Super Fly

This was Director Gordon Parks'Jr. follow-up to one of the most successful and also one of the top five highest grossing pictures of 1971,the straight in-your face blaxploitation crime-drama,"Shaft",starring Richard Roundtree. This time around,he goes for the exploitation genre a bit further and this time it comes up a bona fide winner. Say what you want about this film,but when it first came out in the summer of 1972,the film became one of the top ten highest grossing pictures of that year. SUPER FLY was a major classic that was a huge success,and established Gordon Parks to make a second film for Warner Bors. Pictures,because he made history three years earlier as one of the first African-Americans to get financing for his first feature for the Warner Bors. studio,the 1969 autobiographical drama "The Learning Tree". However,SUPER FLY made a fortune for Warner Bors.,since the studio was about to jump on board the blaxploitation genre,and opened the doors for several movies to be produced for the studio,which including the following year the comedies,"Uptown Saturday Night",and the blaxploitation crime-dramas,"Cleopatra Jones",the sequel,"Casino Of Gold","Black Sampson","Black Cobra",and the classic martial-arts adventure/blaxploitation flick "Enter The Dragon". SUPER FLY was a slick urban romp had an appeal to its adult audiences,but because of the content of the film and its usage of drug abuse and drug substance together with the over count of its violent content,made it one of the most controversial movie ever made,and even for the year 1972,it was describe by some to be very intense with its subject matter and explicit language and some nudity. This was in fact shot on an low-budget theme that was released at the beginning of the blaxploitation/Black Cinema experience and it came out at a time when the Black Cinema movement exploded after the huge success of SHAFT and SWEET SWEETBACK. The main character here is Priest(played with absolute perfection by Ron O'Neal),who wants out of the drug business,but wants to make one last score before he calls it quits. Along the way,he is hassled by the cops,former associates and not to mention those who want to settle a score with him,but in all he gets back at them towards the end,but here the film delivers a powerful message here:the emptiness of the American dream. Priest may want to be out of the business,not because he hates them,but dealing with the endless hassle to sell anything illegal,and from that he just trying to make the best of what he has here,not just by selling but by any means necessary to survive. This is one hard edged gritty crime drama that tells it like it is with no holds-barred punches and straight to the point. A real honest look at the effect and ultimate destruction of drugs and the life of the drug dealer up close and personal. With an supporting cast that includes Shelia Frazier as Priest's girlfriend,Georgia,along with Julius Harris, the late Carl Lee,and Charles McGregor,with a brilliant screenplay by Phillip Fenty and music by Curtis Mayfield,whose brilliant soundtrack to this film was Grammy Nominated in 1972 for Best Soundtrack Album and Best R&B Album of that year...whose songs on this soundtrack for this film are standard classics these days,but as for the movie itself,its a piece of Black Cinema not to be missed. Rating:**** out of *****

Ron O'Neal plays a drug dealer name Youngblood Priest who wants out of the business. But not before one last big score. As you might expect, it won't be as easy to get out as he hopes. You've probably seen variations on this story dozens of times before and after Super Fly, but rarely this good. This is one of the high points of the Blaxploitation genre. Yes, it's morally suspect and not for all tastes. But it's also an exciting, gritty, and colorful urban drama. There's a great sex scene and a funny slow motion fight scene that are two of the highlights. Good direction from Gordon Parks, Jr. and an amazing score by Curtis Mayfield. Filmed on location in early '70s New York which gives it a great atmosphere and realism.

Let me put in my two cents about this film.

If you weren't around when this film was released...you're going to miss much when writing a review. Let me try to help:

This film IS about an urban drug dealer that "sticks it to the man". This was NOT a known concept of that time which is why it attracted so many movie goers. What was ALSO interesting was the casting of the light skinned, straight haired actor Ron O'Neal as "Superfly" to "stick it to the man". "The Man", usually white in these films, formatically had to brace the rath of very dark skinned blacks. But here was something... different! "The Man", was really "The Law Establishment". And was "Superfly"...urban? New Concepts of the time.

Another thing: Curtis Mayfield HATED the theme of this movie. He was going to turn down writing the soundtrack when he thought it may be better to counteract this theme by writing POSITIVE messages for the audience to hear. Before "Saturday Night Fever", Curtis Mayfield wrote the ground breaking music to "Superfly". This made the film even more popular.

