Blaxploitation films are often dismissed by serious film students in the same way that Spaghetti Westerns are. Despite the widespread assumption that blaxploitation flicks were about nothing but the Three P’s – pimps, pushers and prostitutes – the reality is that many of them dealt with explosive issues in a way that mainstream filmmakers of the time would have shied away from. Here are eight examples that featured a premise or an approach that truly pushed the envelope.
8. FORCE FOUR (1975) – Also released under the unimaginative title Black Force, this film had an ingenious premise but its flawed delivery makes you wish someone would remake it.
The movie featured four covert operators with various commando and martial arts skills. The quartet, the “Force Four” of the title, were mercenaries specializing in stealing various artifacts that were plundered from African nations during the colonial period.
Force Four would retrieve those artifacts from wealthy customers of black market art and relics and then return them to their clients – the African governments who wanted those items restored to their proper place. Think Mission: Impossible films crossed with the Lara Croft flicks for a comparison.
Unfortunately the incredibly low budget Continue reading
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