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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Saturday, September 20, 2008

Savage! (1973)























"Savage!" (1973) was an action movie filmed in the Philippines and stars James Iglehart, Carol Speed, Lada Edmund Jr., and Vic Diaz. Cirio H. Santiago was responsible for the direction, and Ed Medard wrote the screenplay. Roger Corman's New World Pictures distributed the movie, and Santiago and Corman produced the film together.

In the early 70s, Corman produced many films in the Philippines. In particular, exploitation films were the primary genre. For example, Pam Grier's career started in exploitation movies such as "The Big Doll House" and "Women in Cages," both released in 1971. 

"Savage!" was the first to incorporate a black lead actor as part of the marketing and hero of the story in these exploitation-style movies. James Iglehart spent some time playing minor-league baseball for the  Pittsburgh Pirates before transitioning to acting. He started in T.V. shows and landed his first movie role in "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" in 1970. "Savage!" was the first of several leading parts in his career, where he eventually started acting in blaxploitation-style martial arts movies. In addition, Carol Speed appeared in several films and T.V. shows before earning her role in "Savage!" However, she was familiar with Corman's work as she starred in "The Big Bird Cage" with Pam Grier. In 1973, Speed was in "The Mack" with Max Julian, a few shows, and T.V. movies.

"Savage!" is a solid B-Movie with a touch of the blaxploitation flavor. Don Julian composed the incredibly underrated soundtrack with several cuts used in hip-hop samples. The "T.N.T. Jackson" soundtrack also used a few songs from the "Savage!" soundtrack. The movie has plenty of action and isn't gory like many exploitation films during this period. While the producers made the movie in the Philippines, the story occurs in Central or South America.

Director: Cirio H. Santiago
Writer: Ed Medard

Starring James Iglehart, Carol Speed, Lada Edmund Jr., Sally Jordan, Vic Diaz, Aura Aurea, Eddie Gutierrez, Ken Metcalfe, Rosanna Ortiz



Storyline
James Iglehart stars as a criminal on the run who finds him between two warring factions in a tropical nation's bloody conflict. While there, he meets two American women (Carol Speed and Lada Edmund Jr.) who will help him. Together, all three assist the rebel army while trying to escape the country themselves.

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979)






















Starring:


Storyline
The Dr. will see you now. Basketball's Dr. J - Julius Erving - operates on the competition in this hoop-it-up disco-era fantasy about a team on a winning streak when it signs up motley players born under the zodiac's fish sign of Pisces.

Foxy Brown (1974)























Starring:
Storyline
Foxy Brown (Pam Grier, Coffy, Jackie Brown) is “a whole lot of woman” and more. Just you wait and see. Seeking revenge for the murder of her government agent boyfriend, a government agent, Foxy goes to any means necessary – even posing as a prostitute to infiltrate a modeling agency that’s a cover for sex trafficking – to bring the killer to justice.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Good Times [Third Season] (1976)

Starring:

  • Esther Rolle
  • John Amos
  • Ja'net DuBois
  • Jimmie Walker
  • Bern Nadetta Stanis
  • Ralph Carter

Episode Guide:

Amazon.com
Centered on the strong-willed but loving parents Florida and James Evans (Esther Rolle and John Amos), Good Times spun out stories of poverty and resilience that skillfully balanced comedy and politics. An episode in which James returns a found bag of money stolen from a bank doesn't trot out bland homilies about honesty, but becomes a surprisingly multilayered debate about civic virtue. In one of the second season's comic centerpieces, the Evans family avoids eating a neighbor's meatloaf because they think it's made with dog food. The scene is played as hilarious farce, but the acknowledgment of a poor old woman living on dog food gives the sequence an underlying bite. The commentary rarely feels forced; at its best, the show drew significance out of the characters' daily lives. An episode about a pregnant teen ends on an unexpectedly moving note, without any strings on the soundtrack to cue the audience's heartstrings--that's solid writing and acting. With buffoonish Jimmy "Dy-no-mite!" Walker, foxy Ja'Net Du Bois, sweet BernNadette Stanis, and militant Ralph Carter rounding out the cast, Good Times is a time capsule both for fashion (even though they lived in the projects, the Evans' fashion-plate neighbor Willona, played by Du Bois, was rarely without a glamorous get-up) and for a time in which mainstream sitcoms had the freedom to reflect the tougher side of reality.