Gettin the Man's Foot outta your Baadassss - by Michael Duck

"Gettin' the Man's Foot outta your Baadassss" is clearly a tribute to Melvin Van Peebles, directed by his son Mario Van Peebles.

The original "Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song" of 1971 is the grandfather (and now maybe Melvin himself) of all other blaxplotation movies, like "Shaft", "Super Fly" and "Foxy Brown". The movie - as the beginning titles says - is: "to all the Brothers and Sisters who have had enough of The Man". - reaction to the long tradition of sublime racism in Hollywood.

The synopsis of the 2003 homage

After his successful directing debut "The Watermelon Man", produced by a Hollywood major, Melvin (played by Mario van Peebles) decides to make a movie about the "black community" - against all possible resistances: e.g. unstable financing, crew detaining and union rules. Tired of always showing black characters as inferior persons, either as ridiculous fools or (beaten up) inferior race, in almost every Hollywood movie by then (in his memory), he decides to make a picture with his own money about a black guy who runs from the police and finally gets away.

Mario shows the extremely motivated filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles focussing on the costs of that "obsession" to his dad's family, crew and colleges and even to Melvin's health.

Of course, this movie pays also homage to independent filmmaking: Still it is a challenge to get audiences to support independent films, and support of an independent film about the making of an independent is indeed much harder.

Furthermore the film let recipients participate on the fact, how much trouble it was for a black person to produce an independent, 'anti-mainstream' movie back then. All the actors - who played well - did this totally for free - Worth mentioning are the appearances by Ossie Davis, Adam West, Bill Cosby - and of course Melvin van Peebles.

Summarizing "Gettin' the Man's Foot outta your Baadassss" is a really entertaining movie with nice music, average camera work / editing and good actors The problem: Mario van Peebles captures his dad's indomitable spirit quite well, but playing one's own father cannot help being a self-conscious affair, perhaps more caricature than character study.