In the 1970s, African-American filmmakers cranked up the black action movie by adding elements of such genres as the western, kung fu, and horror, as well as soundtracks by the likes of Curtis ...

The soundtracks to two Blaxploitation classics, Super Fly and The Mack, stood alone from their films and influenced decades ...

The Blaxploitation film era is, for better or worse, a cornerstone in the foundation of modern Black history. The subgenre, a portmanteau of Black and exploitation, came at critical time between the ...

Forty years ago this month, Melvin Van Peebles’ celluloid classic, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, shook up the world of cinema, much as a brash young pugilist originally known as Cassius Clay had ...

If you want to see what's happening in America, watch its movies - especially the ones that aren't Art-with-a-capital-A. Case in point: The action-thriller Four Brothers, starring Mark Wahlberg and ...

As the writer, producer, director and star of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971), a film about a black man fleeing the law, Van Peebles is considered the godfather of the blaxploitation genre.

Michael Jai White remembers the first time he saw people onscreen who looked like they came from his ‘hood. This was in an otherwise forgettable 1976 blaxploitation flick called “The Monkey Hustle” ...

With the massive success of “Black Panther” and “Get Out” — and even the raunchy comedy “Girls Trip” — Hollywood is experiencing a renaissance in black film. Stars from Chadwick Boseman to Tiffany ...

This week Black Dynamite dons his flared strides and some seriously outlandish suits to take it to the The Man - well, several men, all with guns. With Michael Jai White's urban hero lovably spoofing ...

Can you dig it? Blaxploitation films have a new digital home. African-American network Bounce TV is jumping into the subscription VOD biz with Brown Sugar, a $3.99-per-month service with mostly ...

Yesterday, three of the city’s most diligent film programming groups, Black World Cinema, the Chicago Cinema Society, and South Side Projections, teamed up to host a “Jim Kelly Day,” an all day ...