Super Fly (1972) Movie Review | Common Sense Media After Super Flys release, Filmfacts reported that the picture turned out to be the most commercially successful black film to dateas well as the most controversial. Reviews of the picture were mixed, with some critics praising its authenticity and others decrying it as exploitive and poorly made. The movie generated roughly $4 million in profits. The first name of actress and former model Sheila Frazier, who made her debut in Super Fly, is spelled Sheila in the opening cast credits and Shiela in the ending credits. As in the earlier film, Priest also faces corrupt police officers who are in on the drug trade. Hes a major drug supplier in bling-driven Atlanta. Youngblood Priest: You better take real good care of me. On the original release and videocassette, the film end credits roll with a shot of the top of the Empire State Building and the title track ("Superfly") plays. Gordon's War (1973) Carl Lee was born on 22 November 1926 in New York City, New York, USA. I'm just trying to make it real, baby like it is. The Custom Scatter node has the following attributes: Surface Color: The overall color of the surface. And he was there a week ahead of time doing the work and getting the choreography down. There's a complexity to the character revealed through body language and facial expression in his reactions to everyone around him. Deputy Commissioner: You're working for me until I tell you to quit. 26 Jan 2023 07:44:06 . We won't share this comment without your permission. In the DVD release, Warner Bros. decided to fade out the track midway right as "The End" is shown, and again brings up the AOL/Warner logo. In the Sep 1972 NYT interview, ONeal also defended the film by stating that cocaine was not a major drug problem among African Americans, and that not only was it not addictive, it had never caused an overdose. [5] Large companies produced many of the blaxploitation films, and Super Fly is no exception. You really shouldn'tve f***ed with my money, Freddy. Now, if you don't get me my money *tonight*, I'm gonna put that young girl of your's out on whore's row. Essential drama about violent chapter in U.S. history. Using his knowledge of karate, Priest overcomes his foes, then reveals that he knows who Reardon is. That night, after picking up the kilo from Scatter, Priest and Eddie are apprehended by several policemen. The movie opens with Priest paying a visit to another dealer, his debtor, named Litty (Allen Maldonado), and being greeted at the door by an assault weapon. director of photography Film Editing by Bob Brady Why do you think that is, and how does it heighten the action? Trevors only 21 playing a 27 year old, and he worked so hard, she says. One lengthy sex-in-the-shower scene between the characters played by Mr. Jackson, Ms. Londo and Ms. Davis has a nearly risible box-checking quality. Controls how far light can scatter through the surface. Their stuff isnt even carried in the U.S. but its really well made, very slim and lean. It is a useful complement to Pandas, and like Pandas, is a very feature-rich library which can produce a large variety of plots, charts, maps, and other visualisations. Priest turns to Scatter (Julius Harris), an older and retired dealer who now runs a popular bar and grill, for help in getting Scatter's supplier. BUY THE MOVIE:. Theres a learning process. 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Rowling More Grace and Listen to Her, Britain's $4 Billion Boss: ITV Chief Carolyn McCall Bets It All on Talent, 2023 Music Festivals: How to Buy Tickets to Coachella, Governors Ball, Lollapalooza and More. Eddie feigns allegiance with Snow Patrol, and tricks them into an ambush where they are killed by Mason and other cops alerted by Priest. That night, Priest enjoys a romantic bath with his girl friend Georgia, although she disapproves of his drug usage. Diawara, Manthia. This means we can tint the scattered light a certain colour, like how skin scatters more red light. What the F*CK are you gunna do except hustle? So maybe its heartening, in a way, that Super Fly once meant something and that the new Superfly, for what its worth, means next to nothing. The unit publicist on the film, David Parks, was Parks, Jr.s brother. Trevor actually has been doing capoeira for maybe 10 years, so hes really excited and really capable to do these kinds of things. SuperFly (2018) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Director X. [8], In the United States and Canada, Superfly was projected to gross $712 million from 2,200 