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Wattstax (1973)

tomatometer

89

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

90

liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 683

My Rating

Movie Info

The climactic concert of the seventh annual Watts Summer Festival, commemorating the 1965 riots, and featuring performances by Isaac Hayes, Luther Ingram, Richard Pryor, and many more.

Sep 7, 2004

Columbia Pictures

All Critics (25) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (3) | DVD (6)

The restored rerelease is a time capsule of Afros, anger and attitude.

September 5, 2003 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A time when not only a single record company could put together a day like this, but could then give every dollar made to charity.

June 13, 2003 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | Comment
Newark Star-Ledger
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It just has the air of something too carefully laid out in advance. It's so busy being glossy and optimistic that it doesn't even allow its performers time to create on screen a measure of the excitement they might have created in person.

June 7, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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A candid, colorful and deeply meaningful sociocultural time capsule.

June 6, 2003 Comment
Washington Post
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A disorienting and ironic moviegoing experience.

June 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
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A remarkably penetrating documentary.

June 5, 2003 Comment
Washington Post
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Whether or not you call it "blaxploitation," there was something like a riot goin' on in the American cinema of 1973.

August 21, 2009 Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | Comment

Soul providers light up the stage.

February 11, 2005 Comment
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Even Richard Pryor's tired old rant gets more screen time than any of the musicians

September 11, 2004 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Hardcore fans of the music of the times will get a kick out of seeing their old idols in their former glory, and footage of the city of Watts is fascinating.

July 8, 2003 Comment
San Francisco Examiner

Pure old school.

July 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Journal News (Westchester, NY) | Comment
Journal News (Westchester, NY)

As Richard Pryor says, it's 'a soulful expression of the black experience'...

July 3, 2003 Comment
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Wattstax was more than just an elaborate musical gathering of gifted energetic artists out to corral a spirited mood-it was an undeniably ultimate black lyrical experience...this stylish funky forum is infectious.

June 15, 2003 Full Review Source: Movie Eye | Comment
Movie Eye

A recording of a historic moment, Wattstax has considerable value.

June 6, 2003 Comment
Seattle Times
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Wattstax

Released in 1973,the classic documentary masterpiece was the Woodstock of Stax.Directed by Mel Stuart(of Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)this was a grand event which the climatic concert of the seventh annual Watts Summer Festival that was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum before an estimated crowd of 70,000 in

September 4, 2008
rayman0071
Mister Caple

Super Reviewer

This is some of the best footage you'll ever see of Rufus Thomas doing the Chicken Strut in a hot pink leisure suit. f'in amazing performances by some of the most influential soul artists of the early 70s. And hilarious yet pithy dialog and narration by Richard Pryor gives the documentary the proper historical

October 17, 2008
pingsley

Super Reviewer

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