According to some reviews of the film, the term super fly was slang for high-quality cocaine, while other reviews stated that it meant the pusher himself, or meant a superlative adjective that could be applied to anything. SuperFly (2018) Cast & Crew Cast; Crew; Trevor Jackson Youngblood Priest Jason Mitchell Eddie Michael Kenneth Williams Scatter Lex Scott Davis Georgia Jennifer Morrison Detective Mason Kaalan Walker Juju Esai Morales Adalberto Gonzalez Andrea Londo Cynthia Big Bank Black "Q" Big Boi Mayor Atkins Jacob Ming-Trent Fat Freddie . Some contemporary and modern sources list the films title as Superfly, although the opening title card and copyright records list it as two words. Featured image:Jason Mitchell and Trevor Jackson in SUPERFLY. Release Dates We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. * Remember Me Forgot Password Tags: Members Only Previous Feds Get First Co-Defendant In Philly Mob Case To Cop Plea, Tony Meatballs Admits Booking Bets Takin' it, sellin' it, bankrollin' so other small time pusher. Police rough up one of the lead characters, punching him repeatedly during an interrogation. [8] Several California organized crime veterans, including drug trafficker "Freeway" Rick Ross, have cited the film as an influence in their decision to take up drug dealing and gang violence. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The site compared the situation to Proud Mary, a film released in January 2018 that Sony reported cost $14 million to make but other sources listed at as high as $30 million. 26 Jan 2023 07:44:06 . thecredits-expanded-wt. | How Do I Protect My Young Child from Cyberbullying? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 4 Mar. There's a complexity to the character revealed through body language and facial expression in his reactions to everyone around him. "Superfly", a song on The O.C. Scatter Color: The color of the light that gets scattered in the material. How are remakes similar to and different from the originals? ' Messam outfitted Mitchell in GStar jeans and a John Varvatos leopard print leather jacket. Scatter, who now runs a popular restaurant, initially refuses to help Priest, but Priest plays on his emotions, claiming that he wants to get out while he is young and before he has to endure the extreme hardships faced by Scatter. According to a 5 Feb 1973 DV article, the meeting was held because of the emotions involved, and the songs exclusion was upheld. When Eddie states that they have $300,000, Priest reveals his plan to buy thirty kilos of high-quality cocaine, which they can sell for $1,000,000 within four months. By the time filming began in Atlanta, Messam had assembled a jaw-dropping set of outfits sourced from such as labels as Balenciaga, Tom Ford, Gucci, Valentino, Versace, Fear of God, Zara, H&M and Topshop. Hes wearing the jacket as he counts stacks of money. Remember, blacks just got into films. The article supported his viewpoint, asserting: Since mid-1970, at least 51 films about blacks have been released. It was also noted that Mayfield had accused the Academy of a racial bias, although he was declining to file suit because the title song from Super Fly had been considered for the Oscar balloting. Scatter is captured by the corrupt policemen, who give him a fatal overdose of drugs. The original Priest, played by Ron O'Neal, famously sported leisure suits and floor-length overcoats, but Trevor Jackson's version of the drug dealer favors a less flamboyant style drawn from AllSaints, Burberry and German designer Phillip Plein. [4] The film was financed by two directors: Gordon Parks, who had directed the 1971 film Shaft and Sig Shore, who produced Super Fly, and played Deputy Commissioner Riordan, or "The Man" in the film. The lieutenant tells them they can have as much weight, or kilos of cocaine, as they want, and will be extended both credit and protection. This means we can tint the scattered light a certain colour, like how skin scatters more red light. Families can talk about the "blaxploitation" genre. Frequent profanity, including the "N" word, "motherf----r," and "f--k." Lead character uses the word "f--got." Youngblood Priest: You better take real good care of me. The more Priest tries to wriggle out of the life, the more it wraps its tentacles around him. As Priest, Ron ONeal had a charisma and enigmatic elegance that stood out in the Harlem back rooms and alleys where he did his business. Priest has anticipated Eddies duplicity, however, and gives the briefcase carrying the money to a disguised Georgia in exchange for one full of rags. "Scatter" Stephens Was A Cleveland Street Legend & The Real Superfly 2 years ago Scott Burnstein You are unauthorized to view this page. (screenplay by) Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification Produced by Music by Curtis Mayfield Cinematography by James Signorelli . I took away from it a desire to pay homage to Atlanta by reflecting the community through the costumes.. After the deal is made, Priest and Eddie are picked up by the police, where it's revealed that the supplier is a lieutenant in the department and that they can now have as much cocaine as they want to sell on credit and protected by the police. This is evident in the movie from the beginning as Priest communicates his desire to leave the business. Yet its timeliness appears, instantly, merely symbolic, as daily news reports surpass the movies horrors faster than it can pile them on. