A terrific black-sploitation film!
I watched this movie late one Saturday night and have not been able to get it out of my head ever since. The pastel colors and the soundtrack were terrific. Even though I am a white man, there for making me the victim of this movie, I simply loved it! It seems that other members of my race did not seem to enjoy it as well as I did, but the fact is, you have to look past the fact that this movie really is "politically incorrect." I really am not much of a judge on how black people are treated today, but I know that this film really showed me how different my own life would be if I were a black man livingin the late-sixties/early-seventies. It just proves that all that we in the magical world of white were really true. We actually were exploiting these people, just for the color of their skin. Maybe, just maybe, the world isn't such a pretty place after all. Great film! I whole-heartedly recommend it.
His white bread world just got turned upside brown!
Being interested in many types of film, I saw the DVD release of Watermelon Man (1970) and it was the title that caught my eye. Directed by African-American film pioneer Melvin Van Peebles and starring Godfrey Cambridge (The President's Analyst, Cotton Comes to Harlem) and Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde), Watermelon Man relates an interesting tale of what happens when a bigoted white man wakes one day to find his skin has since turned black.
As the film begins, we meet the Gerbers, a typical white family living in a typical white neighborhood. There's Jeff Gerber (Cambridge), the head of the family, who make his living selling insurance, Althea Gerber (Parsons), Jeff's somewhat liberal wife, and their two children. One evening Jeff awakes to discover he's no longer white, and believes he suffering a bad dream. This turns out not to be the case, as Jeff retains his new skin color into the next day. He begins to look for answers, maybe it can be washed off if he...
One of the best films ever made!!!!
I am sure that a better film depicting the stereotypes that, we as black people must endure will never be made. It was truly a cinematic breakthrough. Considering the time that the film was made in, I am surprised that it was allowed to be made especially by the movie company that produced it. Godfrey Cambridge was sheer genius in this film. The kids were worth watching. I never laughed at any other movie as much as a laughed at this satire.
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