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It’s the summer of “Blaxploitation, Baby!,” the latest festival hosted by Film Forum.

The indie theater announced the upcoming festival which will take place August 16 through August 22. The program celebrates the early ‘70s genre of Black cinema, and features films wth iconic movie stars Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Ron O’Neal, Tamara Dobson, Jim Brown, Vonetta McGee, Fred Williamson, Isaac Hayes, and more.

“Blaxploitation, Baby!” is dedicated to author and pioneering film historian Donald Bogle, who collaborated on Film Forum’s first Blaxploitation festival in 1995. Bogle credited Melvin Van Peebles’ filmography for helping to establish the genre. “Blaxploitation, Baby!” additionally ranges from works from directors such as Ossie Davis, Gordon Parks, and Gordon Parks Jr.

As well as the screenings, the festival will include the sales of critic and historian Odie Henderson’s “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation” and Donald Bogle’s acclaimed TCM book “Hollywood Black” at concessions.

The comedian and former The Daily Show correspondent talks about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Castle (1997)

The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary

Pressure (1976)

Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Boss (1975)

Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

Black Samurai (1977)

Truck Turner (1974)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)

Friday Foster (1975)

That Man Bolt (1973)

Blacula (1972)

Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Billy Jack (1971)

John Wick (2014)

The Matrix (1999)

Cleopatra Jones...

“Blacula” is leaving the coffin.

MGM, Bron and Hidden Empire Film Group’s Deon and Roxanne Avent Taylor are teaming up for a reboot of the blaxploitation horror classic.

The new film is a modern reimagining of the 1972 movie, directed by William Crain and starring William Marshall as Blacula. The reboot picks up where the original saga left off, after the 1973 sequel “Scream Blacula Scream,” and will be set in a metropolitan city post-coronavirus pandemic.

A description of “Blacula” teases how the movie will update the classic story, as it follows the vampire as he “thirsts for vengeance”:

Blacula is an ancient African prince who is cursed by Dracula after he fails to agree to end the slave trade. Blacula is entombed and awakens 200 years later ready to avenge the death of his ancestors and of those responsible for robbing his people of their work, culture and heritage as they appropriated it for profit.

1968: Agnes Nixon's One Life to Live premiered on ABC."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1940: On The Guiding Light, Rose Kransky (Ruth Bailey) and Charles Cunningham had dinner together after a chance meeting on the street.

The episode opened with the following narration: "Where we are free to act, we are also free to refrain from acting. And where we are able to say no, we are also able to say yes. And yet it seems so strange that so many times what we will to be,...

Here’s something I never expected to see: I ran to the blaxploitation attraction Willie Dynamite because I like actress Diana Sands, and it’s her last picture in a too-short career. But the main character on view, a gaudy fur-wearing pimp, is played by none other than Roscoe Orman, well known to a couple of generations of kids as none other than ‘Gordon’ in the long-running TV show Sesame Street. It’s like watching MisterRogers play Hannibal Lecter!

Willie Dynamite

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date January 8, 2019 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95

Starring: Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala, Joyce Walker, Roger Robinson, George Murdock, Albert Hall, Norma Donaldson, Juanita Brown, Royce Wallace, Tol Avery, Robert DoQui, Slim Gaillard.

Cinematography: Frank Stanley

Film Editor: Aaron Stell

Original Music: J.J. Johnson

Written by Ron Cutler & Joe Keyes Jr.

Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown

Directed by Gilbert Moses...

1968: Agnes Nixon's One Life to Live premiered on ABC."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1940: On The Guiding Light, Rose Kransky (Ruth Bailey) and Charles Cunningham had dinner together after a chance meeting on the street.

The episode opened with the following narration: "Where we are free to act, we are also free to refrain from acting. And where we are able to say no, we...

Stars: Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala, Joyce Walker, Roger Robinson, George Murdock, Albert Hall, Norma Donaldson, Juanita Brown, Royce Wallace, Judith Brown | Written by Ron Cutler | Directed by Gilbert Moses

Blaxploitation movies have a strange place in movie history. Often nostalgically looked at as being cool and oozing in style, they also have an exploitative feel to them, hence the name. Willie Dynamite is a so-called Blaxploitation movie that looked to do something different, which in some regard puts it at conflict with itself…

Willie Dynamite (Roscoe Orman) is a pimp at the height of his success. Making money and having a successful group of ladies under his control he is living the dream. When crooked cops start to take down his empire and the other pimps start to steal his territory, is it time for him to change his ways?

When you think of good Blaxploitation movies you...

Even as a new version of the classic mini-series is in the works, Warner Bros. is aiming to please fans by bringing the entire original series of Roots to the high definition format with a slew of bonus features. Come inside to learn more!

If you're a fan of the original Roots series, or weren't old enough to remember the iconic mini-series, then you're in luck. Today WB has announced a new blu-ray set to bring the entire series to blu-ray with loads of special features that dive into the heart of the story on June 7, 2016. All the details are below:

The groundbreaking, acclaimed television miniseries that captivated the entire nation and won multiple awards, Roots, will be released on Blu-ray™ for the first time, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) on June 7, 2016. The legendary family saga, which follows the inspiring story of Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton, Transformers: Rescue Bots,...

