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Movies / On DVD / Baadasssss!
Baadasssss!

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Baadasssss! (2004)

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90 %
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Reviews Counted: 104

Fresh: 94

Rotten:10

Average Rating: 7.4/10

Consensus: An entertaining and intriguing tribute to a father from his son.

Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release: May 28, 2004 Limited

Box Office: $289,955

Synopsis: In "Baadasssss!" Mario Van Peebles pay tribute to his dad, pioneer black filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. The Movie dramatically recounts the saga of what his father went through more than 30 years ago when Melvin decided to go against every... In "Baadasssss!" Mario Van Peebles pay tribute to his dad, pioneer black filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. The Movie dramatically recounts the saga of what his father went through more than 30 years ago when Melvin decided to go against every grain in American filmmaking to make his breakout hit, "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song." Following the success of his directing debut, "The Watermelon Man," made for a Hollywood studio in 1970, Melvin decides against all conventional wisdom to make a movie about a black street hustler turned revolutionary running from racist cops. And the only way to do this is with independent financing. He doesn’t stop there, though. Melvin insists on a multiethnic crew. To throw the then-white unions off the scent, he pretends he is making a porno. Every step is an uphill battle: raising money, crewing up, losing financing, recasting when SAG won’t sign off, running out of money, then refusing to submit the film to the all-white MPAA ratings board, meaning an automatic X rating. After sinking his heart, soul and family money into the project, Melvin discovers that only two theaters in the United States will play such a film. Encouraging Melvin are his white co-producer Bill (Rainn Wilson), his long-suffering secretary Priscilla (Joy Bryant), Clyde (David Alan Grier), a black porn producer anxious to break into films where people wear clothes, his Latino B camera crew operator Jose (Paul Rodriguez) and his even longer-suffering girlfriend Sandra (Nia Long). -- © Sony Pictures Classics [More]

Starring: Joy Bryant, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Mario Van Peebles

Starring: Joy Bryant, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Mario Van Peebles, Nia Long, Paul Rodriguez, Khleo Thomas, Saul Rubinek, T.K. Carter, Adam West

Director: Mario Van Peebles

Director: Mario Van Peebles
Screenwriter: Mario Van Peebles
Producer: Mario Van Peebles
Composer: Tyler Bates
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

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Release:

Sep 14, 2004

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English

Reviews for Baadasssss!

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image

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Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image

A loving, even moving, homage to a man whose influence still reverberates today.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
Lewis Beale
Film Journal International
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Ratings Image

Slick tribute a family affair

Full Review Source: JWR | comment Comment
01/14/06
S. James Wegg
JWR
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
06/25/05
Empire Magazine
Ratings Image

It is so refreshing to see a film with not one wasted second, beautiful acting, and a total understanding of its source material.

Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | comment Comment
06/17/05
Bill Clark
FromTheBalcony
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/31/05
BBC
N/R

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Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
05/13/05
Sydney Morning Herald
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic
Ratings Image

Wit, energy, heart and soul!

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
01/26/05
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

Informative, compelling, dramatic entertainment.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
01/25/05
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
12/06/04
J. Robert Parks
Looking Closer
Ratings Image

A personal film shot from the heart.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/14/04
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

Who knew Mario had this much passion and creativity in him? A great tribute to his father's obsessive brilliance.

Full Review Source: Film Snobs | comment Comment
09/10/04
Jimmy O
Film Snobs
Ratings Image

both as an atmospheric, often funny look at the wild world of independent moviemaking and as a surprisingly touching story of father/son bonding.

Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
09/09/04
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette
Ratings Image

Disappoints in being so decorous, but it's still a good yarn; though Mario has always been too stolid as an actor, he surrounds himself here with some reliably good turns.

Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | comment Comment
08/29/04
Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks
Ratings Image

... so charged with love and a kind of astonished admiration that it would be small and unkind to dwell on its moments of clumsiness.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
08/25/04
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image

The most intriguing portions of this drama involve tales of how the elder Peebles circumvents the system in order to keep the camera rolling.

Full Review Source: Lawrence Journal-World | comment Comment
08/20/04
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World
Ratings Image

It's an exhausting, and exhaustingly pleasurable, entertainment.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
08/01/04
David Denby
New Yorker
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Compelling both as a chronicle of guerrilla filmmaking and as a son's movie about his father, it presents a clear-eyed, warts-and-all view of artistic obsession.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
07/23/04
Marc Mohan
Oregonian
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Latest News for Baadasssss!

January 03, 2006: Vincent Schiavelli Passes at 57
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli, the long-faced veteran of over 150 film and television appearances, died of lung cancer December 26 at home in Sicily. He was 57 years old. More...

September 14, 2005: Van Peebles "Wood" Direct a New Mystery Thriller
Mario Van Peebles has signed a deal with Spyglass Entertainment to direct and star in the mystery-thriller "Yellow Wood," says The Hollywood Reporter. More...

March 16, 2005: Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival 2005
A 70-mm French comedy by Jacques Tati will open my 7th annual Overlooked Film Festival this April, and a Bollywood musical starring "the most beautiful woman in the... More...

See More Topics...

Related Forums for Baadasssss!

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Baadasssss! gets a SPOTLIGHT slot at the 3rd annual Tribeca Film Festival...
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REEL_REVIEWER
Baadasssss! gets a SPOTLIGHT slot at the 3rd annual Tribeca Film Festival...
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REEL_REVIEWER
Baadasssss! gets a SPOTLIGHT slot at the 3rd annual Tribeca Film Festival...
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Baadasssss! gets a SPOTLIGHT slot at the 3rd annual Tribeca Film Festival...
by: REEL_REVIEWER 2/17/05
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