Trivia for
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) More at IMDbPro »

• Considered the first "blaxploitation" movie. It preceded Shaft (1971) by a few months.
  
  
• No Hollywood studio would back this movie with an all-black cast, so actor/writer/director Melvin Van Peebles financed it himself, aided by a $50,000 loan from Bill Cosby. It became a hit, earning $15 million.
  
  
• Top-grossing independent movie of 1972.
  
  
• Mario Van Peebles's film debut.
  
  
• Dedicated to "Brothers and sisters who have had enough of the Man."
  
  
• Melvin Van Peebles contracted gonorrhea from one of the actresses during filming of one of the sex scenes in the movie. He applied for compensation from the Directors Guild because he "got hurt on the job" and used the money to buy more film.
  
  

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