theaters over its five-day opening weekend. Lex Scott Davis plays Georgia, a sophisticated gallery owner involved with Priest. The film opens as the name ROCKY pans across the screen, filling the frame. Priest demands his half of their profits, and when Eddie protests that they should keep selling, Priest asserts that Scatter was murdered by the police, and that they also are in danger. Their argument is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Scatter, who is being pursued by his supplier. [The soundtrack album did feature the lyrics written for the song by Mayfield.] Born November 22, 1926 Died April 17, 1986 (59) Showcase yourself on IMDbPro Its kind of hilarious take on the extremes of gangs showing their power in color alone. The Snow Patrol members leave while Priest gives the victim money and directs them to the trauma center. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, "The return of "Freeway" Ricky Ross, the man behind a crack empire", "Trevor Jackson & Jason Mitchell To Star In Sony's 'Superfly' Remake From Director X; Future & Joel Silver To Produce", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Super_Fly_(1972_film)&oldid=1136581494, United States National Film Registry films, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Lucky Scott as Himself (The Curtis Mayfield Experience), Craig McMullen as Himself (The Curtis Mayfield), Tyrone McCullough as Himself (The Curtis Mayfield), This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 01:45. Keep up with The Credits for the latest in film, television, and streaming. | I was literally fitting him in between scenes, when the poor baby would be half asleep and Id be like Try this on Trevor, while I pin and tailor things on him., Michael Kenneth Williams plays Priests mentor Scatter. The Snow Patrol holds court at a high-end strip club, where its minions spend the night throwing money down from the balcony in an autumnal flutter of falling bills. * Remember Me Forgot Password Tags: Members Only Previous Feds Get First Co-Defendant In Philly Mob Case To Cop Plea, Tony Meatballs Admits Booking Bets Within those cynically defined contemporary parameters, Youngblood Priest (Trevor Jackson, dressed to the nines and sporting what one character derides as Morris Day hair) is doing well. Fat Freddie: Listen, Priest, that's my wife you're talking about, man. We're out here building a new nation for black people. In the movie, that underworld comes to the surface of society mainly in the form of media representations (such as television-news accounts)which are themselves part of the story, and part of the sleek glow with which Director X endows his film. He needs one big score to do it. Reardon threatens Priest that he must continue selling drugs as long as he is ordered to, but when Priest replies defiantly, the policemen begin to beat him. Yeah, if I choke on a chicken bone, all the Reardons is dead. Youngblood Priest: [while Reardon's pointing a gun at him] Kill me, Reardon! As Mayfields Pusherman plays, Priests drugs are seen hitting Birmingham, Ala.; Nashville; Miami; and Houston. I wanted Georgia to have a maturity about her. The way that the media depict and distort police violence is embedded in the film, in a scene showing a news report that follows a monstrous incident, as is the power of media to amplify misdeeds and ruin careers at a single stroke. Ad Choices, Nancy Reviewed: A Complex, Untapped Story of a Womans Desperate Hoax, The Tale, Reviewed: A Filmmakers Daring Excavation of Her Own Memories of Sexual Abuse. If Priests stratagems in the original seem like the moves of a chess master, his new ones resemble the work of a grandmaster of simultaneous blindfold-chess, for whom, through information technology, distant nodes of power are instantaneously connected (the last image of the film is even a kinga white kingbeing tipped over on a chess board). But Priest wants out of dealing and comes up with a plan to make it happen. There's also marijuana and cigarette smoking and drinking. The songs "Freddie's Dead" and the title song both shot up the Pop Top Ten chart in late 1972, with each single selling over a million copies. Unsurprisingly, cocaine use is frequent. