Black Shampoo
Black Shampoo | |
---|---|
Directed by | Greydon Clark |
Written by | Greydon Clark Alvin Fast[1] |
Produced by | Alvin Fast |
Starring | John Daniels Tanya Boyd Joe Ortiz Skip E. Lowe |
Cinematography | Dean Cundey[1] |
Edited by | Earl Watson |
Music by | Gerald Lee |
Distributed by | Dimension Pictures[1] |
Release date | March 5, 1976 |
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $50,000[1] |
Black Shampoo is an American
Clark purposely did not want to make a film that featured character archetypes that typically led blaxploitation films, such as
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.[2] 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
For the casting of Jonathan, Clark reached out to actor
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.[1] 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.[6]
Reception
In the 1996 book The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film, Michael Weldon described Black Shampoo as "Blaxploitation at its worst".[7] 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 decadant decade of disco."[5] Dominic Griffin, reviewing the film for Spectrum Culture in 2017, described the movie as being "dull" until it's "shockingly brutal" final 10 minutes, and opined that "there's nowhere near enough gun violence to fit the blaxploitation quota."[2]
References
- ^ ISBN 9780810867062.
- ^ a b c d e f g Griffin, Dominic (August 16, 2017). "From the Vaults of Streaming Hell: Black Shampoo". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
- ^ ISBN 9780312131494.
- ^ Firsching, Robert. "Black Shampoo Synopsis". AllMovie. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
- ^ a b Jane, Ian (April 11, 2005). "Black Shampoo Review". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
- ISBN 9780415254861.
- ISBN 9780312131494.
External links
- Black Shampoo at IMDb
- Black Shampoo at AllMovie
- Black Shampoo at Rotten Tomatoes