Blaxploitation films burst onto the scene in 1971 with the huge success of Gordon Park’s Shaft. By 1972, audiences were clamoring for more, and filmmakers and studios were keen to jump on the bandwagon. While most of the majors were focusing on the Shaft formula of hot chicks and cool Dicks, American International Pictures saw a void that no one had filled yet: the black horror film. And so, with as little money as they usually invested, they sent forth into the world Blacula (1972), and wouldn’t you know it? Audiences loved it.

Just don’t call it Blaxploitation—because it isn’t. Blacula, surprisingly, showcases little of the developing tropes already established by Shaft. There is no "jive" talk, no gratuitous nudity or overwhelming violence. And I say "surprisingly", because it would have been so easy (not to mention profitable) to follow the formula set in motion by Shaft, Superfly,...

Towering aggressively over the legacy of the problematic film movement of 1970s Blaxploitation is the iconic figure of actress Pam Grier, emblazoned in our memories as the self-reliant beauty holding her own (well, mostly) with her male co-stars prior to her white female counterparts, like Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton. She’s an important cinematic figure, and much like the symbolic essence of Marilyn Monroe, her reputation outweighs familiarity with many of the films that brought her iconicity. Arriving in the middle of her gamut of classic titles was 1975’s Friday Foster, of which Grier is the eponymous star. Campy, cringe worthy, and so remarkably asinine it may just as well be classified as sci-fi, production values and an impressive supporting cast surely solidifies the title as requisite viewing for Grier’s fan base. Unfortunately, for all involved, their talents (a common complaint of the genre) are worthy of less slipshod silliness.

Urban action and fatal attraction give rise to a groove from beyond the grave in this funkadelic, fangadelic blaxploitation double-bill from Eureka Entertainment, which sees the eternally cool William Marshall put a fresh spin on the age-old legend of the vampire, condemned to wander the earth with an insatiable lust for blood as Blacula.

Produced at the height of the blaxploitation era, the Blacula movies are the perfect blend of genre and social film making, the types of which hadn’t been seen before… or since!

Blacula (1972)

Stars: William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas, Thalmus Rasulala, Gordon Pinsent, Charles Macaulay, Emily Yancy, Ted Harris, Rick Metzler | Written by Joan Torres, Raymond Koenig | Directed by William Crain

In 1780, African Prince Mamuwalde (Marshall) pays a visit to Count Dracula in Transylvania, seeking his support in ending the slave trade. Instead, the evil count curses his noble guest and transforms him into a vampire!

After all the debates, controversies, and stereotype accusations have cleared, looking back on Blaxploitation cinema today it’s easy to see healthy portions of the crime and action genres. Using these genres and the struggles of the black community, these films were created for those that wanted to see African American characters on the big screen not taking shit from the man, “getting over”, and–above all else—being the heroes in movies. In the documentary Baad Asssss Cinema, Samuel L. Jackson gives his take on the heroes of Blaxploitation: “We were tired of seeing the righteous black man. And all of a sudden we had guys who were…us. Or guys who did the things we wanted those guys to do.”

The unsung supporting players in these films that backed Fred Williamson and Pam Grier and many other stars were people acting and making a living off of it.

Be cool, you jive-ass motherfuckers, Junk Food Dinner: Episode #46 is finally here. Can you dig it?

This week in honor of Black History Month we take a look at three classic Blaxploitation films.

Up first, we get bitten by Dracula’s soul brother in the 1972 horror film Blacula starring William Marshall and Thalmus Rasulala.

Then, Isaac Hayes is a bounty hunter going up against an army of angry pimps (including Nichelle Nichols and Yaphet Kotto) in Truck Turner from 1974.

And finally, Rudy Ray Moore rhymes and jives his way into our hearts in the 1975 action-comedy Dolemite.

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Got a movie suggestion for the show, want to give your opinion on a movie we talked about or just want to tell us we suck? Drop us a line at JFDPodcast@gmail.com. Or hit us up on the hotline: 347-746-junk (5865).

Also, if you like the show,...

I consider myself fairly versed in Black/Black cast films, especially obscure tv ones, so it came to my surprise to find Booker, a 1984 movie about Booker T. Washington’s youth in the South at the end of the Civil War and after, directed by now-super Director/Producer/Exec. Producer Stan Lathan and starring no other than ‘Dudley’ from Diff’rent Strokes, regular S&A commenter Shavar Ross. Also starring some of my favorite actors like LeVar Burton, Cch Pounder and Julius Harris, it also starred notables like Thalmus Rasulala, Shelly Duvall & Judge Reinhold.

coincidentally, the best image I could get is from Shavar Ross' website

The synopsis and some history, as quoted from Booker’s IMDb listing:

Set in the 1860’s South, Booker is the impassioned story of the boy who struggled through slavery to found the Tuskegee Institute. Through the eyes of nine-year-old Booker T. Washington, viewers...