SUPERFLY (1972) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Gordon Parks Jr. Writer: Philip Fenty Starring: Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Sheila Frazier, Julius Harris, Charles McGregor, Polly Niles, K.C., the Curtis Mayfield Experience
If anything, the blaxploitation sub-genre is good for a lot of laughs. Though sometimes excellent (need I even say "Shaft?"), it's a hysterically dated collection of films by and for African Americans (I'm aiming for some PC here), and usually laden with memorable characters, the most of which is usually the protagonist. "Superfly," which I saw for a buck twenty-five at the crap theratre at my lovely college, is a fantastically hokey film, yet is still one of the best examples of a typical blaxploitation film. Yes, that makes it cool.
"Superfly" deals with a big-time coke-pusher named Priest (Ron O'Neal), who dresses in leather, has long hair that Michael Jackson would only dream of, and wears a lovely giant white pimp hat. He also wears a crucifix around his neck, which he uses in the first scene to scoop coke into his nose. This is a great scene, and wonderfully satirical and all, but he uses it every ten minutes and it starts to get annoying.
The hook of the story is that Priest wants to get out of the biz while he's still young. Tired of being scared of being arrested or killed in the line of "duty," he decides to make one last score, which involves him and his assistant (Carl Lee) buying and selling 3 G's worth of coke, settling the score to half-a-million for each. Of course, his assistant loves the life they lead (he says this classic line that goes something like "You have eight-tracks, a color TV in every room, and enough coke to snort every day. You living the American Dream!"), and reluctantly goes along.
But, Priest finds it's a tad hard to get out, because his boss keeps pulling him back in. He makes the money easily, but finds himself on with a bit of a problem, since they tell him they'll kill him if he runs. But he and his loyal girlfriend (Sheila Frazier) - who he cheats on - try to make a twisted break off, without giving any money up.
Now, the film is pretty nicely paced, although it does slow up a bit in the middle section. And the little deal with Priest is handled very nicely, with a huge lack of violence, until the end, which is only very brief, and not too bloody (zero deaths in this scene). Instead, he uses his brains to get out of his situation, which is respectable.
But. The film is hilariously dated. Yes, the seventies fashion (big pimp hats, tight leather, tight pants, tight everything) is able to be forgiven, and so is the 8-track. Well, maybe. But there is some hilariously bad little problems with the production. A chase in the beginning is done with a very, very, very shaky use of steadicam - so much that all you see is blurs. And there's the use of close-ups at inconvenient times, as well as some bad lighting, which is sometimes just some street lights, or one single lamp. There's also a very horribly done scene where some people are inside a car and you can't see a thing of what's going on. I wasn't going to mention the final fight scene, done in hilarious slow-motion, and culminating in a classic use of the word "Fuh-reeeeeeeeeze!"
But (ha ha). This is a quintessential blaxploitation film. And it's fun as hell to watch. I'm a fan of the sub-genre, somewhat for the mockery factor, but mostly because they're just so damn cool. Well, maybe half of each. But anyway, this film is something I would reccomend as not being great cinema (although, as I said, it is somewhat respectable at points), but just one great example of the blaxploitation wave.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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