Product Details

• Actors: Kiel Martin, Mel Stewart, Dallas Edward Hayes, Beverly Ballard, Vernee Watson-Johnson
• Directors: Larry Yust
• Writers: Larry Yust, A. Neuberg, Robert Beck, T. Raewyn
• Producers: James Levitt, Marshall Backlar
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: January 30, 2001
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000053VWE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,399 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Iceberg Slim brought to film ! ! !, February 12, 2001

By 

Eddie Landsberg "My 10th year as a reviewer !... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Trick Baby [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you thought Philadelphia, The 12 Monkeys and Tradin' Places were the only films other than The Philadelphia Experiment set in Philly, you're dead wrong.

When it comes to grittyness, this early '70s film, which appears to be shot mostly in West Philly puts NYC to shame.... in terms of charactor and story development its also definitely *not* your typical blaxploitation film - - and this becomes clear the moment you realize that its actually an adaptation of a novel by Iceberg Slim, a writer who along with Donald Goines wrote about urban street life and told tales of hustlers and pimps long long before Shaft and Superfly. In fact, it was probably the realism of their books most likely that fueled the fantasy of that film genre....

The story is about the final days of a relationship between an aging hustler named Blue and his young counterpart/protege known as "White Folks" so named because he can pass for white, a bend which made their game all the more strong. While hated by most black folks because he looks like a white man, he is understood and protected by Blue - - and together their hustle and schemes seem almost righteous, because through Folks, Blue is able to engage in confidence games praying on greedy white people who believe they are about to get rich by exploiting black folk. Far from being jive talking hustlers, both are articulate and intelligent and have learned well from one another, making their game even stronger, til one day they hustle the wrong person putting a dirty cop and the mob on their tale, in the middle of the biggest hustle of their lifetime. Suddenly, its a race against time and the questions whether its time to get out of town or get out of the game.

Great film, great locations, well acted, and a nice bluesy soundtrack. If you like this film, check out the novel by Slim, as well "Across 110th Street" another interesting movie about the relationship between an idealistic young black cop and corrupt old guard white cop, and missing mob money in Harlem.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic...don't sleep on Trick Baby, January 16, 2005

By 

Dorrie Wheeler - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Trick Baby (Soul Showcase) (DVD)

Trick Baby is a film about a man named Blue who has raised a white man that they call "Folks," which is short for White Folks. Folks is supposedly mixed but appears to be portrayed by an all white actor. Blue is a hustler. He raises Folks to be a hustler. The two scam and pull fast ones for a living. On one particular occasion they get in over there head. Folks wants to leave the business behind and head to Chicago, but Blue is dedicated to see things through so that they can get some real hard cash. The chase scenes in this film are classic, I especially enjoyed seeing "Folks" run through the streets of Philadelphia. If you are fan of 70's cinema, you will notice a lot of regular character actors from the 70's in this film.

This movie is based on a book by Iceberg Slim. The promoters of the recent DVD release need to uplay the films literary connections, but Iceberg Slim is real big now and this film is based on one of his most popular works. Although over 30 years old, this film is still very enjoyable. It has a strong plot and a lot of action.

4.0 out of 5 stars Demi Monde Exposed, September 6, 2011

By 

Louis Mark Lussky - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Trick Baby (Soul Showcase) (DVD)

I was surprised to see that other user reviews were so different in their reactions to this film than me. They compared the movie to The Sting and Blacksploition films. Trick Baby is not The Sting or Cotton Comes to Harlem. There are no Robin Hoods stealing from bad people to the benefit of good people. It is not entertainment. It is horror. The movie is like the book by Iceberg Slim. The book was horrifying because the author told the story without any moral comment, just laying it out matter-of-factly as though this world of crime and vice and universal dishonestly was not a pathological mutation of everything that is decent and honorable. Trick Baby is like exploratory surgery on a patient that is still alive but already decaying from within. Everybody in the story parasitises everybody else. And they are Black. Is this grifter world the natural result of racist oppression so that the only path to prosperity is to cheat and steal and whore? Or did other victimized people take strength from self-help and being morally superior to their oppressors? Here we see Black-on-Black exploitation at its worst. And in the end the moral of the amoral story is the same as in Public Enemy where Cagney's corpse is delivered to his mother in the last scene. Crime doesn't pay.