John T. Ryan The 1970's saw a rise and fall of what we have come to know as "Blacksploitation" Films. The term is a reference to kind of broad catch-all, rather than a true Genre of Film. In short, any comedy, drama, adventure, western or urban cops & robbers shoot-em-up, that are so constructed and so cast as to appeal to the large Urban Black population of the Mid 20th Century. That indeed could embrace the widest type of films, as long as the had a slant toward the inner-city black population.It appears that the idea of producing these films of particularly keen interest to Black Americans had its genesis with the Eastertime Release of 100 RIFLES (Marvin Schwartz Prod./20th Century-Fox, 1969). In it, former Syracuse University All-American Footballer and Several Times All-Pro Fullback for the Cleveland Browns, Jim Brown, had a Co-Starring Billing. Having appeared in a number of films already, as for example, RIO CONCHOS (1964),THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), (ICE STTION ZEBRA (1968)* and others, it was beginning to make more sense to the Studios' "Suits" that Jim was a hot property.Now this 100 RIFLES brings record numbers of Black patrons to the Big Cities' central business districts on Easter Sunday to view Mr. Brown. Why not start to film more of these adventure epics and other types of film with more Black Players and Stars? Why not, indeed.** So we saw a succession of Cops & Robbers, Bad-ass Private Detective Films, Comedies, all going the route. Along the way, we eventually got to some more family oriented, wider appealing films. The movie goers were treated to SOUNDER (1972), THE TAKE (1974), CONRACK (1974)and, ultimately, CLAUDINE (1974).In CLAUDINE, we find no stigma nor easy classification as being "Blackploitation", as the story is universal, and could easily have been done as a story about people of any descent, any where, and not just in the 1970's USA.That the story was done of a SINGLE mother, Claudine (Dianne Carroll), struggling to keep a family together after "....two marriages and two almost marriages.", is a far cry from a shoot-em-up Harlem Style. The problems that plague the everyday citizens of our nation are confronted and examined under the ol' sociological microscope.But we also consider Claudine's psychological and physical needs as a female. For "Woman Needs Man and Man Must Have His MATE",***and we do concede this point. (That's S-E-X that we're talking about, Schultz!) Claudine meets up with a very masculine, broad shouldered, athletic type in Private Scavanger Garbage Man, Ruppert B. Marshall (James Earl Jones) and they go on a date.The Great Welfare State intervenes with the Couple as Claudine's Welfare Case Worker, Miss Tayback (Elisa Loti), comes snooping around to see just who is this unattached Male, who is suddenly paying so much attention to Claudine's family.After a humiliating experience with the Welfare Bureau's auditing and "deducting" binge, which would be the norm for the family, the two decide to get married with or without the blessing of Big Brother.Meanwhile, Claudine's elder son has gotten involved with some big talking but little doing Black Activist group. But, with Ruppert's help, he and they all come through it A.O.K.It ends on a Happy, Upbeat and Hopeful note. We know that it may not be exactly "...Happily Ever After!", but rather the'll make it all together! If there is a single criticism that we must state it is that sometimes in a movie like this, a misconception is spread to a large portion of Urban Blacks. And that is, the apparent implied myth that all Whites are wealthy, having none of their kind ever in need of a helping hand, out of work or suffering any disabilities.Well, folks, it just ain't true! NOTE: * At one point, Jim Brown's career was a real hit as a rugged actioner. He was even being tauted as "...The Black John Wayne." NOTE: ** The idea of producing films with All-Black Casts, filmed for All-Black consumption was not a new idea. In the 1920's, '30's and '40's, we saw productions from people like Noble Johnson, Spencer Williams, Jr. and Rex Ingram.NOTE: *** That's "As Time Goes By", you know, Schultz, it's from CASABLANCA (Warner Brothers, 1942).

