Super Fly
Directed by Gordon Parks, Jr.
Written by Phillip Fenty
1972/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Curtis Mayfield: [singing] Ain’t I clean, bad machine; Super cool, super mean; Feelin’ good, for the man; Super fly, here I stand; Secret stash, heavy bread; Baddest bitches, in the bed; I’m your pusherman, I’m your pusherman; I’m your pusherman…
The soundtrack alone makes this worth seeing.
Youngblood Priest (Ron O’Neal) looks to have it made. He has the best of everything, a brand-new Cadillac with a Rolls-Royce grille, and rotating black and white girlfriends. He is a cocaine dealer on the streets of Harlem.
In a story as old as the movies, Priest figures he can get out of the game with a big final score. The plan is to buy 30 kilos of cocaine for $300,000 and sell it on for a cool million.
Priest contacts his old friend who got him into the business. The friend is no longer dealing. He is able to sell Priest a kilo and finally agrees to try to secure 15 kilos for him through his contacts. Those contacts are quite willing to have Priest as a pusher. They are less willing to see him leave the game.
This movie was the first to be made and financed entirely by African-Americans. It’s odd that this is how they chose to portray themselves. Anyway, the story is fairly predictable and some of the acting is amateur-level. However, the whole movie is accompanied by an amazing funky soundtrack penned and performed by Curtis Mayfield. This makes the movie go down pretty easily. Of course you could just listen to the album.
The NAACP condemned the film for glorifying drug use and stereotyping African-Americans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAh_4s_-tas
