Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films

“Melvin Van Peebles, his whole collection. Melvin Van Peebles being one of the pioneers of Black cinema, making independent films. He has one called The Three Day Pass, which he filmed in France. And actually one of the techniques he used in that cinematography has been emulated by filmmakers all over the world. Even my boy Spike Lee picked up a few tricks from this.”

“And here I have Melvin Van Peebles, who I met years ago after he did… The Story of a Three Day Pass, I forget– it’s been so long. And he inspired a lot of filmmakers, people of color, and I remember him coming to UCLA and speaking to the class, and it was such a treat. And… I’m glad you have this film. I’m glad I can take this away. The classic.”

“That’s my man, Melvin Van Peebles. This a box set. Don’t Play Us Cheap, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Sorry for cussing, mama. Watermelon Man. The Story of a Three Day Pass. So dope.”

“Rest in power, Mr. Van Peebles.”

“I'm getting the Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films mainly because Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is in it but also Watermelon Man is in it which is a very important movie to me... Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was a movie that I used to use to woo boys in college... I got laid a lot in college because of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song so thank you Van Peebles. He also, people don't know this, but he's also a playwright.”

“Oh, Melvin Van Peebles. The Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song on here? Really? Oh my gosh, I'm taking this. What a career, what a life.”

“The Essential Films of Melvin Van Peebles is a property of this. You're looking online to pick up one of these things that you should have it, but also what's really great about these movies is that they're really about the spirit of independent filmmaking that Melvin recognized. Rather than a blaxploitation film which means you'd be left in the margins, instead he made it about the selling of the film. Melvin was smart enough to realize the X rating wasn't copyrighted, so he just said 'Rated...”

“Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films set. The two films I want to highlight in here are Watermelon Man and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. The reason I want to highlight these are that one leads to another: you get the studio, you get the budget, you want to tell the story that is unique and fun, and sometimes it might not be the right decision. And you learn from your mistakes... He’s a founding father, and that movie gave him the ability to create what he did later.”

“Melvin Van Peebles it's a box of his work Melvin is one of the architects of what can be called Black American Cinema we are all walking in his legacy Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is one of the most badass movies ever made and also one of the most profitable movies ever made people don't talk about that much but now I get to see everything else he's done I'm excited about that...”

“Melvin Van Peebles, the father of modern Black cinema. Sweet Sweetback, legendary film. What most people don’t know – and they’ll put it on and go, “Oh, wait, what’s this?” – it’s a completely experimental film. This movie is, wow, this is free jazz. And the irony of me saying that is the score is by this unknown group, which later figured out, “Oh, we should call ourselves Earth, Wind & Fire.” But Melvin Van Peebles acted, directed, produced, did every doggone thing.”

“Melvin Van Peebles. I also do music and he's somebody that started coming to Coup shows. Obviously I also already was a fan. Anyway, so he came and one day he sent me a CD. He was like, 'These are some songs of mine, could you remix them?' And I listened to it and it was perfect. It sounded old school... I was like, 'Why would I want to remix? Nobody should touch this.'... He calls me up and says, 'I accidentally sent you the master and there's no other copies.' He was a good guy.”