to end these violations, but Blacks found their way into the film industry by making movies for Black audiences. In the U.S., we know that to be the Blaxplotiation Era, but guess what? South Africa had their Blaxploitation Era and it started with a 1971 film called Joe Bullet. Gravel Road Distribution Group and Retro Afrika Bioscope (a restoration division of Gravel Road) has made it possible for the world to see Joe Bullet and several others titles from the South African Blaxploitation Era.
Produced in 1971, Joe Bulletwas one of the first South African films
featuring an all-African cast, and starred Ken Gampu, of the first black
South African actors to appear in Hollywood films.
Joe Bullet was independently released in 1973 in the Eyethu cinema in Soweto, and
after only two screenings, the film was banned by the then Apartheid
government. The film was later unbanned after special appeal and a
personal screening to the Minister of Communications. The film was,
however, never released again and simply disappeared.
DAARAC's New Partnership with Gravel Road Distribution Group
We are excited to announce that DAARAC will be helping Gravel Road promote their South African Blaxploitation titles to give an international audience outside of South Africa. There will be many films presented here to add an exciting new flavor to Blaxplotiation films. These films have been digitally restored by Retro Afrika Bioscope and we have plenty of titles to present on DAARAC.
As we move forward from here, we will keep everyone
updated on the latest releases and provide a master list of South
African Blaxplotiation titles as they are presented. Many of these films
have been seen by few, but like we did with the Blaxploitation era here
in the U.S.A.; we can bring life to a sleeping movement that was
similar to the American Civil Rights Movement, but in another region of
the world where Black's were fighting against oppression.
Blaxploitation Pride Review
I couldn't resist entering this show on to the website as Modern Blaxploitation. To be fair, I will exclude any opinion I have on the Marvel Comics aspect of the show, but explain why this show fits the mold of Blaxploitation.
The show takes place in Harlem, New York, which is home to some of the most famous Blaxploitation films ever made, such as Across 110th Street, Black Caesar, Cotton Comes To Harlem and Hell Up In Harlem. Even many of the Race Films that have been posted on this website is home to the great city of Harlem. But it's not just Harlem that makes Luke Cage a Blaxploitation film, but all the elements that we seen from characters like Black Belt Jones, Tommy Gibbs, Cleopatra Jones are found in the show. The coolness, smooth talking, gangster mentality, pride in Black American culture, style, music, jive talk, disposition are common elements of the show that gives such a Blaxploitation feel.
The plot of the show is rather simple in that Luke Cage, a mysterious man residing in Harlem, has found his purpose in life unexpectedly to him and those that he is around. Somewhat indestructible to the average human, he becomes the 'Robinhood' of the hood after a close friend is killed by a goon of Luke Cage's nemesis, Cottonmouth, owner of the luxurious club, Harlem's Paradise. Cottonmouth is a gangster with close ties with the unforgiving, Willis Stryker (a.k.a. Diamondback) whose vengeful hate for Luke Cage leads to a classic hero versus villain action. Cage looks to help the people of Harlem keep corruption and detriment from the streets, but his mysterious ways have spark an obsessive pursuit by NYPD detective, Misty Knight because wherever Cage goes, trouble closely follows.
But what really set the show in the mood of Blaxploitation, which is an important element of Blaxploitation films, is the music. Produced by Adrian Younge (from the Black Dynamite soundtrack) and A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad, the soundtrack offers the hard hitting funk and dramatics we love to hear in Blaxploitation films. True to the nature of library and production music of the 70s, these producers enlightened the show with some of the most brilliant display of versatility of a Blaxploitation movie soundtrack that you'll ever hear. It's obvious that these producers are talented, but they also have studied and paid much respect to their predecessors of Blaxploitation music producing. The producing features a mixture of hip-hop elements, which is true to the modern African-American culture, so while the music could have an out-dated feel, the hip-hop aspect keeps it very relevant to 2016.
Tracklist 01. Good Man 02. Mesmerized (Original Soundtrack Version) 03. Ain't It a Sin 04. Stop And Look (And You Have Found Love) 05. 100 Days, 100 Nights 06. Diamondback Arrives 07. Final Battle - Part 1 08. In the Wind 09. Diamondback's Trap 10. Blue Fusion 11. Final Battle - Part 2 12. I'm Luke Cage 13. Street Cleaning 14. The Ambush 15. End Theme 16. Coffee at Midnight 17. Red-Handedly Blameless 18. Always Forward Pops 19. Unveil the Bride 20. Shameek's Death 21. The Plan 22. Requiem for Phife 23. We Had Coffee 24. Pops Is Gone 25. Theme 26. Greed Becomes Me 27. Bulletproof Love feat. Method Man 28. Microphone Check Five'O 29. Luke's Freedom 30. Uptown Claire 31. Shades Beware 32. Misty Resolute 33. Fresh Air 34. Kinda Strong 35. Big Man Little Jacket 36. Scarfe's Dying 37. Claire's Wisdom 38. Gun Threat 39. Bad Love 40. Finding Chico 41. I Am Carl Lucas 42. Crispus Attucks 43. Hideout 44. Cuban Coffee 45. Like a Brother 46. Cottonmouth's Clamp 47. Survival 48. Cottonmouth Theme 49. Luke Cops 50. Crushin' On Reva 51. Beloved Reva
Overall, this show fits the mold of how Blaxploitation is defined here at BP. The Blaxplotiation era may be nearly 40 years past, but that doesn't mean that we can't have an ode to the genre from time to time.
%20%5BDVD%20Front%20Cover%5D.jpg)
