Ron O'Neal isn't merely fly; he isn't even simply Super Fly. He's nothing less than Super Fly TNT, tooling around Rome in an expensive-looking car, dressing like a runway model and being asked by Roscoe Lee Brown (who's sporting a French accent) to come to Africa to save them from Whitey.
O'Neal, however, has to spend the first hour or so of the movie looking fabulous for going horse riding , before he grows bored in eight seconds at a poker game, flies down to Africa, is immediately stripped and whipped by some very white guys, imprisoned, escapes, and saves the world.
Alex Haley got paid for helping write this. I hope he thinks he got paid enough for the hit to his reputation.