Film

BaadAsssss Cinema

Name: BaadAsssss Cinema
Genre: Action, Documentary
Released: 2002
Cast: Larry Cohen, Tamara Dobson, Ron Finley, Pam Grier, Ed Guerrero

A brisk, enthusiastic survey of 1970s Black action cinema—the films that made stars out of Pam Grier and Richard Roundtree, the ones Hollywood had largely written out of its own history. Archive clips, talking heads from the directors and actors who made it, and enough infectious energy to make you want to watch everything else immediately.

TMDb rating

3.0

If you liked this

Foxy Brown1974

Pam Grier at her absolute peak: smart, furious, physically commanding. A revenge thriller that lets its lead be both vulnerable and lethal, made with real style on a modest budget.

But The plot is fairly straightforward exploitation stuff, and it moves fast enough that character depth takes a back seat to propulsion.

Shaft1971

Richard Roundtree as the private detective who defined cool for a generation. Funky, confident, and genuinely funny—a mystery that knows exactly what movie it is and commits to it completely.

But The mystery itself is less interesting than the vibe; if you need a intricate plot, you'll find it slack.

The Mack1973

Max Julien and Don Gordon in a portrait of pimping that's unexpectedly thoughtful about ambition, corruption, and the cost of the hustle. Stylish, darkly comic, occasionally startling in what it says.

But The subject matter is abrasive. Some scenes are genuinely uneasy, and the film doesn't soften its lead for anyone's comfort.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from BaadAsssss Cinema

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

If Beale Street Could Talk2018

Both are rooted in the belief that Black stories deserve to be told with full visual and emotional richness, without apology or compromise. BaadAsssss Cinema celebrates the films that insisted on that. If Beale Street Could Talk proves the insistence stuck.

Barry Jenkins's adaptation finds spiritual kinship with '70s Black cinema—not in style, but in its refusal to sentimentalize Black love and family. Ravishing, intimate, and politically urgent beneath its beauty.

But It's a contemporary prestige drama, not action. Some viewers find it slow; others find its quietness and focus on interior life distant.

Coffy1973

Pam Grier again, this time as a nurse turned vigilante. Raw, violent, and completely unpretentious—it moves like a whip and finds real rage beneath the exploitation frame.

But It's grindhouse through and through. The production values are scrappy, the dubbing occasionally rough, and the violence is sudden.

The Last Dragon1985

A martial arts musical that knows it's ridiculous and leans in hard. Vibrant, joyful, and genuinely weird in a way that feels earned rather than affected. Peak '80s energy.

But The tone is wildly uneven. Some moments are sincere, others are camp, and it asks you to roll with the whiplash.

Black Caesar1973

Fred Williamson in a loose Scarface riff: a poor kid clawing his way up the New York crime ladder. Pulpy, energetic, and surprisingly character-focused given the genre trappings.

But It's episodic and a bit baggy. The pacing sags in the middle, and you have to be willing to just drift with it.

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song1971

Melvin Van Peebles' landmark—the film that made everything else in this documentary possible. Experimental, angry, formally innovative, and absolutely of its moment. Essential context.

But It's aggressively avant-garde in stretches. The narrative is fractured, the editing deliberately disorienting, and it demands active watching.

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song poster

Blacula1972

An African prince turned vampire in contemporary Los Angeles. A genuinely clever high-concept that uses genre as a lens for examining racism and displacement. Stylish and surprisingly poignant.

But It's a low-budget horror film from 1972. The effects are dated, and if you need slick production design, you'll be disappointed.

Cleopatra Jones1973

Tamara Dobson as a DEA agent—glamorous, skilled, and the smartest person in every room she enters. A spy-action film that actually builds a character rather than just moving through set pieces.

But The plot is thin, and it asks a lot from Dobson's charisma to carry stretches where there isn't much happening underneath.

Hyenas1992

Like the films in BaadAsssss Cinema, Hyenas reclaims genre and language for its own purposes. It's not Hollywood's idea of a revenge story. It's a story about power, corruption, and the space where the personal becomes political—made by and for a completely different cinema tradition, yet animated by the same defiance.

Djibril Diop Mambéty's Senegalese riff on Dürrenmatt's *The Visit*: a woman returns to her hometown wealthy and wreaks havoc on the social order. Operatic, angry, visually daring, funny in ways that cut.

But It's in Wolof with subtitles, and its tone is deliberately unstable—part fable, part social satire, part fever dream. Western narrative expectations won't help you here.