Melvin Van Peebles wrote a tale about a black man wanted for killing two white policemen. Dealing with the taboo subjects of justified black suspicion in police authority and unbridled black sexuality, Van Peebles found no help from the studios and decided to fund the project himself. Also producing, directing, and staring, the movie grossed over 10 million dollars making it the highest grossing independent film of 1971.Realizing there is money to be made in black audiences, the studios follow suit and soon one-fourth of all films in production are black-oriented. Another result of Van Peeble's epic, the studio's plan for a big-budget detective franchise is changed to feature a black man. They call him Shaft and the Blaxploitation Era is officially underway.
FILM TIDBITS:
- By doing his own sex scenes, Van Peebles contracted Gonorrhea. He applied to the Director's Guild in order to get worker's compensation because he was "hurt". He ended up using the money to buy more film stock.
- The soundtrack was performed by then-unknown Earth, Wind, & Fire.
- Van Peebles went on to write a book about the making of the film, creating the first "Making Of" book by an African-American.
- In 2005, Van Peeble's son, Martin Van Peebles, premiered BAADASSSSS!, a film about the making of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
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