Black Power cinema
In full boil of the social movements of the 60s, American culture saw the birth of called black cinema both as a result of social changes of his time and the discovery of a neglected paying crowd. Initially highlighting the Afro-American protagonists as Jim Brown in The Split (1968), Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night (1967) or inspired in the social happenings as Uptight (1967) the genre had productions almost exclusively for afro audiences.
"What we ever had was a white fantasy about what black audience presumably would like
to see. This public never had a voice " - Melvin Van Peebles
The best of all (at least for the publisher of this site) is that the genre provided a review on the soundtracks and gave room to a great number of scores based on popular models of soul, blues, and jazz. The pioneer and engaged Uptight, directed by Jules Dassin, had music between the soul and the blues composed by group Booker T. and the MGs. One of the first soundtracks to notice the new way.
In the course to the black cinema, Sidney Poitier was an important figure, even if always played the good guy in dramas like No Way Out (1950, the actor's debut), or A Patch of Blue (1965). Even the student who confronts his teacher (Glenn Ford) in Blackboard Jungle (1955) had their musical talent evidenced. Interestingly Poitier would take the place of the teacher in To Sir With Love (1967), almost a remake of Blackboard Jungle, and one of the most popular movies of the actor. The rise of Poitier led him automatically to the roots of black cinema with the success of In the Heat of the Night (1967).
Quincy Jones would be a kind of musical mentor to the genre due to the tracks that made, among others, for films starring Poitier as The Slenders Thread (1965), For Love of Ivy (1968) or The Lost Man (1969). The highlight would obviously be In the Heat of the Night (1967) and its two sequels, They Call Me Mr Tibbs (1970) and The Organization (1971, with music by Gil Melle). Virgil Tibbs was a cop hero in movies even before Harry Callagham.
And the genre goes discovering its box-office potential in productions such as Cotton Comes To Harlem (1970), upbeat, dynamic and creative comic adventure directed by actor Ossie Davis with musical score composed by Galt MacDermoth (from Hair). The drama Across the 110th Street (1971), produced and starring by Anthony Quinn, alternated the nascent genre black power with mobster drama and had excellent score by JJ Johnson and Bobby Womack. But it was the success of Shaft (1971) directed by Gordon Parks which established the black power movies in the film industry. Isaac Hayes music for Shaft went to become one of the hallmarks of the genre. Following came Shaft Big Score (1972) and the director Gordon Parks himself assumed the composition of the soundtrack, surprising with a very consistent work. Film and soundtrack worthy of the expectations generated by the success of the first film.
But nothing equaled the independent Sweet Sweetback Baadaass Song (1971), the classic nondescript of Melvin Van Peebles. The black sheep. The reverse of the reverse. A film-proclamation of minimal resources, questionable result, technically disastrous, but a classic in the genre by anarchically take on the realism and denouncement. And for a soundtrack composed by Van Peebles himself.
After success of Shaft came a diversity of productions that varied in quality content and quality production. Superfly (1972), directed by Gordon Parks Jr., for example, has modest screenplay and production, but has one of the main soundtracks of the genre, composed by Curtis Mayfield. Trouble Man (1972), also has modest script, but a good aesthetic level and the quality of Marvin Gaye music that put it in history as one of the greats of its time. Cool Breeze (1972) exemplary balances soul music to rock guitars. The score of Salomon Burke is one of the good examples of use popular models for enhanced compositions that would only had reason as compositions for film. It is possible that at no other moment a composer would write a soul theme with horn solos (!) as heard on track Fight Back from Cool Breeze. The year 1972 would be the peak of the genre with Slaughter starring Jim Brown and Hammer starring Fred Williamson.
On the way of acceptance by the box-office films start losing the social comments that had in Across 110th Street, Superfly or Sweet Sweetback Baadaas Song to focus on fantasy adventures, jamesbondian, unpretentious, pop. Cleopatra Jones (1973) is possibly the greatest example of this way and here again JJ Johnson music is prominent.
