70s Blaxploitation Movies
by mariojacobs | created - 10 Apr 2021 | updated - 14 May 2022 | PublicBlaxploitation: a film genre of the 1970s featuring African-American actors and often having antiestablishment plots, sometimes criticized for stereotypical characterization and glorification of violence. [The Free Dictionary]
Which is your favorite 70s Blaxploitation movie?
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1. Dolemite (1975)
R | 90 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
After he is released from jail, a pimp takes on the criminals and corrupt police officers who framed him in the first place.
Director: D'Urville Martin | Stars: Rudy Ray Moore, D'Urville Martin, Jerry Jones, Lady Reed
Votes: 6,852 | Gross: $0.24M
2. Shaft (1971)
R | 100 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A crime lord hires black private eye, John Shaft, to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Director: Gordon Parks | Stars: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John
Votes: 21,030 | Gross: $16.69M
3. Foxy Brown (1974)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A voluptuous vigilante takes a job as a high-class prostitute to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.
Director: Jack Hill | Stars: Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown, Terry Carter
Votes: 12,040 | Gross: $2.46M
4. Super Fly (1972)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The daily routine of cocaine dealer Priest who wants to score one more super deal and retire.
Director: Gordon Parks Jr. | Stars: Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Sheila Frazier, Julius Harris
Votes: 8,603
5. Car Wash (1976)
PG | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A comedic take on the daily life of car-wash employees, chronicling their hopes, fears, joys, dreams, and tribulations, and meeting some eccentric customers along the way.
Director: Michael Schultz | Stars: Richard Pryor, Franklyn Ajaye, Sully Boyar, Richard Brestoff
Votes: 8,197
6. Blacula (1972)
PG | 93 min | Fantasy, Horror, Romance
An 18th-century African prince, turned into a vampire by Dracula, finds himself in modern-day Los Angeles.
Director: William Crain | Stars: William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas, Thalmus Rasulala
Votes: 7,865 | Gross: $3.00M
7. Hit Man (1972)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama
An ex-cop discovers that his brother's recent death is intertwined with both the Los Angeles underworld and the city's porno movie scene.
Director: George Armitage | Stars: Bernie Casey, Pam Grier, Lisa Moore, Bhetty Waldron
Votes: 1,107 | Gross: $1.06M
8. Cleopatra Jones (1973)
PG | 89 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
During the 1970s, U.S. Special Agent Cleopatra Jones proves to be an invaluable asset to the local police forces in the war on drugs.
Director: Jack Starrett | Stars: Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes, Antonio Fargas
Votes: 3,532 | Gross: $2.98M
9. Black Mama White Mama (1973)
R | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A Black prostitute and a white revolutionary must form an uneasy alliance when they are busted out of prison, then pursued by guerrillas, bounty hunters and the Army.
Director: Eddie Romero | Stars: Pam Grier, Margaret Markov, Sid Haig, Lynn Borden
Votes: 3,639 | Gross: $0.19M
10. Blackenstein (1973)
R | 78 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Eddie is a Vietnam war veteran who loses both his arms and his legs when he steps on a land mine. A brilliant surgeon is able to attach new limbs, but his assistant switches the DNA injections, transforming him into a huge hulking monster.
Director: William A. Levey | Stars: John Hart, Ivory Stone, Joe De Sue, Roosevelt Jackson
Votes: 1,417
11. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
R | 97 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.
Director: Melvin Van Peebles | Stars: Melvin Van Peebles, Hubert Scales, John Dullaghan, Simon Chuckster
Votes: 5,868 | Gross: $15.18M
12. Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
R | 97 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two Harlem cops investigate a robbery, believing that a reverend has staged it in order to steal the money he's collected for a local fundraiser.
Director: Ossie Davis | Stars: Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, Calvin Lockhart, Judy Pace
Votes: 2,688 | Gross: $4.39M
13. Detroit 9000 (1973)
R | 106 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After a fundraiser for a black politician is robbed, Detroit police put two detectives, one white and one black, on the case, who try to work together under boiling political pressure.
Director: Arthur Marks | Stars: Alex Rocco, Hari Rhodes, Vonetta McGee, Herbert Jefferson Jr.
Votes: 1,155 | Gross: $3.36M
14. The Mack (1973)
R | 110 min | Crime, Drama
Goldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up King of the pimping game. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time.
Director: Michael Campus | Stars: Max Julien, Don Gordon, Richard Pryor, Carol Speed
Votes: 3,302
15. Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973)
R | 94 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Vigilante Slaughter comes under attack from Duncan, a local money launderer whose hit-man traps Slaughter in a car at a cliff, but Slaughter escapes, arms himself, and goes after Duncan's hideout.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Jim Brown, Ed McMahon, Don Stroud, Brock Peters
Votes: 598
16. That Man Bolt (1973)
R | 104 min | Action, Crime, Drama
To take a briefcase from Hong Kong to Mexico City, via Los Angeles, is it necessary to call on that man - Bolt? With the number of dangerous spies and gangsters who are after that briefcase, maybe Jefferson Bolt is not enough.
Directors: Henry Levin, David Lowell Rich | Stars: Fred Williamson, Byron Webster, Miko Mayama, Teresa Graves
Votes: 433
17. Black Caesar (1973)
R | 87 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Raised in Harlem, Tommy Gibbs becomes a successful mob boss but he clashes with the rival Mafia and his old enemy, dirty cop McKinney.
