THE STORY OF THE REAL SUPERFLY CAME FROM CLEVELAND - The characters "Scatter" and "Priest" in the classic Blaxploitation flick, Superfly, were both inspired by infamous Cleveland Black crime boss and. Youngblood Priest: Don't argue with me, man, I'm trying to give you a chance. A remake of the 1972 blaxploitation classic trades in its drug-dealer-as-outlaw-capitalist mythology for a glossy, slammed-together genre flick. After the police leave, Eddie is elated by the new situation, claiming that they are set for life, although Priest is still determined to quit after selling the thirty kilos. I was literally fitting him in between scenes, when the poor baby would be half asleep and Id be like Try this on Trevor, while I pin and tailor things on him., Michael Kenneth Williams plays Priests mentor Scatter. Super Fly is a 1972 American blaxploitation neo-noir crime drama film directed by Gordon Parks Jr. and starring Ron O'Neal as Youngblood Priest, an African American cocaine dealer who is trying to quit the underworld drug business. Made by movie fans, for movie fans. The new films twists and turns are strongly, if fleetingly, absorbingeven if Director X delivers them in a mainly decorative mode that merely conveys them without expanding them. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. As in the earlier film, Priest also faces corrupt police officers who are in on the drug trade. 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. Scatter reveals that the real head of the operation is Deputy Commissioner Reardon, who is trying to kill him for quitting. Priest, as presented in Superfly, is a master plotter who distills his hard-forged wisdom into terse yet gaudy aphorisms, which adorn the soundtrack in dialogue and voice-over. See our. Shore received the bulk of the profits since he put up the most money, 40 percent, while the actors, directors, and scriptwriters split the remaining profits. I could be happy with a plain life, a poor one if only you were. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. On Freddies Dead, a song on the 1972 soundtrack album (its not sung in the film itself), Mayfield calls out Another junkie plan/Pushing dope for the Man, vocalizing in a tone that the critic Greil Marcus (in his great book Mystery Train) called incredulous and disgusted.. And you really ain't got the stomach for that. He becomes a potent weapon in Priests score settling. Photo Credit: Quantrell D. Colbert. The powerless Reardon then watches as Priest stalks off, giving the policemen one final glare before driving off to join Georgia. If you go back and . He has a luxurious apartment, two girlfriends, and lots of money. BUY THE MOVIE:. Pulling into his driveway, he confides to the audience, in voice-over, that he believes no car ever outran fate.. Although the timid Freddie abhors violence, he agrees and accompanies another member of Priest's "family" of lower-level dealers to commit the robbery. The more Priest tries to wriggle out of the life, the more it wraps its tentacles around him. Adalberto kills Scatter, having realized he was stealing from him. The wide shots are really stunt people. director of photography Film Editing by Bob Brady 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. Trevor Jackson Re-invents the Sleek Priest, The original Priest, played by Ron ONeal, famously sported leisure suits and floor-length overcoats, but Trevor Jacksons version of the drug dealer favors a less flamboyant style drawn from AllSaints, Burberry and German designer Phillip Plein. Producer Sig Shore, who plays Deputy Commissioner Reardon, is billed in the cast credits as Mike Richards. I had a VHS copy in my collection of Blaxploitation films, which I loved to watch because I loved the fashion. Reardon threatens Priest that he must continue selling drugs as long as he is ordered to, but when Priest replies defiantly, the policemen begin to beat him. Priest explains that he hired contract killers to murder Reardon and his entire family should anything happen to him. The Snow Patrol members leave while Priest gives the victim money and directs them to the trauma center. Priest thanks Eddie for his help and prepares to leave the country with Georgia. Diawara, Manthia. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After Super Flys release, Filmfacts reported that the picture turned out to be the most commercially successful black film to dateas well as the most controversial. Reviews of the picture were mixed, with some critics praising its authenticity and others decrying it as exploitive and poorly made. 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 . The film opens as the name ROCKY pans across the screen, filling the frame. | Well if that's all I'm supposed to do then they gonna have to kill me 'cause that ain't enough. He also has a run-in with the Snow Patrol, a rival crew of coke dealers who dress in white. Priest and Eddie are joined by Freddie, who turns over the money he stole. The earlier film takes place mainly in daylight, on the streets of New York, which its director, Gordon Parks, Jr., approaches with a vitally textured, documentary-like range and avidity. The first film titled Super Fly (two words instead of one) was a low-budget affair with a gritty look and a claustrophobic feel. Takin' it, sellin' it, bankrollin' so other small time pusher. He is inside listening to Curtis, his sapphire ring he brings the moon with him, this cat, and his eyes glow like mellow stones at my superfly threads. [9] The Congress for Racial Equality, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other organizations attempted to block the film's distribution and pushed for more African-American involvement in Hollywood's creative process. The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the
AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor. Yeah, if I choke on a chicken bone, all the Reardons is dead. In Jan 1973, trade papers reported that although it previously had been announced as under consideration as a nominee, Mayfields song Freddies Dead had been ruled ineligible for entry in the Best Original Song category because it appeared in the film only as an instrumental. Snow Patrol deduces that Priest's colleague, Fat Freddie, was one of the assailants. Priest is an under-the-radar dealer working in virtual anonymity (he has no arrest record) and with a very small crewmainly his right-hand man and longtime friend, Eddie (Jason Mitchell), and his enforcer, Freddy (Jacob Ming-Trent). The Snow Patrol holds court at a high-end strip club, where its minions spend the night throwing money down from the balcony in an autumnal flutter of falling bills. As Mayfields Pusherman plays, Priests drugs are seen hitting Birmingham, Ala.; Nashville; Miami; and Houston. Here you will find unforgettable moments, scenes, and lines from all your favorite films. Theyre led by the roly-poly, hard-as-rusty-nails Q (Big Bank Black), the closest thing this movie has to an authentic hoodlum, but its when Priest is attacked by Qs hothead-sociopath protg, Juju (Kaalan KR Walker), that he realizes the time has come for him to take the money and run. Priests clothes are predominantly dark and subtle because Priest doesnt want to bring attention to himself, Messam says. The gaudy fashions might be as obsolete as the old crumbling '70s New York City that serves as the background to the scenes, but the substance of the movie has ensured that Super Fly remains something more than a relic. .st0{fill:#FFFFFF;} If Priests stratagems in the original seem like the moves of a chess master, his new ones resemble the work of a grandmaster of simultaneous blindfold-chess, for whom, through information technology, distant nodes of power are instantaneously connected (the last image of the film is even a kinga white kingbeing tipped over on a chess board). You really shouldn'tve f***ed with my money, Freddy. 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. We also have the scene at a strip club where Georgias wearing a micro mini, but when shes in her gallery with the mayor, there needs to be a feeling of strength there: I am the owner of this gallery and not just a club girl. 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. In the DVD release, Warner Bros. decided to fade out the track midway right as "The End" is shown, and again brings up the AOL/Warner logo. .st2{display:none;fill:none;stroke:#979797;stroke-linecap:square;} Instead of paying off Mason, Priest tips off police and she is arrested for cocaine possession. He had done several fashion shows prior to Super Fly. Lex Scott Davis plays Georgia, a sophisticated gallery owner involved with Priest. The new Superfly transplants the tale to the swank environs of contemporary upscale Atlanta, and it gives its hero the 21st-century equivalent of ONeals processed-pimp look. 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. Priest (Ron O'Neal), a suave top-rung New York City drug dealer, decides that he wants to get out of his dangerous trade. Its initial success transcended the African American audience it was made for at a time when African American actors were hardly ever given lead roles in movies. There's also marijuana and cigarette smoking and drinking. Courtesy Sony Pictures. Jackson does cool almost too well. After Priest leaves with the cash, Eddie betrays him by phoning the lieutenant. Synopsis Youngblood Priest, a young Atlanta cocaine kingpin, has been working the streets since he was eleven. You'll all be hit if I die. Technical Specs, See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro, Trailers from Hell Presents: The Movies That Made Me: Alex Tse, hair stylist: second unit (as Steven A. Battaglia), key hair stylist (as Talya R. Melvey) / key hair stylist, production supervisor: second unit / second unit, second second assistant director: second unit, assistant property master / property master: 2nd unit, assistant property master: 2nd unit (as Suzu Tran) / props buyer (as Suzu Tran), second boom operator / sound mixer: splinter unit, re-recording mixer / supervising sound editor, visual effects executive producer: Southbay, assistant visual effects editor: Outpost VFX / roto/prep artist: Outpost VFX, visual effects executive producer: VFX Legion, compositing lead: Southbay (as Aaron Gerard Chiesa), visual effects executive producer: Crafty Apes, visual effects production manager: Southbay, 3d artist: Crafty Apes (as Patrick Sullivan), visual effects production manager: VFX Legion, visual effects artist: Southbay (uncredited), visual effects editor: Outpost VFX (uncredited), digital compositor: VFX Legion (uncredited), executive vfx supervisor: southbay CCO (uncredited), stunt double: Brian F. Durkin (uncredited) / stunt driver (uncredited), precision driver/precision car coordinator (uncredited), covering stunt coordinator (uncredited) / stunts (uncredited), stunt performer/stunt driving double: Trevor Jackson (uncredited), stunt double: Lex Scott Davis (uncredited), stunt driver: camera bike rider (uncredited), stunt double: Jason Mitchell/Jacob Latimore (uncredited), stunt driver (uncredited) / stunt driving double: Trevor Jackson (uncredited), stunt double: Dominique Madison (uncredited), first assistant camera "a" camera: second unit, camera operator: "a" camera (as Kirk Gardner) / steadicam operator (as Kirk Gardner), assistant chief lighting technician / best boy electric, first assistant camera: "b" camera, second unit, additional set lighting technician (as Mark Sunderland), assistant colorist: Company 3 (uncredited), key assistant location manager: second unit, production assistant / promotional services, key set production assistant: second unit, stand in: Jared Losano / stand in: Kevin Young / stand in: Kurt Yue, production coordinator: title sequence design, production assistant / set production assistant: 2nd unit. Which isnt to say that the film lacks for racial consciousness. All rights reserved. When he finds out from his partner Eddie (Carl Lee) that they have $300,000, Priest proposes that they take that money to buy 30 kilos of the best cocaine money can buy, sell it, and end up with a million dollars. Soon after, the drugs are sold by Priest and Eddie's "family." "Superfly" (one word) the remake and the original "Super Fly" (two words, from 1972) are in many respects similar. The website's critical consensus reads, "Superfly updates the blaxploitation original with a stylish remake that's exciting and visually arresting enough to offer its own slickly staged action rewards, but disappointingly short on social subtext. 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. 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. I took a $100,000 contract out on your life, your wife, EVERYBODY. Youngblood Priest: Look what would I do? Priest manages to get to terms with him just before some henchmen are going to throw him from a private jet. Trevor Jackson in Superfly, a remake of the 1972 film by Gordon Parks Jr. Director X narrates a sequence from the film featuring Trevor Jackson and Michael Kenneth Williams. In addition, the picture marked the first screenplay written by Philip Fenty. (For instance, Parks, in a directorial masterstroke unrivalled in Superfly, delivers a critical scene of dialogue in a single, thrillingly tenseand wordlessshot.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 2019 AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE. As the soundtrack's composer, Mayfield was the only other person in the production who earned revenue approaching Shore's.