Sweet Sweetback

Sweet Sweetback (Melvin Van Peebles) is a black orphan who, having grown up in a brothel, now works there as part of a sex show. When the police need a patsy for a murder in the black community, Sweetback's employer gives him up to two white cops, whom Sweetback ends up killing. Suddenly the target of a massive manhunt, he decides to flee to Mexico. As he makes his way there, he is captured by, and escapes from, both the cops and a chapter of the Hell's Angels.

Initial release: April 23, 1971 (New York City)

Director: Melvin Van Peebles

Box office: 15.2 million USD

Budget: 500,000 USD

Screenplay: Melvin Van Peebles