Black Shampoo
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''Black Shampoo'' is an American
exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...
directed by Greydon Clark. Released in 1976, the
comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
is considered an example of the
blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...
and
sexploitation A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, Low-budget film, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition o ...
subgenres of exploitation film. Produced on a budget of $50,000, the film stars John Daniels as Jonathan Knight, an
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
businessman and hairdresser who frequently has sex with his predominantly white female clients, and Tanya Boyd as Brenda, Jonathan's secretary and girlfriend, who was previously in a relationship with a white mob boss, who, out of jealousy towards his ex's new lover, begins to regularly send goons to trash Jonathan's hair salon. The violence escalates as the film progresses. Clark purposely did not want to make a film that featured character archetypes that typically led blaxploitation films, such as
pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...
s, private detectives or drug dealers, and set out to make a film in which an African American businessman was the lead, instead of more stereotypical blaxploitation characters. The screenplay, written by Clark and Alvin Fast, was described by Clark as a mix of comedy, sex and violence. Clark drew inspiration from the 1975 film ''
Shampoo Shampoo () is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid, that is formulated to be used for cleaning (scalp) hair. Less commonly, it is available in solid bar format. (" Dry shampoo" is a separate product.) Shampoo is use ...
''; the film is observed to be an example of a common form of blaxploitation filmmaking in which a previous popular film starring a predominantly white cast is imitated with a predominantly African American cast. The characters of Jonathan and Brenda have been analyzed as examples of black characters whose blackness is perceived as a commodity by their white lovers, while Jonathan is seen as a Mandingo archetype.


Plot

Jonathan Knight is the owner of "Mr. Jonathan's", the most successful hair salon for women on the Sunset Strip. His reputation as a lover has become as such that he is sought after almost as much for sexual trysts as he is for his hair styling ability. He is also dating his young attractive receptionist, Brenda ( Tanya Boyd), whose former boss and lover, a white mobster, has become jealous of Jonathan. The mobster has begun sending his goons to intimidate Jonathan and his employees by trashing the hair salon. As the mobsters' violence escalates to include the sexual assault of a homosexual employee and the kidnapping of Brenda, Jonathan uses a chainsaw to exact revenge on the mobsters.


Cast

* John Daniels as Jonathan * Tanya Boyd as Brenda St. John * Joe Ortiz as Mr. Wilson * Skip E. Lowe as Artie * Gary Allen as Richard * Anne Gaybis as Mrs. Phillips * Jack Mehoff as Maddox * Bruce Kerley as Jackson


Development

Director Greydon Clark had previously explored racial themes in his film '' The Bad Bunch'' (1973), which had also been released under the title ''Nigger Lover'', and would subsequently explore these themes again in his later film '' Skinheads'' (1989). After screening ''The Bad Bunch'' for
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
in the hopes that the studio would distribute the film, Clark was told by the studio's executives that they were not willing to release the film because the depiction of white cops as beating and harassing black men and using racist language would offend police officers. After the film was released through another studio and showed a financial profit, Clark wanted to make another
exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...
with African American characters, but while
blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...
film protagonists were often
pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...
s, private detectives or drug dealers, Clark did not want to make a film about these characters, and decided to take inspiration from the 1975 hit film ''
Shampoo Shampoo () is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid, that is formulated to be used for cleaning (scalp) hair. Less commonly, it is available in solid bar format. (" Dry shampoo" is a separate product.) Shampoo is use ...
'' by making his protagonist a businessman and hairdresser. The practice of producing a film that imitates previous successful films starring white actors, recast with entirely African American casts, was common in blaxploitation, with other examples including ''
Black Lolita ''Black Lolita'' is a 3D blaxploitation film directed by Stephen Gibson. It was released in 1975 under that title. Some time later, new footage was added to create another film, which was released under the title of ''Wildcat Women''. It is abou ...
'' (1975, titled after ''
Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...
''), '' The Black Godfather'' (1974, titled after ''
The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...
'') and '' Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde'' (1976, titled after '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''). In addition to being an example of a blaxploitation film, ''Black Shampoo'' is also considered a sexploitation film. Clark cowrote ''Black Shampoo'' with screenwriter Alvin Fast, as a mix of
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
, violence and sex. Clark and Fast's screenplay depicts Jonathan as an example of the Mandingo stereotype, and derived many of the script's sex scenes from interracial cuckolding culture, depicting the white sexual partners of Jonathan and Brenda as viewing their blackness as a commodity. The film's depiction of homosexual and female characters is considered to be homophobic and sexist, with the homosexual characters being portrayed as little more than dated, offensive stereotypes and the female characters as little more than the object of sexual desire for male characters. For the casting of Jonathan, Clark reached out to actor John Daniels, on the basis of Daniels' performance in the film '' The Candy Tangerine Man'' (1975). Actress Tanya Boyd was cast from an audition for the part of Brenda that impressed Clark. The film entered into production on a budget of $50,000. Because it was produced outside of the
Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
, many cast members used pseudonyms. A day before filming was to begin, the original
director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...
had an automobile accident. He assured Clark he would be able to make the film, but had to quit the production on the first day of filming because he was in too much pain, and was replaced by the film's gaffer, Dean Cundey. The staging and acting of the film's sex scenes has been compared to pornographic films, with the actors sometimes flubbing their lines and lines being delivered with hesitation.


Release

Clark had recently founded his own distribution company to release films, but decided to screen ''Black Shampoo'' for Dimension Pictures, who made Clark a profitable offer, and the studio would end up distributing ''Black Shampoo'' worldwide. Blaxploitation films made up a significant part of the studio's output, with the studio's other releases including '' Boss Nigger'' (1975), '' Tough'' (1974) and ''Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde''.


Reception

In the 1996 book ''The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film'', Michael Weldon described ''Black Shampoo'' as "Blaxploitation at its worst". Ian Jane, reviewing the film's DVD release for ''DVD Talk'' in 2005, opined that "while 'Black Shampoo''takes a while to get going, the film has enough seventies swagger and enough action in the last half hour of the film to make this one well worth a look for those who enjoy the oddball factor that low budget blaxploitation movies were somehow able to deliver back in the decadent decade of
disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
." Dominic Griffin, reviewing the film for ''Spectrum Culture'' in 2017, described the movie as being "dull" until its "shockingly brutal" final 10 minutes, and opined that "there's nowhere near enough gun violence to fit the blaxploitation quota."


References


External links

* * {{Greydon Clark 1970s American films 1970s English-language films 1970s sex comedy films 1976 comedy films 1976 LGBTQ-related films American LGBTQ-related films American rape and revenge films American sex comedy films American sexploitation films Blaxploitation films Films about hairdressers Films about interracial romance Films about organized crime in the United States Films directed by Greydon Clark American mockbuster films English-language sex comedy films