Sistemo l'America e torno [a.k.a. Black Is Beautiful] (1974)

Starring:

• Paolo Villaggio 
• Sterling St. Jacques 
• Alfredo Rizzo

The film is primarily in Italian with English in various parts of the film. I done my best to translate the storyline of the film. The film offers an interesting perspective on Blaxploitation as this film was not made for American release, but filmed in urban areas across the United States while showing the political fight for African-American rights and justice. 

Storyline
John Bonfiglio (Paolo Villaggio) was sent to attend to some business in the United States by his employer, a wealthy industrialist from Busto Arsizio. Already located there, John is also in charge of hiring a promising American basketball player of color, Ben Ferguson (Sterling St. Jacques, the son of famed blaxploitation actor Raymond St. Jacques) for the Corporate basketball team, which is in need of a player that makes them invincible. Ferguson is immediately available, but before leaving for Italy, he forces Bonfiglio to accompany him on a tour across the United States to settle some personal matters. During the journey, John discovers that the basketball champion actually has not only the interest of the sport, but also politics...

Purchase Film (DVD is Region 2 only)

Bush Mama (1979)

Starring:

• Barbarao 
• Johnny Weathers
• Susan Williams

 

Storyline
Inspired after having seen a Black woman in Chicago evicted in winter, director Haile Gerima (Sankofa) developed Bush Mama as his UCLA thesis film.  Gerima blends narrative fiction, documentary, surrealism and political modernism in his unflinching story about a pregnant welfare recipient in Watts.  Featuring the magnetic Barbara O. Jones (Freedom Road) as Dorothy, Bush Mama is an unrelenting and powerfully moving look at the realities of inner city poverty and systemic disenfranchisement of African Americans.  The film explores the different forces that act on Dorothy in her daily dealings with the welfare office and social workers as she is subjected to the oppressive cacophony of state-sponsored terrorism against the poor.  Motivated by the incarceration of her partner T.C. (Johnny Weathers) and the protection of her daughter and unborn child, Dorothy undergoes an ideological transformation from apathy and passivity to empowered action.  Ultimately uplifting, the film chronicles Dorothy’s awakening political consciousness and her assumption of her own self-worth.  With Bush Mama, Gerima presents an unflinching critique of the surveillance state and unchecked police power.  The film opens with actual footage of the LAPD harassing Gerima and his crew during the shooting.  -UCLA: Film & Television Archive

This Man Stands Alone [a.k.a. Lawman Without A Gun] (1978)

Starring:

• Louis Gossett Jr. 
• Clu Gulager 
• Mary Alice 

Storyline
After returning home from Martin Luther King's funeral, Reverend Tom Hayward, [Lou Gossett Jr.] travels to his hometown of Carthage, Alabama. It's got a Black majority population, but it's owned by the white Tayman family.

When a young Black girl is assaulted by a local policeman, Tom leads a group of Blacks to the office of the county prosecutor to protest peacefully. Instead of justice, Tom is severely beaten by Sheriff Johnson; a man who has had a twenty year rule of terror. A Black man is killed during a campaign to get Blacks voters registered and Tom decides he must run for Sheriff, despite threats to his family.

The fight for justice begins, but the difference is the White have guns and have proved they are ready to use them while the Black community will retaliate only with forgiveness...and their votes for Tom!!   
 

Lost Blaxploitation Films!!!

 

With the efforts of those who love blaxploitation around the world, we can find these films! Please contact us if you have any information on these films. 

-Self Science