Super Fly (1972)

Director: Gordon Parks Jr.
Starring: Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Sheila Frazier

Synopsis:
A coke dealer called Priest is looking to get out of the game, but not until after one last score.

Impressions:
I know this is one of the iconic blaxploitation films, but I really didn't like this one. It can be tricky writing a story about criminals and still have the audience sympathize with them or at least feel invested in seeing their story through. I couldn't care less about whether or not Priest got his big score. While he has a few scruples, I didn't really sympathize with him any, so he didn't have that going for him and he isn't anywhere near as cool as, say, Shaft, so that's not in his corner either. I'd say the biggest positive this film has in its favor is the soundtrack. I'm not much of a music person, but Chris Mayfield has a winning performance. "Pusherman" in particular is really catchy. Never before has wrecking the lives of the underclass felt so cool. If you're looking to explore blaxploitation, this is an important film to experience. Otherwise, you may just want to listen to the soundtrack and skip on the movie.

Rating:
50/50