Coffy (1973) made the actress Pamela Grier the big black muse of Black Power cinema. After starring some grade B wip (woman in prision) adventures as White Mama, Black Mama (1973) and Big Bird Cage (1972), Pam Grier in Coffy played the avenging nurse who infiltrates the world of drugs to eliminate the pushers responsible for her sister´s death. The Roy Ayers soundtrack is one of the best with its sophisticated touch of vibraphone. Black Belt Jones (1973), with Jim Kelly just after Enter the Dragon, had a remarkable score. Composed by Dennys Coffey and Luchi of Jesus, is one of the most fun of the genre. In the same year, The Mack had very present score by Willie Hutch. The drama Willie Dynamite (1974) with production of double Zanuck and Brown was one of the best in technical quality. Again the music of JJ Johnson is remarkable. After Quincy Jones and Isaac Hayes, Johnson was the composer who knew best how to set the needs of the soul language to a film narrative.
With The King of New York (1973) and Slaughter Big Rip-Off (1973), the Soul Brother N.1, James Brown, left two interesting alternatives instrumental in his career of singer style of soul music.
Isaac Hayes besides composing the music, also starred on Three Tough Guys (1973) and Truck Turner (1974). The first was a nice adventure directed by the Duccio Tessari (from Giuliano Gemma westerns) and co-starring the eternal tough guy Lino Ventura. In turn, Truck Turner with its aesthetic quality, narrative and its excellent soundtrack is sort of a conclusion on the Black Cinema Golden Age.
Following would came blaxploitation (black + exploitation) that meant the way to exhaustion as in the merging with horror movies and suspense as Blacula (1972), Blackenstein (1973), Abby (1974) and JD's Revenge (1976 ) among others. Or the approach to westerns as Boss Nigger (1975 soul music goes West!) with Fred Williamson´s screenplay. And then the genre declined quickly in clumsy productions as Dolemite (1975, the largest number of booms ever saw on frame. Even the boom-man appears), Black Samurai (1977) or shamelessly trash as No Way Back (1976) directed and starring Fred Williamson. The film Three the Hard Way (1974) could have been the biggest adventure of genre for the inclusion of three stars, lots of action and shooting and the nice participation of group The Impressions. The musical Car Wash (1977), one of the last genre successes, was a kind of final closure in Black Cinema productions. Funny and unpretentious, Car Wash also was a hit on selling its nice soundtrack.
Influences – Musically the presence of the soul soundtracks was something notable as one of the great musical virtues of his time. Bassists had their employment guaranteed in soundtracks. Fender Precision basses were the consume dream of many. Musically, which for many years had been relegated to the base of popular musical construction –bass lines and drums – became the main ingredient in the scores of the period especially in police movies. The Dirty Harry opening theme would make the virtuous swing of bass lines become essential sound item in later films. And the soul influence would filter in countless productions. Lalo Schifrin extend it to Magnum Force (1973), Enter the Dragon (1973), and Charlie Varrick (1974) among others. Dave Grusin used it in The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973). The musical segment called Sound of Philadelphia would be the basis for Bill Conti´s Rocky (1976). James William Guercio, producer of the group Chicago, directed and compose music to the cult Electra Glide in Blue (1973) with great soul moments. And even the saga Lone Wolf (!) had his musical soul moment in Baby Cart in Peril (1972) and White Heaven in Hell (1974). The list would be extensive, but just consider that each electric bass motif and each modulated guitar sound by pedal cry baby on the soundtracks of the period originate from soul scores to imagine the influence of black power culture in the production of the 70s.
Even considering honorable pioneers as Gang Wars (1940) and later attempts to review the genre like Action Jackson (1988), the period 1968-1974 was historically the Golden Age of the Black Power cinema and the most rewarding moment for soundtrack fans. Following the nostalgic approach of Austin Powers, the comedy Undercover Brother (2002) reviewed the platforms shoes, black power hair and kung-fu fights in a nostalgic and funny way. But the honorable concluding mention will naturally go to the sympathy of the great Baadaas (2003) directed by Mario Van Peebles about the production of anthological Sweet Sweetback Baadaas Song, made by his father, Melvin, in 1970.
