Velvet Smooth

For a low-budget 70's martial arts film, I thought it was pretty entertaining. The soundtrack is really a hoot, as are the sets and costumes. I especially enjoyed the scene where King and Velvet are on the sofa and you can actually see the audio boom shifting back and forth at the bottom of the screen! When Velvet speaks her line the boom points at her and when King says something, the boom races back toward him--hilarious! I noticed that the casino bouncer is one of the "family" from "Super Fly". There are some amusing parallels: Velvet takes off her bracelet at home, cut to bracelets being stolen at the casino robbery. Also, during the fight scene on the top of the MTA building, the costumes match the colors and shapes of the hele-pad. I thought the Kojak lookalike was a really strange touch and whatever they were using for stage blood looked like marinara! Fantastic!

Somebody's running a takeover on crime lord King Lathrop's operation using goons in nondescript full-face masks. Clueless, King Lathrop calls private detective Velvet Smooth (Johnnie Hill) for help. With the help of her friends Ria, a lawyer, and Frankie, she infiltrates the criminal underworld to investigate.

The title song is completely laughable. It's a grade F rip off of Bond theme songs. The print I streamed was just the worst. Filled with emulsion scratch lines and something I've never seen before -- red emulsion dots raining down on the movie. It was like the movie was screen through a bucket of sand!

Anyway the acting is horrible. This is pure grindhouse. Velvet is sort of a poor man's Pam Grier but she's the worst actress on Earth.

The street scenes are clearly filmed without permits. Ordinary people on the street seemed to think this was real! Mostly in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn.

It's really a minor player in the Blaxploitation film genre. Don't let it be your first foray into the mix. It will turn you off to the others that are way better.

This is one of the weaker Blaxploitation films made in the 70's. Production value? Well, I have seen student films with better attention to detail. The acting is not any better. The music isn't too bad and unfortunately one of the only good things about this film.

If you are dedicated to the Genre, then you have to see it. Otherwise you aren't going to miss anything. They took the formula approach and it shows. You can't take any of these movies too seriously, but you can pass on this one.

See: Three the Hardway, Blackula, Superfly, Shaft or Detroit 9000.

When people talk about this genre Velvet Smooth is rarely mentioned, however with the recent re-release this may change.

Despite being in full HD the transfer suffers from what looks like a lava eruption on the screen all the way through.

The selling point of this movie is the hysterically funny fight scenes, of which there are many. Everyone in this movie does terrible karate. Its as if everyone in this city has been compelled to take bad karate classes or they ain't allowed out of the house.

The reason for so much fighting is to do with some crime syndicate who basically go around bashing people up in hilarious ways while funny sound effects play.

There is the obvious funk soundtrack of this movie however during fight scenes it breaks down into a complete racket.

This is one of those female led movies so expect to see one woman beating up twenty huge men who all take turns to attack her and only jump in when its their turn.

There is a Kojack look a like in this, Ko-Jim maybe?

If MST3K havent touched this yet I would be surprised, its definitely the same standard as Guy From Harlem.

Recommended if you can find a copy and want a great laugh.

Velvet Smooth (1975) plunders Cleopatra Jones territory and stars Johnnie Hill, a stick-thin fashion disaster in her lemon suit and Tamara Dobson afro wig. Martial arts was the old stand-by to warm up any old leftovers, and true to grindhouse cinema tradition, Velvet Smooth contains the lamest kung-fu scenes you'll ever witness, where the punches land twelve inches from their target. Best of all is the title song: "Velvet Smooth, you are the one... Velvet Smooth, with love or with guns... You're Velvet Smooth, with piece in hand... If fate takes your youth, I won't understand..."