This was a low budget film released at the very beginning of the black film experience, and was meant to be the opposite of "Shaft" not a parellel to it. But based on the success of Shaft, Warner Bro's needed a project to enter in this arena and greenlighted "Superfly".

This film began a M-A-J-O-R fashion trend that was hard to overcome (only the Disco era of the late 70's knocked this one out.)

And that is "Superfly" in a nutshell.

"Priest", played by Ron O'Neal was 'supercool', he was slick, he had a nice existence, he was a drug dealer that you DIDN'T know was one -- not by outward appearances anyway...that didn't get his come-uppence at the end of the film, he GAVE it.

It is amazing what an impact "Superfly" had on the culture of that time. In looking at it now, it may look cheap, but it IS a timecapsule of fashion, of music and of breaking a movie taboo that all drug dealers are lowlifes and must be killed in the end.

About that fashion: This began the trend of white surban-ites dressing like pimps trying to be cool. Little white kids were wearing "maxi" coats with "Superfly" hats to Jr. High School and High School!!! Dancers were wearing platform shoes, etc., on American Bandstand!!! You think Hip-Hop did it? Where have you BEEN!!!

"Superfly" is one of the rare films that you must experience beyond judging it on how good or bad it is to watch...Rent this film to see how a film can INFLUENCE a culture.

Long "Maxi" coats and "Superfly" hats with platform shoes: yes, I was one who jumped into the fashion trend at the time. I hat a purple hat and coat and four-inch platforms after this film came out. I wish I had a picture. :-)

This was a defining film that mightily affect a generation. The music of Curtis Mayfield made it even more enjoyable. It wasn't just a blaxploitation film, it was a good experience.

Sure the fights were lame, the acting nothing to write home about, and even the sex scenes left a lot to be desired, but this was an important film. See it ass soon as you can.

Ron Earl is the Priest, independent Harlem coke dealer who is out for the big deal, one last push before he's out of there and out of the street. He also happens to be the protagonist and the one character we're called to empathize with and if that pose a problem for some, it's a directorial choice I applaud even only for its disregard of PC norm. In a genre populated for the most part by cops, private dicks and other manifestations of the law, having a drug dealer kicking ass and not in the name of some higher value, without him renouncing his past or seeing the error of his ways and becoming goodie two-shoes in a last minute, flimsy attempt to redeem the movie in the eyes of moral censors, without being heavy-handed or trashy is certainly admirable. Those that enjoy taking the moral high ground against the movie they're watching will find plenty of ground here to do so. I don't. I might oppose a movie on a political level but only when it tries to make a political statement out of it and Superfly sure as hell doesn't, at least not beyond what genre conventions might dictate (i.e. whitey is bad). The Priest however renounces the hypocrisy of "Black Nation" scumballs going around asking him for money just as much as he rails against the "redneck faggot" captain who doubletimes as the local drug lord.

So if Super Fly is so good, it's because The Priest's desire comes across so transparent, strong and clear. Get off the street. A home, a vine, his woman, that's all he wants out of life now, despite (or perhaps because of) him being a societal leech feeding off people's addiction. Dealing drugs is just a job for him, a means to an end. His partner Eddie rambles on at one point early in the movie about how "it's all whitey left them to do" on which I call shenanigans; that way of thinking is never further expounded upon in relation to the Priest's goal and Eddie in the end proves himself to be a backstabbing, greedy son of a bitch. I think the best way to sketch out The Priest's character is by using Lee Marvin's words when he was asked what it felt like to have played so many bad guys in his life: "My characters weren't bad. They were just trying to get through the day". That's pretty much the wavelength Super Fly channels its protagonist through. Neither condemnation, nor approval, it's just the way it is.

Super Fly is so damn good however, not just because its drug dealer protagonist comes across as genuine and sympathetic, but more so because it never allows itself to be drawn to the sillier end of blaxploitation. No 'mack daddy' sleazy pimpin' fabulousness here, the movie is constantly rooted in reality, taking itself serious before asking the viewer to do the same, but also groovy and funky as only blaxploitation flicks can be. A big part of that distinct seventies charm is due to Curtis Mayfield's stupendous score, playing over most of the film, but also the seedy back-alleys and rundown neighborhoods of then contemporary Harlem, the grime almost reaching across the screen.

Grade A blaxpoitation then, but also a smokin' hot crime flick with characterization that is better than most, good pace, all-around good acting, booty-shaking' music, afros and a few punches thrown in for good measure, Super Fly is among the best of its kind. Strongly recommended.