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. [10] The filmmakers maintain that it was their desire to show the negative and empty aspects of the drug subculture. Fat Freddie: Listen, Priest, that's my wife you're talking about, man. The hot-tempered . The film was directed by Director X, written by Alex Tse and stars Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael K. Williams, Lex Scott Davis, and Jennifer Morrison. So maybe its heartening, in a way, that Super Fly once meant something and that the new Superfly, for what its worth, means next to nothing. And no motherf***er tells me when I can split. I'll tell you what you do, you go get you a gun and all those black folks you keep doin' so much talkin' about get guns, and come back ready to go down, then I'll be right down front killin' whitey. The blaxploitation films were often criticized by African-Americans for glorifying criminals, yet theres no denying that the idea of the pusher as underground American capitalist emerged from a world of narrow choices. Priest explains that he hired contract killers to murder Reardon and his entire family should anything happen to him. Priest further explains that the men with whom he met were contract killers, whom he hired to murder Reardon and his entire family should anything happen to him. Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free. The next day, Freddie is picked up for fighting, and when he is beaten by the police, he reveals when and where Priest and Eddie are to pick up the first kilo of cocaine from Scatter. Ad Choices, Nancy Reviewed: A Complex, Untapped Story of a Womans Desperate Hoax, The Tale, Reviewed: A Filmmakers Daring Excavation of Her Own Memories of Sexual Abuse. In mid-Apr 1972, Var reported that the films low-key, successful location shooting in Harlem was due to its being a non-union effort, thus the lack of production publicity and ease of using all-black technicians. The article added that after raising the required funds, the filmmakers agreed to their backers request that as many blacks as possible [be employed] in front and behind the camera, although the financiers agreed to allow white producer Shore oversee the project. As noted in reviews, the picture was shot completely in New York City, and mostly in Harlem. I don't know nothing else but dope, baby. Fat Freddie is pulled over by corrupt cops Franklin and Mason. He was an actor and writer, known for Super Fly (1972), The Connection (1961) and The Doctors and the Nurses (1962). Super Fly (1972 film) is a television show that first aired in 1970 . I had a VHS copy in my collection of Blaxploitation films, which I loved to watch because I loved the fashion. One of the groups formed specifically to fight the film and other similar exploitations films, according to a Sep 1972 Var article, called itself Blacks Against Narcotics. The Harlem community backed Super Fly financially, and a number of black businesses helped with the production costs. Refused by Scatter, Priest has to pitch himself to a deadly Mexican cartel manager played by Esai Morales. If you go back and watch a vintage blaxploitation film like Super Fly (1972), it has a time-capsule quality that only enhances the low-rent documentary scuzziness of its atmosphere. (For instance, Parks, in a directorial masterstroke unrivalled in Superfly, delivers a critical scene of dialogue in a single, thrillingly tenseand wordlessshot.) Among the films many critics was Junius Griffin, the then-president of the Hollywood branch of the NAACP. Company Credits He came out of a dance background. Lex Scott Davis plays Georgia, a sophisticated gallery owner involved with Priest. Using his knowledge of karate, Priest overcomes his foes, then reveals that he knows who Reardon is. Formerly a Chicago musician, he now lives in Los Angeles with his dog-rescuing wife Marla and their Afghan Hound. And you really ain't got the stomach for that. The songs "Freddie's Dead" and the title song both shot up the Pop Top Ten chart in late 1972, with each single selling over a million copies. Unlike the earlier film, the new one (written by Alex Tse) goes beyond the local streetside and backroom focus of the drug trade to expose a vipers nest of conspiracies that extend from the internecine conflicts between groups of dealers to the collaboration of major elected officials. The film was directed by Director X, written by Alex Tse and stars Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael K. Williams, Lex Scott Davis, and Jennifer Morrison. Common Sense and other associated names and logos are trademarks of Common Sense Media, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (FEIN: 41-2024986). Inspiring true story of African American women at NASA. The famous soundtrack by R&B and soul legend Curtis Mayfield, who had a cameo in the film with his band, actually outgrossed the film. Before the opening cast and >>, Working titles for this film were Black Irish , If I Die Before I Wake and Take This Woman . The Man so trenchantly invoked by Mayfield was incarnated in the earlier film by a white police superintendent who wants Priest as his puppet. [1], Variety's Owen Gleiberman wrote: "Shot in a functional, slammed-together manner that's less sensually stylish than you'd expect from a music-video auteur, the film is a competent yet glossy and