Customer Reviews

Black Action Films: Plots, Critiques, Casts and Credits for 235 Theatrical and Made-For-Television Releases

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Black Action Films is a fairly good addition to your library if you're into niche films--it does cover a genre of film that has gotten little serious attention anywhere else. Unfortunately this book suffers from the same two ills that virtually all the McFarland library bound reference books do--it costs way the hell too much and it is very poorly edited. The main thing that irritated me about this one was that the author included entries on films that simply were not black action films. He includes films that are not action films simply because they have a black star or supporting player and also includes action films that feature minor roles by black actors in otherwise white-dominated films. For instance he includes the Dudley Moore comedy "Best Defense" just because Eddie Murphy had a small role in it and 1987's "The Principal" starring James Belushi simply because Louis Gossett Jr has a supporting role. This is just a matter of filling pages to fill pages.
Also, there are some blatant inaccuracies that are just stupid. In his entry on Issac Hayes' "Truck Turner" for instance, the author repeatedly referrs to the character as "Matt" Truck Turner. The characters name was MACK "Truck" Turner. "Mack Truck"--get it? I mean that's a joke in the film, which the book's author obviously never saw and the book's editor obviously never checked.
And for this they want $60 a copy? For $20 it'd be worth it. I'd rate it at 2 1/2 stars if I could.