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.

Filmstruck Friday: Westworld (1973)

A tale from Michael Crichton about a technologically-advanced amusement park that starts to have some major problems, resulting in the main attractions trying to kill the visitors, Westworld is a hugely influential film for a number of reasons, not least of which is the idea that Crichton would develop with even greater success in Jurassic Park (which you may have heard of, it led to a number of decent movies).

Although I've already supplied the plot summary above, I should go into a little bit more detail. James Brolin plays John Blane, and Richard Benjamin is Peter Martin. Blane and Martin are friends, with the former already having enjoyed a holiday in the amusement park that lets people live for a while in either the wild West, the age of the Romans, or the Middle Ages. Blane is keen to slip back into his cowboy role, and he encourages his hesitant friend to forget about reality and make the most of his time in the park. It's not long until they have an encounter with a bad gunslinger (played by Yul Brynner) who will end up malfunctioning and coming back to them with a loaded gun and a bit of a grudge.

Written and directed by Crichton, I always had fond memories of Westworld as an enjoyable, but fairly lightweight, sci-fi thriller. I very much thought of it as a great premise without too many other details distracting from the central pursuit of the hero by the relentless villain. But that's not really true. Crichton uses his premise to explore themes that are now much more familiar to fans of his dino-filled adventure and, of course, anyone who has been gripped by the recent TV reworking of this material (which is highly recommended). As Blane smirks and immediately adopts his cowboy swagger, viewers get to see just how quickly Martin is seduced by the options provided by the new lifestyle that he has temporarily purchased. He still has doubts, and hesitates while being talked into his first gunfight, but they are the doubts of someone wanting a friend to reassure them that it's all okay, there won't be any major consequences, just cut loose and have fun.

Benjamin is slightly weak in his leading role. He doesn't seem like the typical choice for this sort of thing but that is also what works for the role. He's not Brolin, lacking both the experience of the park and also the natural machismo that Brolin exudes. It's just a shame that his weakness applies to his acting and presence as well as his character, relatively speaking. Brolin, on the other hand, is confident and a solid co-star. Of course, the film would be a completely different beast if he was the focus. And then we get Brynner, arguably the inspiration for all of the best killer cyborgs that have come along afterwards. He is brilliantly cool and tough, constantly moving forward like a shark when he senses his prey ahead of him. And the way in which his eyes are lit up (an effect used on a couple of other robotic characters throughout) helps to remind anyone, if they needed it, that he's more than just flesh and blood.

No matter how familiar you already are with this material (be it in dino form, cowboy form, or even the perils of The Simpsons being trapped in Itchy & Scratchy Land), Westworld is a film that is well worth revisiting. Some parts have dated worse than others, particularly the early scenes showing the leads being taken to the park, but it's a film with a number of interesting and thought-provoking ideas, especially when you consider how prescient some of those ideas were when this was first released.

8/10

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