Word: superealism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...SUPER...
Even according to the dismal standards established by predecessors like Cool Breeze, Super Fly seems remarkably exploitative and inept. Director Gordon Parks Jr. (his father is the photojournalist turned film maker who directed the two Shaft movies) cuts to a shot of the fancy grillwork on Priest's car whenever he does not know what else to do. Thus there is an abundance of grillwork shots. This is Parks' first feature, and some faults are customary under such circumstances. But Super Fly shows no evidence of perception, intelligence or sensitivity; there is only a kind of frivolous opportunism...
What makes a crummy little movie like Super Fly worth getting angry about is the implication behind it: that movies made for black audiences have to be, or can easily be, so casually and contemptuously awful. Such movies are not even made with the same care or craft as the 90-minute features cranked out for television. They portray all black men as diddy-boppers or street-corner hustlers, all white men as drooling, craven criminals, and women of any complexion as whimpering sex machines. They lack the energy and dignity of good action melodrama. Super Fly and movies like...
...accommodates 80,000 (including 33,000 standees) within "human dimensions"; promoters boast that the maximum distance between spectator and competitor is only 212 yards. A javelin throw away is the swimming stadium, which is built with 80% of its structure underground lest it appear too imposing. A kind of super sunken bath, it has five pools on two levels, and amenities like a glass-enclosed express elevator to the high-diving platform. Over a nearby ridge is the cycle stadium, a space-age affair that looks as if it could land on the Sea of Tranquillity. The main walkway...
...Super Fly comes through as a pretty slick package. Backed by vibrant Curtis Mayfield songs about pusher men, it may just present its audience with a dream image; but this image is healthier than the others that are being pushed around...