Synopsis
Live the scam. Work the sham.
A new highway threatens a Chicago neighborhood, so to protest the residents throw a block party.
1976 Directed by Arthur Marks
A new highway threatens a Chicago neighborhood, so to protest the residents throw a block party.
Yaphet Kotto Kirk Calloway Thomas Carter Donn C. Harper Lynn Caridine Patricia McCaskill Lynn Harris Rudy Ray Moore Rosalind Cash Randy Brooks Debbi Morgan Fuddle Bagley Frank Rice Carl W. Crudup Duchyll Martin Smith Steven Williams Frank Barrett Ralph Johnson Dewellie Colbert Robin Morgan Altyrone Brown Nathaniel Reed Robert Townsend
The Monkey Hu$tle, Die Abzocker
Not just a light-hearted, consistently funny comedy but, like some of the best and most marginalized examples of blaxploitation, a film about a distressed community's own systems for participating in an economy from which it's been excluded. It sounds dry when I describe it that way, but really it's as exuberant and idiosyncratic as any given "Let's put on a show!" movie starring a bunch of muppets, just to pick a random example. This may not have the grit or violent edge of the most memorable blaxplo, nor does it have the cynicism of direct ancestors like COTTON COMES TO HARLEM, but it's no less a subversive work.
Kind of more like a live action Fat Albert cartoon than your average blaxploitation title. It's strangely feel-good and wholesome with Yaphet Kotto as a beret and bow-tie wearing 1920s-ish flim-flam man named Daddy Foxx, avuncular and charming with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face as he commits low-level scams and recruits an army of ragamuffins. Rudy Ray Moore plays a low-level numbers runner named Goldie, the Prop Joe to Kotto's Stringer Bell in terms of their amicable but competitive relationship. These two and all of the neighborhood kids team up to stop the city from bulldozing a path for a new interstate. There's live music, soul food, and some good-natured pie throwing. Rare to walk away from a movie from this era about inner city black folks feeling uplifted. Kind of like a de-politicized Emma Mae, it's all about the gags and the friendships.
Very uhh nonurgent which I gotta say caught me off guard. Enjoyable purely on a hangout level but they do kinda bait you with Yaphet Kotto and especially Rudy Ray Moore who is in about 3 scenes. Don't think I saw a single white person which is the way to do it.
I watched this for Yaphet Kotto and Rudy Ray Moore. Outside of that, there’s not much to love about it. This wasn’t as Blaxploitation as I was hoping it’d be. Not much really happens either.
I expected a blaxploitation version of The Sting with Yaphet Kotto and Rudy Ray Moore in the Newman & Redford roles, but this is more a coming-of-age comedy as conman Kotto teaches a bunch of teens how to hustle so they can put on a concert to save their neighborhood from being demolished. Unfortunately Rudy only gets a few minutes of screentime. The breezy, episodic feel and junkyard hijinks make this a better live-action Fat Albert movie than the one we got.
While Rudy Ray Moore is only in this a bit, this day in a life take on the blaxploitation film is a nice change of pace.
Rudy Ray Moore sharing the screen with Yaphet Kotto is surreal.
Zero plot. Just a hangout with a bunch of fun characters that do their thing. It all ends in a charming block party.
I want to know more about Arthur Marks. How did he end up directing five blaxploitation films?
*checks index of Shock Cinema because they must have interviewed him* Ah yes, issue #33
Listen to me talk Rudy Ray Moore on THE IMPORTANT CINEMA CLUB podcast
Save the Rec Center! Or rather, Save Our Street! That is the crux of The Monkey Hustle, a coming-of-age Blaxploitation that takes through the energetic and enigmatic journey of a few teens hustlin' to put on a concert and save the street from a new Highway. It's slapsticky and witty, and sometimes it left me thinking: is this some off-brand Fat Albert adaptation? The comedic tone and camaraderie between the characters are captivating, and Yaphet Kotto is as charming as ever. Highly recommend it if you're looking for a fun time without the dark misgivings of other Blaxploitation.
The script needed a lot more work, true, but this is still one of my favorite blaxploitation films, and a primary reason why the phrase "one of my favorite blaxploitation films" is even part of my vocabulary. The movie thrives on a tension between the big, colorful, cartoon smudges of its characters and the unadorned presence of its Chicago locations (this is one of the great shot-in-Chicago movies, another reason I am warmly inclined towards it), as well as the solidity that putting Yaphet Kotto in the main role gives to its giddier excesses. It's also, just, like, nice, which is kind of a rare treat for a '70s exploitation film.
I went to B-Fest, buckle up.
Actually a very good film, a slice of life drama about a few days in an inner city black neighborhood. Imagine Car Wash, but with con men. Not plot driven, but charming and entertaining nevertheless. It's a shame black characters just being real people still feels radical.
I kind of wonder why this was a B-Fest selection, I know it was shown there before. Because it was from AIP? Because it involves black characters and crime? It's not something I would call blaxploitation at all. It deserves a look.
Given that I saw this at a film event that celebrates bad movies, The Monkey Hustle is surprisingly good. It has a vibe similar to Car Wash, a sort of day-in-the-life look at one of Chicago's black neighborhoods, which is destined to be destroyed by an expressway. The film follows the lives of the small-time cons in the community, particularly one particularly charming con who doubles as a father figure to a small squad of teen boys.
Yaphet Kotto has always been imminently watchable, but he is exemplary here. This film gives him plenty of space to exercise his charisma, and it's a wonder to watch.
Yaphet Kotto.
A legend with a devil's grin.
A generous talent who didn't need to steal scenes because he was only too willing to share his charm to others.
If ever a player was worthy of a fist pump when he walked onscreen, 'twas him alone.
Rest in power, my good man.