BAADASSSSS!

In 1971, filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles released his third film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which he wrote, directed, and scored. Despite boasting an all-black cast, an X rating, a low budget, and a decidedly non-Hollywood approach to moviemaking, the ground-breaking independent film went on ...more

Honoring his father even by using the same number of superfluous letters in his title, Mario Van Peebles has assembled one of the most bracing films about guerilla filmmaking ever committed to celluloid. Not only that, but as a witness to and subsequent reenactor of the events in the film, Van Peebles brings a gritty authenticity to BAADASSSSS! that makes it a 1970s time capsule on par with a film like Boogie Nights. Van Peebles is unflinching in his portrayal of father Melvin's struggles to ...more