Prime Time: Darktown Strutters (1975)

Despite knowing that my own experience of blaxploitation movies is rather limited, certainly in comparison to other connoisseurs, I am going to go out on a limb here and describe Darktown Strutters as one of the most bizarre examples you could choose to watch. I’m not even sure I can describe the plot, which often takes a backseat to some hijinks that seem to have been lifted from some unfilmable episode of The Monkees.

Okay, here is my best attempt. Trina Parks is Syreena, she’s a badass leader of an all-girl motorbike gang. She’s also searching for her missing mother, Cinderella, who subsequently finds out used to provide a service for young women who found themselves in a state of impending motherhood and wanted to, let’s say, avoid the end result. There are some comedy cops bumbling around, some KKK members that like to chase the gang and cause a lot of trouble, and a man named Commander Cross (played by Norman Bartold) has a scheme to replace prominent black males with identical copies that will be programmed to fall in line and insidiously, exponentially, spread a message dictated by white America.

If some of those details are incorrect then please accept my apologies. I can only tell you that I spent most of the movie either grinning gleefully or cringing at the casual awfulness of some of the comedy ("highlights" include some light-hearted attempted rape, a dollop of homophobia, and those bumbling cops, both inept and abusive . . . hilarious).

The script by George Armitage was apparently written in just a few days, which explains a lot. This is the product of some fever dream, although that's not to say that there aren't enjoyable moments. Most of my grinning took place during some of the musical moments, and most scenes featuring Parks are hugely enjoyable, thanks to her being a wonderful badass in the lead role.

Aside from Parks, and Bartold (as the villain of the piece, he gets to make more of an impression than some of the other cast members), nobody else really stands out. There are just too many disparate moments, and no attempts to make the characters anything more than cartoons ready to set up or fall for a gag.

Director William Witney feels like he's herding cats here with the many tangents that see the film hurtling towards more insanity, veering back to the plot (itself not entirely sane), and then enjoying another diversion when it's time for a chase or a song. He keeps everything cheap 'n' cheerful, and at least maintains a consistent tone of whackiness, even if some of the material maybe shouldn't be given the whacky treatment.

The good and the bad end up almost cancelling each other out here, leaving you with a film that falls squarely in the middle. Darktown Strutters will rarely be high on any list of favourite blaxploitation movies but its non-stop deluge of delirium make it worth a watch, especially if you've already worked your way through a lot of the usual suspects.

5/10

There's a pricey DVD available here.
Americans can get this disc.