71
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Film ThreatFilm ThreatBlends the uncanny staging of home movies with a French New Wave perspective on iconography and metaphors.
- 100TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA landmark in Black filmmaking in the U.S., this angry, extravagant, loud, belligerent movie reaches a high pitch early on and stays there.
- 88Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardOver 40 years after its release, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song still retains its shock value, but even more so, it remains distinct as a work that cannot be squarely placed within a singular category.
- 80TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissWithout question or competition, the most influential movie by a black filmmaker.
- 80Time OutTime OutTotally uncompromising and grindingly repetitive, the film nevertheless accumulates a kind of hallucinatory groove, with unexpected shafts of bizarre humour and vigorous, experimental new wave direction.
- 80Rolling StoneDavid FearRolling StoneDavid FearIt's a revolutionary movie in more ways than one.
- 75Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrA shrewd and powerful mix of commercial ingredients and ideological intent.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenIf Sweet Sweetback is unforgettable, it is also deeply flawed. The acting is mediocre at best. And in depicting women as grotesque, flailing sex machines serviced by the indifferent stud hero, it matches today's gangsta rap in arrogant misogyny.
- 40Village VoiceVillage VoiceDoes for the black movement what Getting Straight did for the student movement: reduces it to escapist entertainment, cinematic stylishness, and near nonsense. [13 May 1971, p.68]