[42nd Street Fever] - A thread dedicated to exploitation and its subgenres on Blu-ray

[Guiltydrummer]

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

Would you elaborating on these? I'm not too familiar with Blaxploitation outside of a handful of the more well known ones, and I'd like to explore this particular subgenre a bit more. I've Googled around for some "Top 10/20/30" lists but they all seem to reach for the same titles so they're not nearly as helpful as I know you guys would be.

The Penitentiary films are a kind of gritty take on the boxing movie. Sweet Sweetbacks i always thought of as artsy/political. It's definitely interesting as a piece of experimental film making at least.

[bsend]

Originally Posted by trentdiesel

Hell Up in Harlem, Cotton Comes to Harlem and Truck Turner are three I would recommend right off the top if you haven't seen them. Those are a few that really got me into the genre

I

I think several of those are sadly now OOP

[TrentW1982]

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

Would you elaborating on these? I'm not too familiar with Blaxploitation outside of a handful of the more well known ones, and I'd like to explore this particular subgenre a bit more. I've Googled around for some "Top 10/20/30" lists but they all seem to reach for the same titles so they're not nearly as helpful as I know you guys would be.

My top recommendations for 5 of the best that are all a bit different and give a good overview of the genre would be:

- Willie Dynamite
- Coffy
- Bucktown
- The Spook Who Sat By The Door (not on Blu)
- Truck Turner

There you've got a pimp tale, a violent revenge flick, a crooked/racist small town story, a more serious political/revolutionary one, and just a great fun urban action movie. Plus you have Pam Grier (x2), Fred Williamson and Isaac Hayes.

I personally prefer them to some of the bigger hitters like Shaft, Super Fly, Black Caesar etc and I think Willie Dynamite is not only more fun but also more impactful than The Mack (although The Mack is certainly grittier).

[TrentW1982]

Originally Posted by trentdiesel

Hell Up in Harlem, Cotton Comes to Harlem and Truck Turner are three I would recommend right off the top if you haven't seen them. Those are a few that really got me into the genre

I rewatched Hell Up In Harlem last week, it was better than I remembered it. I possibly liked it more than Black Caesar this time. Definitely a good one too.

[trentdiesel]

Originally Posted by TrentW1982

I rewatched Hell Up In Harlem last week, it was better than I remembered it. I possibly liked it more than Black Caesar this time. Definitely a good one too.

Yeah, its hard to mention Hell without mentioning Caesar, they are both great and I do like watching them together but I think Hell Up in Harlem is a better watch and a better gateway into further similar films. Love the genre

[A Tortured Duckling]

Originally Posted by trentdiesel

Hell Up in Harlem, Cotton Comes to Harlem and Truck Turner are three I would recommend right off the top if you haven't seen them. Those are a few that really got me into the genre

Originally Posted by Guiltydrummer

The Penitentiary films are a kind of gritty take on the boxing movie. Sweet Sweetbacks i always thought of as artsy/political. It's definitely interesting as a piece of experimental film making at least.

Originally Posted by TrentW1982

My top recommendations for 5 of the best that are all a bit different and give a good overview of the genre would be:

- Willie Dynamite
- Coffy
- Bucktown
- The Spook Who Sat By The Door (not on Blu)
- Truck Turner

There you've got a pimp tale, a violent revenge flick, a crooked/racist small town story, a more serious political/revolutionary one, and just a great fun urban action movie. Plus you have Pam Grier (x2), Fred Williamson and Isaac Hayes.

I personally prefer them to some of the bigger hitters like Shaft, Super Fly, Black Caesar etc and I think Willie Dynamite is not only more fun but also more impactful than The Mack (although The Mack is certainly grittier).

Thank you for all of these, so far. This has given me a lot to look into. I did forget to mention that I have both Coffy and Foxy Brown on the way from Arrow's UK Shocktober sale.

[classicmaterial]

Originally Posted by TrentW1982

I rewatched Hell Up In Harlem last week, it was better than I remembered it. I possibly liked it more than Black Caesar this time. Definitely a good one too.