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It was important to show a bit of an arc with Eddie, so thats why the clothes change through his storyline.. Photograph by Quantrell D. Colbert / Sony Pictures Entertainment, The New Yorker Interview with David Remnick, Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard. Greed and corruption are themselves the magnetic fields that pull together would-be players white, Latino and African-American. He is murdered after being forced to reveal information about Priest to Mason. MORE TRAILERS AND CLIPS (30) 2:26 0 Superfly (Trailer 2) 1:00 0 Superfly: Director X (Vignette) 0:14 0 Superfly: Character Piece-Scatter 1:01 0 Superfly: Priest (Vignette) 0:56 0 Superfly: Everyone Loves A Hustle 0:53 0 The remake runs twenty minutes longer than the originaltwenty minutes that detail Priests audacious maneuverings and their grim effects in milieux left unexplored by the earlier film. The first name of actress and former model Sheila Frazier, who made her debut in Super Fly, is spelled Sheila in the opening cast credits and Shiela in the ending credits. [5] The film made $1.2 million on its first day,[9] $938,583 on its second and $1.8 million on its third. Super Fly is a 1972 Blaxploitation film directed by Gordon Parks Jr. (son of Shaft director Gordon Parks) starring Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee and Julius Harris. In mid-Apr 1972, Var reported that the films low-key, successful location shooting in Harlem was due to its being a non-union effort, thus the lack of production publicity and ease of using all-black technicians. The article added that after raising the required funds, the filmmakers agreed to their backers request that as many blacks as possible [be employed] in front and behind the camera, although the financiers agreed to allow white producer Shore oversee the project. He yearns to go straight, despite the fortune he makes. Priest, so-called because the tip of the cross he wears is fasioned in the shape of a spoon, with which he frequently samples his wares, yearns to leave the life and go straight, despite the money he makes. Film Review: 'Superfly' - Variety Technical Specs, See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro, Trailers from Hell Presents: The Movies That Made Me: Alex Tse, hair stylist: second unit (as Steven A. Battaglia), key hair stylist (as Talya R. Melvey) / key hair stylist, production supervisor: second unit / second unit, second second assistant director: second unit, assistant property master / property master: 2nd unit, assistant property master: 2nd unit (as Suzu Tran) / props buyer (as Suzu Tran), second boom operator / sound mixer: splinter unit, re-recording mixer / supervising sound editor, visual effects executive producer: Southbay, assistant visual effects editor: Outpost VFX / roto/prep artist: Outpost VFX, visual effects executive producer: VFX Legion, compositing lead: Southbay (as Aaron Gerard Chiesa), visual effects executive producer: Crafty Apes, visual effects production manager: Southbay, 3d artist: Crafty Apes (as Patrick Sullivan), visual effects production manager: VFX Legion, visual effects artist: Southbay (uncredited), visual effects editor: Outpost VFX (uncredited), digital compositor: VFX Legion (uncredited), executive vfx supervisor: southbay CCO (uncredited), stunt double: Brian F. Durkin (uncredited) / stunt driver (uncredited), precision driver/precision car coordinator (uncredited), covering stunt coordinator (uncredited) / stunts (uncredited), stunt performer/stunt driving double: Trevor Jackson (uncredited), stunt double: Lex Scott Davis (uncredited), stunt driver: camera bike rider (uncredited), stunt double: Jason Mitchell/Jacob Latimore (uncredited), stunt driver (uncredited) / stunt driving double: Trevor Jackson (uncredited), stunt double: Dominique Madison (uncredited), first assistant camera "a" camera: second unit, camera operator: "a" camera (as Kirk Gardner) / steadicam operator (as Kirk Gardner), assistant chief lighting technician / best boy electric, first assistant camera: "b" camera, second unit, additional set lighting technician (as Mark Sunderland), assistant colorist: Company 3 (uncredited), key assistant location manager: second unit, production assistant / promotional services, key set production assistant: second unit, stand in: Jared Losano / stand in: Kevin Young / stand in: Kurt Yue, production coordinator: title sequence design, production assistant / set production assistant: 2nd unit. 