Super Fly (1972)

Rather than sugar coating subject matter and attempting to be politically correct, exploitation films blatantly depicted drug use and violence forcing movie goers into situations they may or may not be comfortable with viewing. Blaxploitation does this just as any other films encompassed in the genre and, unfortunately, has gotten excess criticism from both film critics, advocacy groups and even Civil Rights leaders. Films like Dolemite, Blacula and especially Superfly have been said to further stereotypes, promote violence and generally cast Black culture in a negative light. However, what many fail to see is that movies like Superfly are truly liberating to the culture the film is targeted for and further more, a commentary on social lives of Blacks at the time. Much like H. Rap Brown's, Die N!@@^# Die, Superfly is a commentary of two kinds of African American thought during the late 60s and into the late 70s.

Of the many positions taken in the book, H. Rap Brown argues that there were different kinds of African American mentalities during the Black Power movement. There were those who were ready and willing to fight for change and move away from a society dominated by white ideals and racism. Although, there were also those who were complacent with their lives and unwilling to take any stance against the race who continued to force them into second class lifestyles. These mentalities are clearly stated in Superfly and it is an issue that the protagonist, Priest, struggles with throughout the film. Priest is a streetwise cocaine dealer in the midst of making a life changing decision. Rather than continuing his life dealing drugs, fighting rivals and avoiding the corrupt police he decides to make one final deal and leave the life. The Priest character's archetype is very similar to the second of the two groups mentioned in Brown's book. Often times, African Americans tired of the white controlled system turned to drugs and crime. Rather than trying to better society, they often times made it worse, killing and corrupting others. The Priest, fed up with the white dominated society, had acquired a small wealth selling drugs. Although, after some time of dealing he realizes he is putting both his own life and the lives of other in danger.

It is at this point that Priest becomes some what of a black power symbol, slowly removing himself from his previous lifestyle, liberating himself from his white girlfriend; who is clearly using him for his connections in the drug world, and attempting to cast negative light on the corrupt, drug dealing police officers in power. Priest's partner, Eddie, is his stark opposite in the film. Where Priest attempts to leave his old life, Eddie wants to delve deeper into the world after Priest and Eddie are forced into doing deals for the police. Eddie sees this as an opportunity for more wealth, where Priest knows it is truly a form of modern slavery; where the police are the masters and individuals like Priest and Eddie are the slaves and Priest is not willing to tolerate this abuse.

Curtis Mayfield composed and performed all of the songs featured in the film. The films main song, "Superfly", sums up the issues faced by drug dealers on a day to day basis. The lyrics, "Hard to understand ,what a hell of a man, this cat of the slum, had a mind, wasn't dumb, but a weakness was shown, 'cause his hustle was wrong, his mind was his own, but the man lived alone" illustrate Priest's lifestyle as a hustler with a strong mind. He finally recog

Fmovies: Ron O'Neal played the role of Youngblood Priest in 1972 movie SuperFly CONVINCINGLY well. Some people believed he was actually a drug dealer or hustler in real life, that's how good his performance is. O'Neal understood the character of Priest well enough to know what messages he believed Priest was trying to convey to Black America as well as to mainstream America about life in the ghetto (urban city), about how one's choices and options can be shaped by the socio-economic environment and then reshaped and changed by personal choices, and about the moral dilemmas one may experience during this process.

SuperFly is a form of art that imitates life. Its hard core portrayal of life in the ghetto (urban city) as experienced by victims and predators and just everyday folk shows how everyone is trying to survive in the game; it showcases how people find themselves responding and reacting to their circumstances and socio-economic environment, and when they believe they are not in control of their destiny, or when they believe they don't have options and choices in their lives. Some call the overall feelings in these communities as those of despair, hopelessness, or helplessness. Others say these communities are filled with bravado or defensive posturing.

In the context of survival in the ghetto, the character of Priest is viewed as a hero because something makes him realize he does have choices in his life. He comes to realize that he has a choice whether to continue dealing drugs or to get out of the business. He has a plan to get out, although he is not sure if it will actually work, but he is willing to die trying to become free. Priest is a hero when he realizes that he has to find the right kind of support and help for thinking about and acting on his choice of freedom, especially when his support system for sustained change is limited, as evidenced by those who don't believe he can get out alive and are willing to betray him for trying to leave the business. Priest recognizes that he is in a moral dilemma as he professes to be "tired of the life" and "never really liked it" but he needs to score one last time so that he can leave with something rather than with nothing. Indeed, Priest should be commended for wanting something else out of life even if he does not know what that "something else" is, especially in a social environment where there may not be much support for doing what Priest ultimately makes the decision to do. When making the choice to change, everyone has to start somewhere, and this is part of the message conveyed by O'Neal's commanding performance.

Let the viewer not forget the many issues that helped to influence the decisions that Priest had to wrestle with --- the socio-economic environment of the ghetto and its relationship to a corrupt police department, among its relationships with the many institutions of the white power structure.

Unfortunately, if the viewer focuses strictly on the cinematography, directing, and low budget issues of this movie, the viewer might miss the important individual and social messages that the movie is trying to convey.

