Cinema Speculation

by Quentin Tarantino

The film they paid to see was Sweet Sweetback. Now the reason I didn’t attend that screening was because since it was rated X (“by an all-white jury!”), I couldn’t. I’m sure Curt, Uncle Roger, and Robin didn’t know what to make of Melvin Van Peebles’ howling cry of black empowerment any more than they did Brewster McCloud. But while I’m sure they couldn’t fathom why anyone would bother to make Altman’s malarkey, the Van Peebles film was something. Something they didn’t understand. Something they couldn’t grasp (which made them mad). Something that wasn’t for them (after it rejected them, they rejected it), but unlike Brewster McCloud, something they couldn’t deny. The interesting part of my memory was the only reason they saw it was due to my mom. I doubt, other than her, any of them had ever heard of it (she hipped them to it). Also, mom never used the short version of the film’s title. Always referring to it by its full soul title, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. And while I remember the men coming home complaining about the movie (for days), my mother didn’t say much. She didn’t defend the picture, but she also didn’t join in on the diatribe. She remained (strangely for her) quiet on the subject. Less than a year later she would leave Curt and exclusively date black men for the next three years.