'Superfly' remake worth it for the hair and costumes alone Super Fly is a 1972 American blaxploitation neo-noir crime drama film directed by Gordon Parks Jr. and starring Ron O'Neal as Youngblood Priest, an African American cocaine dealer who is trying to quit the underworld drug business. If you chose to provide an email address, it will only be used to contact you about your comment. The film's soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield was well enough received that he was sought for other soundtracks. Roy Innis, the leader of CORE, also proposed that a black review board should pre-edit African-American-oriented films before they were theatrically released and that profits from the pictures be turned over to black-dominated communities to advance educational opportunities. If I quit now, then I took all this chance for nothing and I go back to being nothing. Speaking from Toronto, Messam shared insights about the hip looks that help sell the story of drug dealer Priest (Trevor Jackson) and his crew. Superfly (1972) Cast and Crew - Cast Photos and Info | Fandango But until you can do that, you go sing your marching songs some place else. A remake of the 1972 blaxploitation classic trades in its drug-dealer-as-outlaw-capitalist mythology for a glossy, slammed-together genre flick. It ended up grossing $6.9 million in its opening weekend (a five-day total of $9 million), finishing sixth at the box office. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. Youngblood Priest: And indeed, when they pop up, they infuse the movie with fresh rhythm. He also has a run-in with the Snow Patrol, a rival crew of coke dealers who dress in white. .st1{display:none;fill:#FFFFFF;} 26 Jan 2023 07:44:06 Brought in by his mentor Scatter at a young age, he has been dealing drugs ever since and lives like a king with his two girlfriends, Georgia and Cynthia. | He came out of a dance background. Jacob Ming-Trent as Frederick "Fat Freddie" Davis, one of Priest's oldest colleagues. The famous soundtrack by R&B and soul legend Curtis Mayfield, who had a cameo in the film with his band, actually outgrossed the film. Adalberto kills Scatter, having realized he was stealing from him. Theres another crucial difference between the two films, a difference that marks virtually every encounter, every scene, every moment: firepower. Some violence, including one of the characters getting struck and killed by a car. How Do I Protect My Young Child from Cyberbullying? Most drug dramas are set in New York or L.A. (at this point, a dated cinematic reflex), but what matters is forging a vivid sense of place. What does it mean, and how is Super Fly an example of the genre? Ya know, you've got this fantasy in your head about gettin outta the life and setting that other world on its ear. Harlem Costume Designer Deirdra Elizabeth Govan on Season Twos Evolving Looks. That night, Eddie and Priest approach Scatter, a retired dealer who started Priest in the business. Superfly was remade by Director X and released in June 2018 with a cast that included Trevor Jackson and Jason Mitchell.[14]. One of the groups formed specifically to fight the film and other similar exploitations films, according to a Sep 1972 Var article, called itself Blacks Against Narcotics. "Superfly" (one word) the remake and the original "Super Fly" (two words, from 1972) are in many respects similar. That's the American Dream, nigga! Eddie: You're gunna give all this up? After the announcement, Warner Bros. issued an apology for its erroneous submission of the song for consideration. As an explanation for his desire to get out of the drug life, he says, All the power in the world cant stop a bullet. Gangster Report - THE STORY OF THE REAL SUPERFLY CAME FROM - Facebook [10] The filmmakers maintain that it was their desire to show the negative and empty aspects of the drug subculture. According to an Oct 1972 LAT article, Var had reported that by Sep 1972, Super Fly was third behind The Godfather and Play It Again, Sam (see above for both) in the list of top-grossing films of 1972. Priest spends the rest of the film dancing among a trio of forces who are out to put the screws on him: the cartel, led by the always lively actor Esai Morales; the thugs of Snow Patrol; and a pair of corrupt white officers, played by Brian F. Durkin and Jennifer Morrison, who shake him down for a million dollars. Facebook Priest is an under-the-radar dealer working in virtual anonymity (he has no arrest record) and with a very small crewmainly his right-hand man and longtime friend, Eddie (Jason Mitchell), and his enforcer, Freddy (Jacob Ming-Trent). If this wing can do ok in 10-12mph winds, I'm in. Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. On the one hand, its a clever idea to have the pair negotiate drug supplies while sparring in Scatters martial-arts gym; on the other, the cleverness becomes beside the point because Director X cant manage to make both the action and the dialogue work in tandem.