Movie Details
| Title: | Darktown Strutters | |
| Director: | William Witney | |
| Year: | 1975 | |
| Genre: | Soul Cinema | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.26.05 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.26.05 | Alamo Downtown | This Screening is part of event: Turkeython 2005 Trailers: -Greased Lightning -Scream, Blacula, Scream -Foxy Brown I missed Tim's introduction to the next film of the night because I was out in the lobby talking to Kier-la (heh heh). Apparently he had warned the crowd that this movie would be too much to handle at 4 AM; it was that strange. After a cadre of blaxploitation trailers, a title card appeared stating "If this film bares any resemblance to Cinderella... it's bull$h!t!" From there we have a gang of vividly dressed female three-wheel chopper vixens rolling into a beachfront snack stand and getting in a Keystone Kops undercranked chase sequence ending with white guys thrown into a public toilet. From there, it gets a bit crazy. I've been trying to think of some way to sum up or explain this movie for any who haven't seen it. Here's my best try: Imagine the kind of humor in I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka! but not as subtle melded with the social sensibility and roughness of Sweet Sweetback's Badaaassss Song, now replace "The Man" with Colonel Sanders: owner of a "Sky Pig" fast food rib joint who has cotton bushes planted in his front lawn. OK, now throw in some ludicrously inept/racist cops, a KKK biker gang that wears their robes and hoods as they ride, a few musical numbers, the requisite amount of stereotypical black '70s caricatures in vividly gaudy costumes, and stir fervently to a funky bassline. Oh, I forgot to mention the cloning machine with an "abort" button in the form of a breast. Now stretch that gonzo concoction like taffy until it's about 20 minutes too long and you have Darktown Strutters. There were technical difficulties about an hour into the screening and while we sat in darkness the guy next to me leaned over and said "I thought this was a trailer for like ten minutes." I laughed then he asked me what this movie was about and I didn't really have an answer for him. The film started back up and never really ventured into the realm of logic or comprehension So it's probably true that this movie would've killed me had I seen it at 4 AM. Things Learned from Darktown Strutters -Both veteran TV western director William Witney and Grosse Point Blank director George Armitage must have some chemical excuse for not remembering 1975. -If you ever accidentally touch a guy named VD, ask him to make you clean and he will squirt you with his oversized hypodermic needle. -I still have no clue what the hell anything had to do with Cinderella. |
