X
- 1970
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 40 m
- 1970
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 40 m
Summary An extremely bigoted white man finds out the hard (and somewhat humorous) way what it's like being a black man, firsthand!
Directed By: Melvin Van Peebles
Written By: Herman Raucher
- 1970
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 40 m
- 1970
- R
- Columbia Pictures
- 1 h 40 m
Watermelon Man
60
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary An extremely bigoted white man finds out the hard (and somewhat humorous) way what it's like being a black man, firsthand!
Directed By: Melvin Van Peebles
Written By: Herman Raucher
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
60
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
11% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
60
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
11% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Gradually, Van Peebles turns stereotypical images of postwar bourgeois prosperity against themselves, leading to a denouement that feels oddly empowering in its total alienation from the status quo.
The pounding prelude to a cultural and cinematic revolution, Watermelon Man nearly bubbles over with the rage that exploded outright with Van Peebles' follow-up, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
Directed by Melvin Van Peebles as the '60s writhed to a close, it's very much a product of its time: unsubtle, psychedelic, truly weird, occasionally very funny. [08 Dec 2002]
The method of this film, however, in both its cutting and mise-en-scene ultimately denies any social relevance by creating a limbo surrounding the fantastic characters so that the film loses all sense of reality in both its characters and settings. [16 Jul 1970, p.50]
Because its gimmick lays bare the evils of racism so easily, the movie works for a while, but it becomes so predictable that it runs out of gas long before the end. [13 Oct 1985, p.5]
Often very funny in its topsy-turvy comments on racism, the script unfortunately has to battle against a director determined to use every gaudy trick in the book.
Watermelon Man demands complete surrender and gives absolutely nothing in return except embarrassment.
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