Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)

Some films, it's nice to know they exist but nobody should ever really have to watch them. This is one of those fims. Melvin van Peebles's power-to-the-people manifesto may have singlehandedly kickstarted the blaxploitation genre, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch -- it's a poorly made, badly acted, incoherent mess of a film. It is entirely possible to admire this film's historical significance and its sociopolitical importance whilst at the same time standing back and holding your nose.

Grade: C-