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Watermelon man /

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"Melvin Van Peebles's only foray into Hollywood filmmaking, Watermelon Man is one of the most audacious, radically conceived works to be financed by a major American studio in the 1970s. Comedian Godfrey Cambridge delivers a virtuoso performance (initially in whiteface)as Jeff Gerber, a lo...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Van Peebles, Melvin, 1932-2021 (composer (expression)), Raucher, Herman (Screenwriter), Cambridge, Godfrey, 1933-1976 (Actor), Parsons, Estelle (Actor), Caine, Howard (Actor), Martin, D'Urville, 1939-1984 (Actor), Moreland, Mantan (Actor), Kimberly, Kay (Actor), Kuter, Kay (Actor), Garrett, Scott, 1959- (Actor), Moran, Erin, 1960-2017 (Actor), Kelley, Wallace (director of photography.)
Format: Video Blu-ray Disc
Language:English
Language Notes:English dialogue; English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH).
Published: [New York, N.Y.]: The Criterion Collection, [2021]
Edition:Blu-ray special edition.
Series:Criterion collection ; 1094.
Subjects:
Prejudices > Drama.
Toleration > Drama.
Race discrimination > Drama.
Identity (Psychology) > Drama.
Identity (Psychology)
Prejudices.
Race discrimination.
Toleration.
Fiction films.
Drama.
Feature films.
Video recordings for the hearing impaired.
Comedy films.
Description
Summary:"Melvin Van Peebles's only foray into Hollywood filmmaking, Watermelon Man is one of the most audacious, radically conceived works to be financed by a major American studio in the 1970s. Comedian Godfrey Cambridge delivers a virtuoso performance (initially in whiteface)as Jeff Gerber, a loudmouthed, bigoted white insurance salesman whose sitcom-like suburban existence is jarringly upended when he wakes up to discover, in a whild spin onf Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, that he has become a Black man. What ensues is a ferocious satire of society's racist double standards that gradually transforms into an empowering poretrait of awakening Black consciousness, executed with a mix of acerbic irreverence and deadly serious political commentary by a relentlessly subversive Van Peebles"--Container.
Item Description:Title from title frames.
Released as part of the five-disc Blu-ray boxed set Melvin Van Peebles Essential Films.
Originally released as a motion picture in 1970.
Wide screen (1.85:1).
Special features: Introduction by Van Peebles from 2004; How to eat your watermelon in white company (And enjoy it), a feature-length 2005 documentary by Joe Angio on Van Peebles's life and career.
Physical Description:1 videodisc (100 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Playing Time:01:40:00
Format:Blu-ray, region A, wide screen (1.85:1); mono; 1080p high definition.
Production Credits:Director of photography, W. Wallace Kelley ; music, Melvin Van Peebles ; film editor, Carl Kress.
ISBN:9781681438818
168143881X