The Monkey Hu$tle

A new highway threatens a Chicago neighborhood, so to protest the residents throw a block party.

Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-half stars (out of four), calling it a "good-hearted muddle" but opining that "they must have left half the script back in Hollywood." Ebert did note with pleasure that the film's business justified opening the balcony at the now-demolished Roosevelt Theater, where he had not sat in four years. He is spot-on here. The film never really seems to have a direction and just sort of meanders. This can work on occasion, but does not seem to here.

In 2009, "Black Dynamite" star and co-writer Michael Jai White cited "The Monkey Hu$tle" as a major influence, telling the Los Angeles Times, "It was just brash, unlike anything I'd ever seen... I remember these bigger-than-life characters, who reminded me of my uncles, and it was the first time I saw anything familiar in my life on the big screen." This adds a little weight to the film that it does not provide itself, as "Black Dynamite" is truly impressive.

This film has an untraditional style and format. The closest I could compare it to is CAR WASH, as both are not about a particular person but about a group of people living in a ghetto neighborhood. However, unlike CAR WASH, this isn't a comedy though there are a few mildly funny moments. Plus, while CAR WASH is not for everyone's taste, I liked the film and found many of the characters likable.

This non-traditional narrative might bother many, as the film does seem rather disjoint. Plus, given that most of the people aren't all that likable (and several are very unlikable), the film isn't one I'd recommend you watch. It's really a shame because this style COULD have worked very well....with likable and more interesting people. The folks in this film are mostly hustlers--out of work young adults who will lie, cheat and steal to make a few bucks. Their idol is Yaphet Kotto--in an odd role as a master film-flam man.

The bottom line is that this just isn't a very good film--with an inferior script, lousy characters and a lackluster musical score. There are many, many Black-American films from the 70s that are so much better and more interesting than this dull mess.

One has to remember, that with the introduction of Shaft and Superfly, Hollywood churned out one blaxploitation film after the other, whether the script and acting succeeded or not. During the 70's, at the height of the blaxploitation film era, the genre was completely plot-driven rather than character-driven. Ask yourself how many times a neighborhood could be saved from some type of demolition? How many times could someone come up with just the right lottery numbers? Take this film for what it is, something lighthearted that introduced actor/director Thomas Carter, II, Debbi Morgan of All My Children, Charmed, The Hurricane, Rosalind Cash of The Omega Man, General Hospital, and Tales from the Hood, Randy Brooks of Another World and Generations. And, of course, Rudy Ray Moore. These actors had to eat, support families, and it was training ground for some later great work.

Rudy Ray Moore was splashed all over the poster art for this movie, so I was expecting another embarrassingly unintentionally hilarious film along the lines of DOLOMITE or DISCO GODFATHER, but this was actually a pretty good movie outside of Rudy, in his few scenes as a supporting character, try to act alongside legitimate actors like Yaphet Kotto. THE MONKEY HU$TLE reminded me of an urban AMERICAN GRAFFITI that was aspiring to be COOLIE HIGH. It's not quite that good, but it does a good job of making this neighborhood feel like a real place populated by a bunch of characters you'd like to spend time with. There's the neighborhood con man, the local cop, the mischievous group of teens, another group of younger kids, and the local player "Goldie," played badly in the most unintentionally hilarious manner by Rudy Ray Moore. Yaphet steals the movie anytime he's on-screen as the neighborhood con man. There's not a really strong narrative throughline. The closest thing to a plot is there's a new highway planned to go through their Chicago neighborhood, so various community members band together to stop it, culminating in a neighborhood block party. However, for the most part, we're simply following around a bunch of different characters doing their thing in a series of vignettes, kind of like DAZED AND CONFUSED, but nowhere as well as that film. Directed by Arthur Marks, who also directed BUCKTOWN, DETROIT 9000, and FRIDAY FOSTER, it's a competently crafted film and was always entertaining, even if the story meandered and lacked a strong narrative.

Story takes place in Chicago involving a hustler (Yaphet Kotto), who recruits four teenagers to perform rip-offs for him in exchange for pocket money. The other central point is a soul food restaurant owned and operated by Kotto's lady friend, played by Rosalind Cash, and Rudy Ray Moore as an underworld type who owes Kotto some big undisclosed favor. Good cast also includes Randy Brooks, Frank Rice, Fuddle Bagley, Donn Carl Harper, future producer/director Thomas Carter (pre-White Shadow), Kirk Calloway, Steven Williams, a small uncredited role by Robert Townsend and a young Debbi Morgan. Townsend and Williams also appeared in Cooley High.