I've seen quite a few of the so called "Blaxploitation" films, though not all of them. And I can appreciate most of them for what they are, black cinema intended for firstly a black audience during the early 1970's. This social and historical context is obviously important to bear in mind when watching these films. I don't think any of them are great per se, some are good, some middling, and some bad. These are like modern day urban Westerns in my mind. I think there are similarities between the genres. But these Blaxploitation films seem to want to remind us, the wider mainstream audience, that even one century after slavery and after the recent civil rights movement that African-Americans are still here, still creating art, unique culture, yet still struggling with basic problems centered around urban economic opportunity or lack thereof, safety and violence, drugs and vice, a sometimes racially hostile structure and institutions over them, but also dangers from greedy or seedy elements from within their own communities as well.
So I view a film like "Cotton Comes to Harlem" thru this sort of lens. This is one of the first films of its genre, making it an important one both artistically and culturally. I also see a lot of elements used in the James Bond film "Live and Let Die" which copied or capitalized, or paid homage to, depending on one's perspective, the Blaxploitation genre. "Live and Let Die" is a good film worth seeing in my mind, as is "Cotton Comes to Harlem." But I am only ratting Cotton a 6/10 because the embedded racial awareness and consciousness just becomes too much weight for the film to bear. And by the end the film feels leaden and sinks under the weight of all the quips and gibes. While this film is well made technically and has an interesting story to tell, it just almost feels too absurd at times to even exist, like I'm watching something paradoxically weighty yet ephemeral. In fact the whole Blaxploitation genre which really only last five years from 1970-75 feels that way, like some unstable artificially created radioactive isotope or something which will invariably disappear. Yet it stills feels like much can be learned or gleaned from watching films like this today. Just go in with a thick skin and don't expect to much, but it's worth a watch.
So I view a film like "Cotton Comes to Harlem" thru this sort of lens. This is one of the first films of its genre, making it an important one both artistically and culturally. I also see a lot of elements used in the James Bond film "Live and Let Die" which copied or capitalized, or paid homage to, depending on one's perspective, the Blaxploitation genre. "Live and Let Die" is a good film worth seeing in my mind, as is "Cotton Comes to Harlem." But I am only ratting Cotton a 6/10 because the embedded racial awareness and consciousness just becomes too much weight for the film to bear. And by the end the film feels leaden and sinks under the weight of all the quips and gibes. While this film is well made technically and has an interesting story to tell, it just almost feels too absurd at times to even exist, like I'm watching something paradoxically weighty yet ephemeral. In fact the whole Blaxploitation genre which really only last five years from 1970-75 feels that way, like some unstable artificially created radioactive isotope or something which will invariably disappear. Yet it stills feels like much can be learned or gleaned from watching films like this today. Just go in with a thick skin and don't expect to much, but it's worth a watch.