Watched it for the second time...this time all the way through. Luther Ingram and Isaac Hayes were awesome. All those afros and dashikis (sp) and crazy ass dancing. Hell even Jesse Jackson was looking kind of ripe! Barkays looked strung out IMO. There wasn't enough Staples Singers.
So did you see it? What artists did you prefer? Was Richard Pryor's commentary really necessary?

DesireeNevermind said:

I have the 30th anniversary dvd & I LooOOOOOoOOOve this movie! I love the music but I really love the interviews with the brothas & sistas telling it like it was! Richard Pryor's commentary wasn't needed & I'm a huge Richard Pryor fan,but more music & more interviews would
have been better IMO. The Bar Kays, The Staple
Singers, the Rance Allen Group, & some other woman who I can't remember her name but I enjoyed her performance,those were my favorites. I'm 28 but I wish I was a teenager in the 70s when I watch this!
[Edited 4/20/10 14:34pm]

DesireeNevermind said:

I was when dude from the Love Boat was acting hardcore.

One of my FAVE films ever! Loved the performance, loved the interviews, loved the whole endearing vibe,,,,,you could tell there was alot of love in the process of making that film.

Mindbells9 said:

Carla Thomas OR Kim Weston?

During one of the brothas rap session, anyone notice the guy who would later portray "Woodrow", Esther's husband on Sanford And Son?

MotorBootyAffair said:

Sho nuff...I thought he looked familiar. Only I recognize him as Ned the Wino from Good Times.


There's this one dude who appears to be making a "yo momma" joke that I can't ever make out because the moment I see him I start laughing.

Fuck that one chick talking about how her man abusing her is beautiful. She needs meds.

Luther Ingram was just + The song is morally inappropriate but terribly real and deep. The camera focuses on all these lonely hearts in the audience and I'm thinking "damn...all y'all got married menz?"

I like the guy in the barbershop who comes on right after the
barkays and says the problem with most of our people is they
don't know who the fuck they are.

Did Rufus Thomas only have those two hits?

DesireeNevermind said:

No, his first hit came way back in 1953, called "Bear Cat" (his response to Big Mama Thornton's original version of "Hound Dog"). In 1961, he and Carla had a top 40 hit single together, forgot the name of it but I'll look it up. In '63, he had a hit called "Walking the Dog". He had a decent career before his '70s hits.

Other than "Do the Breakdown" and "Funky Chicken", he also had "Push & Pull".

DesireeNevermind said:

No he had quite a few.
He actually had a big hit for Sun records long before his
Stax days called Walking the Dog. Once Sun records signed
Elvis and he started making money for them they dropped
a young Rufus Thomas like a hot potato. It wasn't to his
older years he became a force with Stax. He has a song
called the Funky Bird that would make Morris Day sweat.

Timmy84 said:

I love the horns on Push & Pull.
Sophisticated Sissy is another one to check out.

that was Rufus singing "Walking the Dog"? Wow! Ima have to look him up.

The only downfall of this concert is The Dramatics performance isn't seen

funkpill said:

yes. they are listed in the credits but you don't see them perform. wonder why they edited that out.

love this movie

DesireeNevermind said:

phunkdaddy said:

Walking the Dog was released on Stax. This was his hit with Sun:

Here's "Walking the Dog":

phunkdaddy said:

I like how them cats used to talk back in the day.

They always start of with a long "maann"

DesireeNevermind said:

not sure.


but that was my reason for buying the dvd

them and The Bar kays

Timmy84 said:

I love this movie....

- Rufus Thomas with that rediculous looking pink outfit with the shorts...."Ain't I'm Clean?".

- Little Milton singing "Walk The Backstreets And Cry".

- The pimps getting out of the cars.

- Isaac Hayes making his entrance as if he was arriving in a limo but it was only an ugly ass station wagon.

- The Barkays peformance was my favorite though. Larry was wearing that outfit with the chains and that hair. I also like to zoom in real close on the shirtless guy with the big white afro and check out that treasure trail going down into those pants.

Timmy84 said:

Thanks Timmy for setting it straight. Furtherproof you're older
than i am.
I knew he had a hit for Sun before coming over to Stax but i got
the wrong song.

phunkdaddy said:

Or maybe I'm just a music history buff.

phunkdaddy said:

Yea that dude was revolutionary 2 the 9th power!

I love this concert movie!!! One of the best I've ever seen. I love how they interviewed real people at that time to get their views on African American life....their views really aren't that different from most views African Americans have today. The only difference is the level of technology that's about it. I loved seeing the funky dancing and everything, seemed like EVERYBODY knew how to dance back then!!!

My favorite performance was the Bar-Kays Loved the lead singer's chains and stuff and then he gets on down with that grudgy voice of his Love it!! I went on Amazon and ordered the 30th Anniversary DVD edition. Can't wait until it arrives!!!

Mindbells9 said:

That's one of my favorite scenes!

"Break down children....break on down!"

hah. What's that scene where some dude is saying something crazy about his woman and then it cuts to Richard Pryor who says "Now that nigga's crazy!"

Oh lord I about peed my pants. I gotta watch it again this weekend.

I also like watching the Staples Singers eat that fried chicken in the limo. Or was it catfish?