I gotta watch Hell Up in Harlem. I liked Black Caesar but just like Black Gestapo i was all happy when they came in and shut down the bad guys but then what happened after I was like uh........uh oh

[classicmaterial]

Originally Posted by TrentW1982

My top recommendations for 5 of the best that are all a bit different and give a good overview of the genre would be:

- Willie Dynamite
- Coffy
- Bucktown
- The Spook Who Sat By The Door (not on Blu)
- Truck Turner

There you've got a pimp tale, a violent revenge flick, a crooked/racist small town story, a more serious political/revolutionary one, and just a great fun urban action movie. Plus you have Pam Grier (x2), Fred Williamson and Isaac Hayes.

I personally prefer them to some of the bigger hitters like Shaft, Super Fly, Black Caesar etc and I think Willie Dynamite is not only more fun but also more impactful than The Mack (although The Mack is certainly grittier).

This is a great list.

I always gotta mention Super Fly cause I only saw it for the first time recently but it immediately became my favorite of the era (after Coffy). Everything from the story to the direction to the music (of course) to the ending was amazing

[bergman864]

All this talk of Blaxploitation would make my father proud. He watches Penitentiary whenever its on TV.

[dallywhitty]

It probably doesn't classify as a blaxploitation film in the traditional sense, but I thought Black Devil Doll from Hell was a hoot.

[Spasmo]

And let's not forget some classic horror/blaxploitation mash-ups:



Out of those, Blacula is probably my favourite. Really well done with some genuinely creepy sequences and an absolutely fantastic performance by William Marshall. Great soundtrack too.

[TrentW1982]

I have J.D's Revenge sitting in my 'to watch' list, bought it a while ago but haven't got around to watching it yet. Looking forward to it!

Another horror/blaxploitation mash-up I have is Blackenstein but I wouldn't be recommending that one...! Definitely bottom of the barrel.

[Spasmo]

Originally Posted by TrentW1982

I have J.D's Revenge sitting in my 'to watch' list, bought it a while ago but haven't got around to watching it yet. Looking forward to it!

Another horror/blaxploitation mash-up I have is Blackenstein but I wouldn't be recommending that one...! Definitely bottom of the barrel.

I have yet to see Blackenstein - seems a bit too spoofy to me.

[classicmaterial]

Originally Posted by Spasmo

And let's not forget some classic horror/blaxploitation mash-ups:



Out of those, Blacula is probably my favourite. Really well done with some genuinely creepy sequences and an absolutely fantastic performance by William Marshall. Great soundtrack too.

I liked JD's Revenge but mostly cause there's some dialogue in that movie that's sampled in a Ghostface track

Blacula is really good. I just recently watched the sequel and it wasn't bad.

[Fdup Flix]

Originally Posted by Spasmo

And let's not forget some classic horror/blaxploitation mash-ups:



Out of those, Blacula is probably my favourite. Really well done with some genuinely creepy sequences and an absolutely fantastic performance by William Marshall. Great soundtrack too.

Sugar Hill is a lot of fun and looks great in HD. Also I have to recommend Shaft in Africa. Finally caught up with that flick this year, and the lead actress is gorgeous...and naughty!

[TrentW1982]

@Spasmo - It is. Feels like it's trying really hard to be "so bad it's good" which generally doesn't work when it's so forced. I struggled to get through it.

[Spasmo]

I have yet to see the Shaft sequels. I know WAC put out a triple feature release so need to track that down.

[Spasmo]

Originally Posted by TrentW1982

@Spasmo - It is. Feels like it's trying really hard to be "so bad it's good" which generally doesn't work when it's so forced. I struggled to get through it.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[classicmaterial]

Originally Posted by Spasmo

I have yet to see the Shaft sequels. I know WAC put out a triple feature release so need to track that down.

I contemplated buying that and just hoping I like the sequels more than the first one

[hudson4k]

Asked this in the VS thread but thought somebody here might know:

I'm interested in Taking Tiger Mountain but I noticed some sites mentioned unsimulated sex while others didn't. Are there hardcore shots and how graphic are they?