MOVIE REVIEW: Darktown Strutters 1975
Darktown Strutters is the story of 3 black biker sistas Syreena, the lead gang member, Miranda and Theda. These are not your ordinary biker chicks, these chicks and their motorcycles are more fabuloustic than Farnsworth. The motorcyles they ride are like no other you've ever seen, complete with glitter. When I say FAB I mean it. The girls themselves..well just imagine Labelle on motorcyles and you'll get my drift. The costumes featured in this film are so fabulous and over the top, even for a movie made in the 70's! Back to the film. The premise of the film is that Syreena's mom Cinderella (no joke) is missing and the girls are on a mission to find her. They enlist the help of a group of rag-tag biker dudes led by Mellow (played by the great Roger E. Mosely). Syreena pays a visit to her "Karate Master" brother but he too has no clue of what happened to Mom. On their journey to find mom they run into some of the most cartoonishly racist Keystone-like Cops I've ever seen on film. One cop is supposedly so fat he has trouble getting through doors, another is a crossdressing, blackface wearing nutbag who is in search of a rapist who is preying on "nigger faggots". No need for anyone to get offended, these cops are so stupid and over the top I guarantee you'll laugh your asses off at them. While on the hunt for mom they run into pimps, hoes, and every other crazy being you can think of.
One of the ho's from the stable directs Syreena to the home of The Black people's champion, Colonel Louisville Cross, a dead-ringer for Colonel Sanders who owns a string of rib joints called Sky Hog where the motto is "With every bucket you get a free slice of watermelon". The Colonel's..um... home is basically a plantation complete with a cotton field out front and servants dressed as Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben. Hell the servants even serve up big giant ass pancakes. He also has his own minstrel show at his disposal that will perform upon his command. You see, ol Colonel is a the equivalent of the Grand Dragon of the KKK behind closed doors. Syreena confronts the Colonel about her mom and the Colonel confesses as to what his real operation is: A Nigger Cloning Machine that he refers to as Annie. He is kidnapping folks to make duplicates of them. The sight of the Colonel wearing a silver lame cape with ears attached to the hood, silver boots and booty shorts is so divinely ridiculous. I swear I can't make this shit up! One of the best parts of this movie is the performance by the Dramatics singing their signature song "What You See Is What You Get" from a glittery jail cell, complete with matching glittery costumes. Too freaking funny man I swear. Will Syreena be able to save her mom Cinderella from the evil clutches of the Colonel? Will the Colonel trap Syreena and make lovely duplicates of her? No spoilers from me y'all.
This film is so hard to review because it's one of those films that you must actually see to believe. Even after hearing about it for so long, I still was not prepared for what I saw. The subject matter in this movie was WAY ahead of its time and pretty smart considering its subject matter. It deals with abortion, cloning and racism. The costumes for this movie were outstanding, my inner drag queen was certainly satisfied while watching this movie. The lead actress who played Syreena, Trina Parks, is one of the most gorgeous sistas to ever grace the screen and did a damn fine job with such wacky subject matter. There is absolutely NO nude body parts, gore, or extremely foul language used in this film so its suitable for everyone unless you find the use of the word "nigger" offensive. The best way I can describe this movie is "a ghetto cartoon come to life". I laughed so hard my tummy was sore after watching this
VERDICT: 4 Soul Claps all the way baby!
Labels: Movie Reviews
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 17, 2006 at 12:48 PM.
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