hermetic street-hustle drug thriller, less a new urban myth than a lavishly concocted episode. Despite the controversy surrounding Super Fly's drug use, the production of the film made significant advances for African-Americans. That night, Priest enjoys a romantic bath with his girl friend Georgia, although she disapproves of his drug usage. Scatter initially refuses to help Priest. Writing Credits Phillip Fenty . National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, "The return of "Freeway" Ricky Ross, the man behind a crack empire", "Trevor Jackson & Jason Mitchell To Star In Sony's 'Superfly' Remake From Director X; Future & Joel Silver To Produce", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Super_Fly_(1972_film)&oldid=1136581494, United States National Film Registry films, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Lucky Scott as Himself (The Curtis Mayfield Experience), Craig McMullen as Himself (The Curtis Mayfield), Tyrone McCullough as Himself (The Curtis Mayfield), This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 01:45. Classic '70s drama with drugs, violence, cursing. Official Sites I remember Curtis Mayfields great music and the way Ron Neal carried himself. One day, Priest confronts Fat Freddie, one of his clients, about money that Freddie owes and threatens to force Freddies wife into prostitution unless he robs a competitor. The first name of actress and former model Sheila Frazier, who made her debut in Super Fly, is spelled Sheila in the opening cast credits and Shiela in the ending credits. Priest (Ron O'Neal), a suave top-rung New York City drug dealer, decides that he wants to get out of his dangerous trade. Ya know, you've got this fantasy in your head about gettin outta the life and setting that other world on its ear. Chasing Priest, Juju is injured and Q is killed in a car crash. Nearly every character in the film, with the notable exception of his "main squeeze," tries to dissuade Priest from quitting; their chief argument being that dealing and snorting are the best he ever could achieve in life. This film, directed by Director X from a script by Alex Tse, is a remake of the 1972 picture directed by Gordon Parks Jr. (whose father had made Shaft a year before). For all its tossed-off flash, Superfly goes beyond the mere intricacy of its audacious plotting to suggest the cruelty, the horror, and the deceit at the heart of the American body politic. The remake runs twenty minutes longer than the originaltwenty minutes that detail Priests audacious maneuverings and their grim effects in milieux left unexplored by the earlier film. Priest plays good guy by handing the victims friends a wad of cash and giving them the name of the best local trauma center. Priest must find a way to keep the money he has made while staying several steps ahead of the corrupt police department. Youngblood Priest: Don't argue with me, man, I'm trying to give you a chance. According to a 17 Sep 1972 NYT article, the project was initially brought to Shore by first-time screenplay writer Philip Fenty after Fenty and actor Ron ONeal, a longtime friend, had worked together to develop the story. The career criminal now finds himself trying to outmaneuver the cartel, two corrupt police officers and all the double-crossers that threaten his path to freedom.CREDITS:TM \u0026 Sony Pictures Entertainment (2018)Cast: Esai Morales, Michael Kenneth Williams, Trevor JacksonScreewriter: Alex TseDirector: Director XWatch More: Fresh New Clips: http://bit.ly/2taDWqW Classic Trailers: http://bit.ly/2qTCxHF Hot New Trailers: http://bit.ly/2qThrsF Clips From Movies Coming Soon: http://bit.ly/2FrP8VL Indie Movie Clips: http://bit.ly/2qTZMRE Deleted Scenes: http://bit.ly/2ARbLPJ Bloopers: http://bit.ly/2qYmBnc Celebrity Interviews: http://bit.ly/2D4tzw4Fuel Your Movie Obsession: Subscribe to MOVIECLIPS: http://bit.ly/2CZa490 Watch Movieclips ORIGINALS: http://bit.ly/2D3sipV Like us on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2DikvkY Follow us on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2mgkaHb Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/2mg0VNUThe MOVIECLIPS channel is the largest collection of licensed movie clips on the web. Both enraged and scared, Priest gives the information on Reardon and an envelope of cash to two mafia men and takes out a $100,000 contract on "the Man's" life. Scatter surprises Priest at Freddie's funeral, ordering him to meet with his supplier Adalberto, after finding out Priest cut a secret deal for more product. I'm to the point where I ain't afraid to die. No car can outrun fate. He voices his sense of vulnerability from the heights of his terrace overlooking the city: This can all be taken away for stupid shit. He hammers the movie home in a one-liner reserved for the end, but to quote it is to make the whole plot unravel. After getting mugged by two junkies, he realizes that his profession will eventually only end in death or prison, so he decides it's time to call it quits. There's also marijuana and cigarette smoking and drinking. "[7], Super Fly resonated with many of the post-Civil Rights Movement generation of African Americans, who saw Youngblood as a new example of how to rise in the American class system. Superfly - Necessary Violence: Adalberto Gonzalez (Esai Morales) kills Scatter (Michael Kenneth Williams) after he realizes that he's been stealing from him.