Summary

The year was 1971 and the hot ticket at the box office was THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Little did audiences and the film industry know that in the same year the birth of a new era was about to explode…Independent Black Cinema. The city was Detroit, and a weathered Melvin Van Peebles sat alone in the Grand Circus theatre watching only a few ticket buyers enter where his new film - his follow up to the successful comedy WATERMELON MAN - was about to play. After months of clawing, scheming and fighting to finish the film he wanted to make, the moment had arrived, and in a virtually empty theatre, Melvin sat with just a few curious onlookers. By the end of the screening, Melvin was alone. No one could have predicted what happened after that momentous end would be the beginning of history. Melvin Van Peebles stunned the world for the first time with his debut feature THE STORY OF A THREE-DAY PASS. Filmed in France and selected as the French entry in the San Francisco Film Festival, Melvin’s film was awarded the top prize. Saying it was controversial would be an understatement. In 1968, for a black man to walk up to the podium and accept the top festival award for a film he had to go abroad to make – now that’s how you make your mark. After his comedy WATERMELON MAN, Melvin was determined to push the Hollywood boundaries with the groundbreaking, and even more controversial, SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG. Turned down by every major studio including Columbia, where he had a three-picture deal, Melvin was forced to basically self-finance. Risking everything he had, Melvin delivered to the world the first Black Ghetto hero on the big screen, whether they were ready or not! More than 30 years later, history is being fashioned again. Mario Van Peebles, Melvin’s son, directs an honest and revealing portrait of his pioneering father. Following in his dad’s footsteps, and documenting his exceptional journey towards political defiance through cinema, Mario directs and stars as Melvin in BAADASSSSS!, based on the book Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song written by his father right after making SWEETBACK. The book went onto become a best seller, has been translated into several languages and is now a standard in university film classes. “When I went to my Dad about optioning the book, his words to me were simple: ‘Don’t make me too damn nice.’” - Mario Van Peebles “I wrote the book because I figured that no one would believe what happened. Plus, in case I got rubbed out in the process my children would at least have a chance to learn where I was coming from.” - Melvin Van Peebles In BAADASSSSS!, Mario sharply observes Melvin’s struggles to raise money to fund SWEETBACK under the guise of creating a black porno film. Melvin ducked creditors, the unions and had to bail out his camera crew after they were arrested because a white cop decided “a bunch of Negroes and hippies couldn’t have come by that camera equipment honestly.” Despite death threats and temporarily losing sight in one eye, Melvin managed to whip into shape a rag-tag, multi-racial crew and finish the film. The film had a winning formula – a hip, empowered black lead and a driving, energetic soundtrack with music from the then up-and-coming band Earth Wind and Fire. Maurice White of Earth Wind and Fire also contributes new music to the new film. Before the Wright Brothers, there was no manned flight. After them, we have been to the moon and beyond. Before Melvin Van Peebles, there were no films that would dare depict a brother standing up to the “man” and living to tell about it. Baadasssss cinema had arrived. Despite the fact that initially only two theatres in the whole United States would play his film, SWEETBACK became the top grossing independent hit of 1971 spawning a decade of similar studio fair – SHAFT, SUPERFLY and FOXY BROWN. Melvin had brought the hood to Hollywood. The cast of BAADASSSSS! also includes David Alan Grier (KING OF TEXAS, TV’s “Life with Bonnie”), Joy Bryant (ANTWONE FISHER, SHOWTIME), Nia Long (BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE, THE BEST MAN), Paul Rodriguez (TORTILLA SOUP, COMIC RELIEF VIII), Saul Rubinek (THE CONTENDER, DICK), Ossie Davis – one of the few active black director’s when SWEETBACK was made (MISS EVERS BOYS, KING), Khleo Thomas (HOLES), Glenn Plummer (THE SALTON SEA, PASTIME), Karimah Westbrook (SAVE THE LAST DANCE), Khalil Kain (THE TIGER WOODS STORY, EXECUTION OF JUSTICE), Rainn Wilson (ALMOST FAMOUS, TV’s “Six Feet Under”), John Singleton (2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, BOYZ N THE HOOD) and Adam West (the original “Batman,” “Family Guy”). The film is written by Mario Van Peebles and Dennis Haggerty, produced, directed and starring Mario Van Peebles, co-executive produced by Tobie Haggerty, and executive produced by Jerry Offsay and Michael Mann.