Most importantly, Ron O'Neal's performance demonstrates his understanding of the character and why he took the risk and took on the role as Youngblood Priest at that time in his career, a career which began when he was cast as the lead role in Charles Gordone's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "No Place to Be Somebody", (a play which began on

First this must be corrected. Superfly was directed by Gordon Parks Jr, not his father, Gordon Parks. Gordon Parks(who I had the pleasure of meeting) directed SHAFT! I wish the moderators of IMDb.com would more closely monitor these post-I visit the site regularly and rely on the information given as fact. Please IMDb, check the accuracy of the post, especially since you have the information on Gordon Parks here.

That being said, what makes Superfly such a great film are its imperfections-the editing, some of the spotty acting. It reads like a documentary in some ways. But the main performance of Ron O'Neal is one of the best the cinema has ever witnessed. He truly captured the paradox of Priest wanting to get out of the drug game by making one last drug deal. An Anti-hero, sure, but he knew he had to leave this lifestyle. That being said, I must say the opening scene where Priest is cruising up Park Avenue while "Freddie's Dead" is playing is extremely cool.

The Soundtrack! There are very few movies in which the Soundtrack not only propels the story forward, but also refutes any glorification of the drug lifestyle. The soundtrack serves to tell a counter-story, which works absolutely brilliantly. Curtis Mayfield is very important to me-a genius, a visionary, a humanitarian, and no one could have done a better job.

I have a cultural affinity for this film-maybe because I'm a black man, but I recommend it to all comers.

All of the main principles behind Superfly...Curtis Mayfield, Gordon Parks Jr. Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Charles McGregor, have all passed away. I'm so happy they were all a part of this classic piece of Cinema. The Statement that is made by this film warrants repeated viewing and consideration.

Super Fly fmovies. If you are the kind of viewer that thinks blaxploitation movies are simply camp and you like to laugh at the clothes and whatnot, that's fine... I mean, they are movies after all, not secrets to curing cancer. However, if you are, it is a shame what you'll miss because this film (as with The Mack) is a superior character study and ultimately watchable. As is noted on the DVD commentary, while the clothes and vernacular seem outdated now, at the time they were 'state of the art' as it were. Another thing to remember when watching these films is the insanely low budgets necessitated short cuts like single takes and other such things that make a film 'feel' b-rate; however this film is first rate. O'Neal is excellent, as are Julius Harris and Sheila Frazier and the soundtrack is perhaps the best ever. ***** out of *****

Ill be darned if this film wasn't the mother of all Blaxploitation films.

The story is about this drug dealer called Priest Youngblood. He has a good business built for himself by selling cocaine out on the streets of New York city. He and his buddy Eddie have made a small fortune with their dealing and now Priest is ready to bow down and get out of the drug dealing business, but not before doing one last deal. Buy a bunch of coke cheap and make a bunch of money fast. Will his buddy Eddie be okay with that, will the hustler lifestyle let Priest Youngblood go free? And a better question would be, does he really want to leave that lifestyle behind?

I was expecting a crappy blaxploitation flick for some reason. A bore fest with nothing that would surprise me. Boy was I wrong! This film is exceptionally well written. The dialog rings so true in many scenes that I had no choice but to sing praises for this movie as I was watching it. Phillip Fenty the writer, focused on giving these characters dialog that would sound like real people talking real jive from the streets. I mean when you hear these guys doing a deal, it most certainly sounds like the way it could have really gone down in the streets of New York in the 70s. So be ready for some groovy dialog, thats not only genuine to the era, but also adds a level of reality to the proceedings. Of special notice is a dialog that goes on between Eddie and Priest, in this sequence Eddie tries to convince Priest to stay in the business and make more millions, to live the American dream of having eight track players and TV's in every room. It was just amazing. There's more little speeches like that one spread through out the movie that are really quite excellent.

Visually speaking the movie looks gritty. I mean, grind house cinema was invented by movies such as this one. The streets look like real streets and by that I mean, dark, dirty and rat infested. Its not like todays over stylized films that look slick and pretty yet take away the level of reality from films. Not Superfly though, its quite evident that this film was filmed in the real streets of New York back in the 70s when Queens and The Bronx looked like crap. There's no fancy lighting here or anything, this place looks dangerous, for real. And the film did an excellent job of capturing the feel and stink of New York back in those days. Right from the opening credits when we see Priest parading around the city in his pimped up pink Cadillac to visiting some real nightclubs in New York playing some funked out tunes! That sequence in the club where a real live funk/jazz band is playing totally transported me to that era. The movie just absorbs the 70s and basically just keeps it in this little time capsule perfectly preserved for your viewing enjoyment. And how could this director (Gordon Sparks Jr.) not make a movie as cool as this when his daddy (Gordon Sparks Senior.) was the one responsible for Shaft? There's no doubt that this movie is sleazy, its grind house AND blaxploitation all rolled up into one! The characters aren't nice and perfect, in fact they are the sleaziest, baddest mothers to walk the streets of New York. Even our main character Priest Youngblood spends most of the film stuffing his nostrils with cocaine every five minutes. And I mean this literally not figuratively. They are all drug dealers and coke heads, pimps and crooks, kinda reminded me a lot of Sin City. Only this isn't some CGI fictional city, this is N.Y. C! And yet, the cool thing about this film is tha

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 *****