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# ‘Badasssss’ a successful risk for filmmaker
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/badasssss-a-successful-risk-for-filmmaker/
- Published: 2004-05-28T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:26:25.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Here’s a film that really lives up to its name. Mario Van Peebles wrote, directed and stars in this dynamite biopic about his pioneering filmmaker father, Melvin, and the X-rated 1971 movie — “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” — that galvanized black America and spawned soul cinema. Like his father’s movie, “Badasssss!” was made outside the studio system and has the raw look and feel that marked the coolest flicks the blaxploita-tion era had to offer. Playing his old man, Van Peebles delivers what may very well be the best performance of his career, and gets stellar support from an eclectic cast that includes the venerable Ossie Davis, Joy Bryant (“Antwone Fisher”), Saul Rubinek, David Alan Grier and Rainn Wilson (the bizarro mortician-trainee from “Six Feet Under”).

On the heels of a successful comedy, “Watermelon Man,” Melvin Van Peebles was faced with a decision: Accept a three-picture deal from Columbia Pictures to churn out innocuous mainstream fare, or turn his back on the studio (and the white establishment) to make a revolutionary film featuring an empowered black hero who sticks it to The Man. MVP, as the elder Van Peebles is known, chose the latter and ultimately — at great personal risk — produced what was then the most successful independent film ever. With his deft retelling of this fascinating true story, Mario Van Peebles serves notice that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. (Rated R for pervasive language and some strong sexuality/nudity. Running time: 108 minutes.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 28, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052804.pdf?ref=smdp.com)