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry, Art Lund, D'Urville Martin
Votes: 3,893
18. Black Belt Jones (1974)
R | 85 min | Action
A Mafia buy out of Papa Byrd's karate school downtown ends in his death. Byrd's daughter, Sydney, refuses to sell, and wants revenge. Byrd's students call the Black Belt Jones for help. Jones reluctantly teams with Sydney in many battles.
Director: Robert Clouse | Stars: Jim Kelly, Gloria Hendry, Scatman Crothers, Eric Laneuville
Votes: 2,725 | Gross: $0.73M
19. The Black Godfather (1974)
R | 90 min | Crime
J.J., a rising star in the crime scene, is in the process of consolidating his power over the neighborhood. One of the only remaining obstacles is the heroin cartel is understandably reluctant to abandon such a lucrative market.
Director: John Evans | Stars: Rod Perry, Damu King, Don Chastain, Diane Sommerfield
Votes: 567 | Gross: $0.49M
20. TNT Jackson (1974)
R | 72 min | Action
A young karate expert searches for her brother's killer in Hong Kong.
Director: Cirio H. Santiago | Stars: Jeannie Bell, Stan Shaw, Pat Anderson, Ken Metcalfe
Votes: 1,409
21. Truck Turner (1974)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
While tracking a strong-armed pimp who has skipped bail, a bounty hunter discovers a contract has been put out on him and must go on the run.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan | Stars: Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Alan Weeks, Annazette Chase
Votes: 3,593 | Gross: $0.18M
22. Willie Dynamite (1974)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama
A social worker tries to get a pimp to change his ways.
Director: Gilbert Moses | Stars: Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala, Joyce Walker
Votes: 1,313 | Gross: $0.48M
23. 'Sheba, Baby' (1975)
PG | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A Chicago private detective returns back home to Louisville, Kentucky, to help her father fight mobsters.
Director: William Girdler | Stars: Pam Grier, Austin Stoker, D'Urville Martin, Rudy Challenger
Votes: 1,809
24. Boss Nigger (1974)
PG | 87 min | Comedy, Western
Two black bounty hunters, pursuing an outlaw, take over a small Western town without a sheriff.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Fred Williamson, D'Urville Martin, William Smith, R.G. Armstrong
Votes: 2,929
25. Darktown Strutters (1975)
PG | 90 min | Action, Comedy, Musical
Syreena must investigate the disappearance of her mother, Cinderella. A series of wild complications follow.
Director: William Witney | Stars: Trina Parks, Lejeune Richardson, Bettye Sweet, Shirley Washington
Votes: 533
26. Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)
R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When a black scientist develops a formula to regenerate dying liver cells and tests it on himself, it accidentally turns him into an albino monster with a lust for murdering prostitutes, pimps and drug dealers.
Director: William Crain | Stars: Bernie Casey, Rosalind Cash, Marie O'Henry, Ji-Tu Cumbuka
Votes: 602
27. Mandingo (1975)
R | 127 min | Drama, History, Romance
An 1840s slaveowner trains one of his slaves to be a bare-knuckle fighter.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, Richard Ward
Votes: 4,221 | Gross: $2.43M
28. Ebony, Ivory & Jade (1976)
PG | 76 min | Action, Drama
An American track team has just arrived in The Philippines for an international competition. Among the competitors are Ginger and Pam, nicknamed "Ivory" and "Ebony", who meet up with ... See full summary »
Director: Cirio H. Santiago | Stars: Rosanne Katon, Colleen Camp, Sylvia Anderson, Ken Washington
Votes: 215
29. Velvet Smooth (1976)
R | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The female head of a detective agency is hired by a crime lord to figure out who's taking his action.
Director: Michael Fink | Stars: Johnnie Hill, Owen Watson, Emerson Boozer, René Van Clief
Votes: 344
30. Black Samurai (1976)
R | 88 min | Action, Crime
Robert Sand, agent of D.R.A.G.O.N. (Defense Reserve Agency Guardian Of Nations), is playing tennis on his vacation with a beautiful black girl, when his commanding officers ask him to save a Chinese girl who happens to be Sand's girlfriend, and the daughter of a top Eastern Ambassador. The ransom for the abduction was the secret for a terrific new weapon - the freeze bomb - but the 'Warlock' ... See full summary »
Director: Al Adamson | Stars: Jim Kelly, Bill Roy, Roberto Contreras, Marilyn Joi
Votes: 1,045
31. Petey Wheatstraw (1977)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
After being murdered by his rivals, Petey Wheatstraw is resurrected, in exchange for marrying the devil's daughter, the world's ugliest woman.
Director: Cliff Roquemore | Stars: Rudy Ray Moore, Jimmy Lynch, Leroy Daniels, Ernest Mayhand
Votes: 1,552
32. Disco Godfather (1979)
R | 98 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Rudy Ray Moore's fourth in a series of cult favorites finds him playing an ex-cop called back into action to stop an angel dust producer. The angel dust hallucinations alone are well worth the price of admission!
Director: J. Robert Wagoner | Stars: Rudy Ray Moore, Carol Speed, Jimmy Lynch, Jerry Jones
Votes: 1,789
33. The Candy Tangerine Man (1975)
R | 95 min | Adventure, Action
Sunset Boulevard is a lucrative place to work for the Black Baron, a pimp with a distinctive red and yellow Rolls Royce and plenty of girls on his books. He don't take no mess from his ... See full summary »
Director: Matt Cimber | Stars: John Daniels, Eli Haines, Tom Hankason, Marva Farmer
Votes: 318
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