The mission of The Department of Afro-American Research Arts and Culture to identify the global significance of the creative contributions pioneered by an international diaspora of Blackness
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017

S.T.A.B. [Special Tactical Airborne Brigade] (1973)
















Starring:

Storyline
A U.S. plane carrying $200 million in gold is hijacked by the Vietcong and the gold is brought to their connection in Lao. An international anti-drug agency must get the gold and there is only one man who can do it, Richard Hill (Greg Morris), leader of S.T.A.B., a small group of extremely tough mercenaries. His wage demands 5 million dollars!! The group face adversities as they move closer to their target, which somebody in the group being a spy with intentions of sabotaging their mission.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
















Starring:

Storyline
Myrtle Kane and Jeb Thornton meet in the audience of a New Orleans based game show. On Myrtle's initiative, they are chosen as contestants on the show, on the host's assumption that they meet the required contestant profile: being a happy engaged couple. In order to win the special $3,500 cash prize from the show, they have to get married on the air, to which they both agree. The more exuberant Myrtle is the only surviving member of the Mobile Hot Shots, a five piece girls band from the city of the same name. She sees being married to Jeb just the next big adventure in her life. She does however truly begin to believe she loves him, or at least love the thought of being married. 

The outwardly more subdued Jeb wants to use his portion of the money to restore Waverley, his now run down family plantation located on the Mississippi River floodplain in Louisiana, to its former "Confederate" glory. He lives there reluctantly with his biracial half-brother Chicken, who he hates for not being pure to his family, especially for having that black blood. What Jeb eventually tells Myrtle is that he is dying from lung cancer, and that he "had to" sign an agreement with Chicken to deed the plantation to him after his death, which is the last thing he wants to happen. 

Jeb decides to tell Myrtle his ulterior motive for marrying her: to have a baby to produce an heir to inherit the plantation from under Chicken which would supersede the agreement, or barring that - since they probably don't have the time before Jeb will pass - to work together to retrieve and tear up the agreement, either result being that Myrtle can own the plantation following Jeb's death. This backdrop and an imminent flood sets the stage for the disparate threesome's living arrangement, with some still hidden secrets which may bubble to the surface with the rising water. 

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Under Cover (1980's)
















Starring:




Storyline
A hard-working police sergeant is tasked with an under-cover assignment where he must pose as a mysterious assassin known as "Jakalasi". His mission is to execute a hit on the local police captain. But it's a dangerous game the young cop is playing, and with the mob boss' right-hand man suspicious of the new arrival, it's only a matter of time before his cover is blown. 

La Ultima Cena [a.k.a. The Last Supper] (1976)















Starring:
Storyline
During Holy Week at the end of the eighteenth century, a count visits his Havana (Cuba) sugar mill on a day a slave has run away. The count tells his cruel overseer, Don Manuel, to pick 12 slaves who will be guests at the count's table. Don Manuel objects, but to no avail. The twelfth guest is the recaptured runaway. During the dinner, using religious analogies, the count lectures his guests on the perfect happiness possible in slavery. They in turn tell stories and make requests. He promises no work on Good Friday, but he leaves early that morning and Don Manuel rousts the slaves for a long day cutting cane. They rebel. Which side will the count take?