Don't Play Us Cheap

1972

Action / Comedy / Musical / Romance

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 92% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 92% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.7/10 10 422 422

blaxploitation musical based on play or musical blaxploitation cinema devil broadway musical

Plot summary

As an African American family and friends gather in an apartment for a house party, two mischief-making devil-bats take human form in order to break up the party.

Director

Melvin Van Peebles Photo
Melvin Van Peebles

Top cast

Esther Rolle Photo
Esther Rolle as Miss Maybell
Mabel King Photo
Mabel King as House guest at the party
Thomas Anderson Photo
Thomas Anderson as Mr. Percy
Nate Barnett Photo
Nate Barnett as Guest
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
940.24 MB
1204*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds ...
1.89 GB
1792*1072
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by lor_

A curio from the talented Melvin Van Peebles

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the movie at MoMA's screening room.Melvin Van Peebles' film of his play "Don't Play Us Cheap" is an entertaining artifact made 18 year ago. Put on the shelf after having only benefit screenings in 1972/73, pic offers some terrific musical numbers and an ebullient look at black culture of a generation back.Utilizing the same cast that he directed on Broadway, Van Peelbes creates the atmosphere of a house party in Harlem that's a direct forerunner of the Hudlin Brothers recent hit "House Party".His fantasy premise of an imp and little devil creating the party to spoil it out of pure meanness allows the filmmaker's militant themes to be expressed in humor and whimsy.Among the dozen tunes composed by Van Peebles is a show-stopping number "Quittin' Time" sung by lanky George (Ooppee) McCurn. It's a sterling example of the power of recording musical numbers in direct sound, a technique revived for the occasion (two years before Peter Bogdanovich' similarly inclined "At Long Last Love") by Van Peebles, who went to the trouble of building sets in New Mexico and using mobile sound trucks for that purpose.There's also an extremely complex roundelay of four songs sung together which comes off impressively. Hurting the film's overall impact is van Peebles' use of visual tricks left over from the '60s, particularly superimpositions, that stunt the live performance feel. In particular, coloratura Rhetta Hughes' big number is ruined by the disconcerting multiple images of her overlaid on screen.Fantasy elements climax with black comedy of topliner Esther Rolle smashing the little devil in the form of a cockroach with a rolled up newspaper. Rolle is in great form as the party hostess, ably supported by an ensemble cast.Tech credits range from topnotch sound recording to shaky camerawork.. Most setups are filmed using the multiple camera method and both focus and framing are too loose at times. Editing, credited to the filmmaker, is haphazard where a seamless approach would have benefited the "live" feel.Pic deserves a second round of look-sees by potential distributors, as it sharfes he sme time capsule qualities that finally earned "The Plot Against Harry" a latter-day release.
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Reviewed by arfdawg-1 3 / 10

What You Say?

On the positive side, the movie is very creatively done. However there is a big elephant in the room. And I don't mean Mabel King.

The sound track sucks. There is so much screaming, inappropriate laughing and loud talking that you can barely make sense of the dialog.

Further, the backing musical track is also often louder than the speaking parts and hence, you can't understand what anyone is saying.

For a "musical" they sure didnt get actors who could sing. People are off key and just simply horrible.

The costuming too is just horrible. It's as if the entire production was stitched together by someone on crack.

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