Based on on his father Melvin's book, BAADASSSSSS! was written and directed by Mario Van Peebles in 2003.
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The setting is Los Angeles in the early seventies. Melvin Van Peebles is one of the rare African American directors in activity and his last movie, "Watermelon Man", pleased the producers from Hollywood. Columbia Pictures proposes a three films deal to him then but refuses to finance the project which it has just written: "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song". After an unhappy experiment with an independent producer who is jailed for drugs traffic two days before the beginning of the filming, Melvin Van Peebles has got only one option left : to self-finance.
Melvin must employ actors and technicians not syndicated in order not to spend too quickly the $70,000 that he succeeded in raising. He asks even the members of his family to play a part in the movie and he himself plays the part of Sweetback, the main character of the movie. After 20 days of shooting, Melvin must still edit his film while trying to stay out of the way of his creditors. Finally, the premiere of "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" will take place in Detroit and the movie make more than $15,000,000.
The review of this Movie prepared by Daniel Staebler