Black History Month 2012 fifth movie

House Party
IFC airing
1990

I don't think I have seen House Party in over 15 years. But back when I was in high school Showtime showed it at least once a week for over a year. And I must have seen it close to 40 times back then. Somehow over the years I had forgotten about the movie and how funny it is.

The plot is simple Play is throwing a party at his house,cause his parents are away on vacation. He wants his buddy Kid to come and their buddy Bilai to be the DJ at the party. Well the day of the party Kid gets in trouble at school. And he knows if his father finds out there is no way he will be able to go to the party. So he tries his best to keep his father,played by the late Robin Harris from finding out. But of course his dad finds out and grounds him.

While this is happening we see Play getting ready for the party. Plus two girls Sharane and Sidney getting ready. The party is getting started and all seems like it is going good. But of course you know something has to go wrong.

Kid manages to sneak out,cause his dad has fallen asleep watching TV. So he starts walking to the party. But runs into so bullies that were fucking with him at school that day. And after some misadventures he finally gets to Play's house.

By this time the party is in full swing. We get to see lots of scenes of people dancing. And of course with this film being over 20 years old the clothes and dances are extremely outdated. Kid and Play have a dance off with Sharane and Sidney. And right after that Kid and Play have a friendly rap battle. One of the guys at the party passed out drunk. So while Play and another guy are carrying him home ,Kid offers to walk Sidney and Sharane home. Kid just barely misses his father who has arrived at the house looking for him.

Play gets back to the party to discover that someone has broken the toilet and left a huge stinking log in it. So he says the party is over and goes about kicking people out. Kid gets Sharane home to her apartment in the projects. It seems that he might have a chance with Sharane,but we find out that Sidney has a crush on Kid. So after he walks with her to her house she invites him inside. Kid is about to get him some when Sidney's parents come home early from a party. So Kid jumps out the window and is on his way home when he runs into the bullies from earlier. This ends with the bullies and Kid getting arrested.

Now Kid is in lock up and uses his one phone call to call Play to come bail him out. Well the bullies talk some of the other guys in the lock up into raping Kid. So in an attempt to prevent this Kid launches into a freestyle rap. Somehow this keeps the rapists off him until Play gets there to bail him out. Finally sometime early in the morning Kid gets back home. He makes it all the way into his bedroom with out his father seeing him. He is about to jump into bed when his dad catches him. And the credits start to roll. During the credits we here Kid's father beating the shit outta him.

Now the film is dated. But still I was laughing my ass off through out most of the film. Shit I now want to see if it is out on Blu ray. Somehow I doubt it is,but a DVD will be almost as good. House Party gets a B+.

Black History Month 2012 fourth movie

I'm gonna git you sucka
MGM DVD
1988

This is the movie that introduced me to the Wayons family. Now before seeing this film I had seen a few of the various 70's blaxploitation films. But not that many really. So I am sure on the first viewing lots of the various jokes and spoofs went right over my head. It didn't matter this became one of my favorite comedies. For some reason it seemed like this film never aired on any of the movie channels I got. So I had forgotten about it till sometime in the early 90s Fox aired it as a movie of the week. I watched it,and Fox had edited the shit outta it,and fell back in love with it.

Keenon Wayons plays Jack Spade,he is coming home on leave from the army and finds out his brother has OG'd. That means his brother died from wearing too much gold. So Jack goes on a crusade to find out who is selling all this gold. He ends up teaming up with Bernie Casey and with help from Bernie and his friends they try to take down Mr Big.

What makes this film stand out so much is all the appearances from the stars of  all the older blaxploitation films.You got Jim Brown,Issac Hayes,Antonio Fargas and many others. Fargas is a stand out as Fly Guy. He is a former pimp that has spent the last decade in jail. And the scene when he gets outta jail and puts on his oh so 70's pimp outfit is one of the funniest moments in the entire film.

Usually with a spoof film they hit you with so many jokes that outta every 5,2 or 3 of them fail. Not so in I'm gonna git you sucka,besides one over long scene with a young Chris Rock every joke hits it's point. One of my favorite scenes is when the guys go to take down the Big Brim bar. Where everyone is wearing a huge hat. And under most of these hats a midget is hiding. Midgets always make me laugh and this scene made me laugh so hard my sides were hurting.

