A genre of American film that surfaced in the 1970s featuring stereotypical representations of African-American culture that were mostly written and directed by white men. The films were nonetheless extremely popular among black audiences, possibly because they were among the handful of movies which dealt primarily with black men and women, bringing them to the foreground, and because they had endings which were generally favourable to the central character. When set in the North, blaxploitation films tended to take place in the ghetto and deal with pimps, drug dealers, and hit men; when set in the South, the movies most often took place on a plantation and dealt with slavery and miscegenation. Almost all of them featured exaggerated sexuality and violence. Some film scholars defend the movies today, arguing that the genre was instrumental in allowing African-Americans greater screen presence, as well as greater latitude in "mainstream" film-making as actors, directors, and writers. The genre lasted only a few years, dying out before the end of the 1970s, though their influence can still be seen in later films such as "New Jack City" (1991), "Dead Presidents" (1995), "Jackie Brown" (1997) and the most recent version of "Shaft" (2000). Pictured: Richard Roundtree as Detective John Shaft in "Shaft" (1971), the first major Hollywood success in the blaxploitation field.
'The black prince of shadows stalks the earth again'. An occult ritual summons vampire William Marshall from spirit exile, and only the occult skills... Read more
Black, beautiful, brawny Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones, the U.S. special agent with a style all her own! Plenty of violence and action as 6'2... Read more
New York detective Richard Roundtree goes undercover in the "mother country" to bring down a modern-day slavery ring and its ruthless head. With Frank... Read more
William Marshall stars as an African Prince, cursed by Dracula himself centuries ago, to be one of the undead. He starts his reign of terror in modern... Read more
Richard Roundtree reunites with director Gordon Parks to bring the charismatic, leather jacketed private investigator, Shaft, to you in his most explo... Read more
One of the most successful blaxploitation films ever made, with a blistering soundtrack by Soul legend Curtis Mayfield, 'Superfly' follows charismatic... Read more
Van Peebles wrote, directed and stars in this trendsetting work - which initiated the "blaxploitation" film cycle of the 1970s - about an African-Amer... Read more
This groundbreaking "woman behind bars" actioner became an instant cult classic. When the desperate, abused inmates of an all-female prison rebel agai... Read more
'Hotter than Bond. Cooler than Bullitt,movie posters proclaimed. John Shaft was indeed a shut-your-mouth detective to reckon with, a fact emphasized f... Read more
'Hotter than Bond. Cooler than Bullitt,movie posters proclaimed. John Shaft was indeed a shut-your-mouth detective to reckon with, a fact emphasized f... Read more