Darktown Strutters (1975)

Great Film overall

Fantastic!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I saw this movie for the first time on TCM 06/18.10, Never heard of it. A very bad depiction of black people. I thought the "Man Tam" thing( Blacks acting like goons ) was over by 1975. I was in college and we were not clowning like that. The only thing I liked about it was the Dramatics singing. Very awful. Unbelievable, a waste of money. I recognized one actor and was surprised that he stoop so low. I don't think Denzel would ever stoop that low. I waited for the credits to see who wrote and produced this piece of garbage. Put this one in the vault. I would rather see Super Fly or Foxy Brown. Poor taste, I do not recommend any Media station to show this kind of garbage again.

After many years of wanting to see this film, opportunity finally knocked when TCM aired it on December 18 2009. Did Christmas come early? Sadly, no, as Darktown Strutters is just a dreadful mess. There are some good elements here, from the music to the custom motor trikes, but it all adds up to very little. At best, serial vet William Witney directs the film as if it's a television situation comedy, but his efforts (such as they are) are consistently undermined by the uncharacteristically awful editing of Morton Tubor. Filled with jump cuts and unintentional visual non sequiturs, Darktown Strutters is also burdened with an incoherent screenplay from George Armitage. Even the presence of familiar faces like Sam Laws, Dick Miller, and Zara Cully (Mother Jefferson) doesn't move the film into positive territory, though a third act appearance by The Dramatics is a highlight. Perhaps the cast and crew indulged in one too many Pot-sicles whilst producing Darktown Strutters, but this is one bad trip indeed.

Black babe Trina Parks will always have a place in movie history - and in my heart - for her role as Thumper in one of the most memorable scenes of "Diamonds Are Forever", where she and Bambi team up against James Bond. Before seeing "Darktown Strutters", I was hoping for an action flick along the lines of "Cleopatra Jones", but this film is more of a (literally) dopey / surreal spoof, with bright colors, outrageous props and outfits, sped-up slapstick, out-of-nowhere musical numbers, and a loony sci-fi plot involving cloning. The main problems are two: 1) It's not funny enough, 2) The lunacy cannot sustain this movie even for just 81 minutes. Still, its audacity makes it worth a look, and the women that comprise the title gang are all beautiful. (**)

DARKTOWN STRUTTERS is pure soul-crazed 70s entertainment at its maximum! I strongly urge all archivists of blaxploitation cinema to go out and hunt down this one-of-a-kind rarity, a blaxplo-comedy-musical that knows no bounds when it comes to absolute weirdness. Everything from the opening sequence ("Any similarity between this true life adventure to the story Cinderella...IS BULLS--T!") to the rest is genuine cinematic trash, but it's well worth the agony! ALABAMA'S GHOST was just as weird! I'm not too crazy about comedies, but the erraticly innovative formula was far ahead of its time (for 1974). Still, this is a one-way ticket to Funkland Junction! Among the highlights you'll get to see are a police car with a gargantuan siren and a cloning machine, which are hard to believe. The oddball taste does appear to fit well in DARKTOWN STRUTTERS, making this an enjoyable trip through a time when fashion trends and moral values have gone through mass transition. It does contain a familiar musical number by The Dramatics, singing "What You See Is What You Get". It's more than just a classic TV sitcom taped in front of a live audience, it's a campy experience that has recently gone timeless while it improves with age. See this film only once in your life and your infatuation with CAR WASH will be all over! Too bad a lot of you have missed this one!