stevenfallonnyc How is "Claudine" a fantasy film? We'll get to that in a bit.I remember seeing "Claudine" in the late 70's on cable TV, and just watched it for the first time since then. It's not bad, but it does indeed say a few things. It also challenges what many people consider "stereotypes" in today's politically-correct world, portraying these "stereotypes" as cold-hearted truisms.Of course, things were not "PC" back in 1974 when this was made. Claudine is a black mother of six (count 'em, six) children, living in Harlem, surviving on welfare and her secret housekeeping job on the side. The six kids are all total brats - they do nothing but scream at each other, fight each other, and give their mother Claudine a hard time. Despite that she breaks her back for them, they show no respect towards her whatsoever.They do act as a team, however, whenever the welfare social worker comes to the apartment to check on things (she's white of course), which they always manage to see her coming up the block - do they take turns as full-time lookouts? They then hide whatever "extras" they have, like a toaster, etc., to appear even more poor than they are so welfare doesn't deduct any money for the extra things.Welfare is a villain in the film, and it's made clear many times. Claudine always complains she can't take care of her family - but she has six kids! And she's 36 years old! Even James Earl Jones's character, Roop, expresses shock when she reveals she's a 36-year old mother of six. (Claudine was pretty angry.) Now, it takes two to tango, but six kids at 36! Another "villain" of the film, is the black man as a father. It is made very clear that black men run out on their kids and families. In today's time, that is a popular "stereotype," and here, in the non-PC world of 1974, it is presented as fact. So what's the truth? Claudine's children even express severe skepticism at her new beau Roop, just waiting for him to eventually leave their mom, which of course, he does.Claudine, incidentally, looks amazing. Diahann Carroll is a very beautiful woman, and in the film, as a mother of six, she is in amazing physical condition. That's part of the fantasy of the film. Have you ever seen a mom, at 36 who had six babies, look so amazing? The funny thing is, it's Darth Vader's body we keep seeing almost nude, not Claudine's. As they spend their first night together, Jones gets out of bed a lot, and the camera always shoots Jones in a clever way as we always see something blocking his "private parts" (although we are lucky enough to see his nude butt though). So if you want to see "sexy" James Earl Jones walk around nude, you got it! Diahann Carroll, well with her we're just not as fortunate. Roop, a garbage man with kids in other parts of the country, has been eying Claudine for a while before finally asking her on a date, then meeting her six wild kids.One of the kids is the oldest, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, a very radical teenager who shows zero respect for his mom like the other kids. he does warn Roop that he'll pay if he makes his mother cry, which he does when Roop leaves her. Jacobs then tracks down Roop and beats the hell out of him, the only show in the film that Jacobs cares about his mom. We never get a scene that shows her reacting to his showing of caring, even if the caring was beating Roop up. Jacobs even disrupts and destroys their eventual wedding by running in the middle of it while being chased by the cops (he also obviously had better things to do, like go to a protest, than attend his mom's wedding).Which leads to another fantasy of the film, how a black man, after it is established that black men always leave their fatherly responsibilities behind, marries a woman with six kids, none of which are his. Even forgetting about race, any man marrying a woman with six children who are not his children is something that you simply never hear of, and one of the things that turns this "real life drama" into a fairy tale.The "white man" is another of the film's villains, even to Claudine, who says to Jacobs that "the white man tries to take away your manhood, but you go do it yourself" after he gets himself "fixed." Her oldest daughter gets pregnant, of course, by yet another uncaring black man. I was surprised that the one time we see Claudine's white couple she works for, that they weren't all nasty and mean white people. The husband was actually a very nice guy, and the wife wasn't bad, although she complained on the telephone that Claudine was late for work again. We also overhear the wife talking some "big business" on the phone, just to remind the audience how well-off all white people are, of course. The ending of the film sees them all race away in the back of a police van (!), and then the film ends in perfect fairy-tale mode, with Claudine, Roop and the six kids all walking on the street, everyone all smiles, hand-in-hand, including Jacobs' rebel character! Jacobs is going to move out, the oldest daughter is going to move into a place with her boyfriend (turns out he cares about the baby they're going to have, but we never meet him on screen), and Roop will move into Claudine's apartment. Everything works out great, no wonder everyone is smiling and laughing as they walk in the street for the finale! "Claudine" isn't really a bad film, but it is important to recognize all the fantasy elements that make it quite an unrealistic film.

Kecia I LOVE this movie....one of my all-time favorites!!! This was the first big screen movie my mom took me to see when I was 9. I highly recommend it to every african-american. This story is about love, trust, challenges, and everyday life of a black family. All the actors worked well together. I wish it was on video, but as of yet, it is not available that I know of. I caught it on television a few years ago, and recorded it, so whenever I get the urge to watch it...I have it! The soundtrack is awesome too! A must-see!

iama The great film of an early urban afro-american family struggling through hard time and racism, this is an emaculate film. I am in love with this particular classic film because it shows reality, its emotion, its funny, and its a urban fairytale. I read the review by Brian Koller and basically he's saying that the film left him confused and without a plot. Well! I think that what he seemed to have missed was the fact that they did indeed get married, yes! the police did take Charles (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) to jail and the family went with him in the wagon to jail right after the wedding. To me that meant that the family was sticking together, no matter what the problem or finances were. Also I love the sound track performed by Gladys Knight and the Pips, titled "On and On". I would love to purchase this film, every time it comes on TV, I miss it. This film is truly a classic and should be in every afro-americans home. I wish somebody had some information for me about purchasing this film......Iama