Now the print on the DVD looks great. The sound is good. But the only extra is a theatrical trailer. I wish they had done a commentary with the Wayons brothers and maybe some of the other stars. But since I got this DVD for around 4 bucks I won't complain too much about the lack of extras. I'm gonna git you sucka gets a A.

Black History Month 2012 Third movie

Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-In-Law
 Xenon DVD
1977

Outta all the various Dolemite/Rudy Ray Moore films this is my favorite. We start off with Petey being born during the middle of a hurricane. He comes out wearing a diaper and looks to be 6 years old. Fast forward a few years and now Petey is a well known stand up comedian. He books a week long stay at a local night club. Which pisses off local comedy duo Leroy and Skillet. So they put out a hit on Petey. Petey gets killed and goes to hell.

In hell he meets Lucifer who tells him he will bring Petey back to life. But Petey has to marry Lucifer's fugly daughter and provide Lucifer with a grandson. Petey agrees. He gets sent back to Earth with a magic pimp cane.

The rest of the film is Petey using his magic pimp stick to solve problems and trying to figure out a way outta his deal with Lucifer.This DVD looks amazing. Before getting it I had only seen Petey Wheatstraw on the old VHS,which looked horrible. Sure the DVD is full frame. But then it seems every DVD from Xenon is full frame. Petey Wheatstraw the devil's son in law gets a B+.

Black History Month 2012 Second movie

Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood
Director's cut DVD
1996

I have been a fan of the Wayons since I first saw "I'm gonna git you sucka" years ago. So when I saw ads for this movie I knew I had to see it. Well for some reason I didn't get to see it in the theater. But made sure to go rent it the day it came out. What we get is a spoof movie of all the various "hood" films that were popular at the time. And of course most of the Wayons family has at least a small part in the film. I don't remember seeing Damon but the rest of them are there. Now I have never been a fan of either Shawn or Marlon Wayons.But this is the only film with them I enjoyed.

Ashtray is in his late teens,and his mom sends him to live in da hood with his Father. His dad seems to either be the same age as Ashtray or maybe even younger. Ashtray's best friend is Loc Dog. Who is a drug dealing under educated mess of a person.

We gets lots of great parody scenes. And plenty of laugh out loud moments. Now this dvd is the director's cut. But I only really saw 3 scenes that I didn't remember from the theatrical version. Thanks to the deal Miramax has worked out with Echo Bridge entertainment this dvd is easy to find for $5 and totally worth that price. Don't be a Menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood gets a B+.

It's Black History month at Double T's Blog of Reviews day 01

Dr.Black Mr Hyde
1976
VCI entertainment DVD

Usually when I have heard about a film for years but never seen it,when I do finally see it I am almost always disappointed. I had heard of Dr Black Mr Hyde for decades now. But never seemed to find it for rent in any video store. And never saw it airing on any of the movie channels. So last year when I found it in the Walmart $5 dvd dumpbin I was somewhat excited.

Bernie Casey is a doctor working on a formula that regrow dead liver cells. He also works at the Watts free clinic. We get to see how he actually cares for all his patients and does whatever he can to help them out. Well after years of work he thinks he has profected his formula. So he uses it on himself. And there is one seriously bad side-effect.

The formula turns him white and he goes out killing people. Now this shouldn't be funny,but instead of say hiring a white actor to be Mr Hyde they instead seem to throw some white pancake make up on Bernie's face. Then spray something onto his Afro to make it white also.

After attacking a bunch of pimps and hookers the cops track down Mr Hyde to the Watts Tower. At first they send in some police dogs to get him. But Bernie breaks it's neck and throws it over a fence. This part had me laughing super hard,cause it was so obvious that the dog was a fake. Of course at the end the villain dies and the world is safe again.

The DVD is pretty much bare bones. But the print looks good and the sound if well done. I love the cover. Dr Black Mr Hyde gets a C+.