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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
His white bread world just got turned upside brown!, September 19, 2004
Being interested in many types of film, I saw the DVD release of Watermelon Man (1970) and it was the title that caught my eye. Directed by African-American film pioneer Melvin Van Peebles and starring Godfrey Cambridge (The President's Analyst, Cotton Comes to Harlem) and Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde), Watermelon Man relates an interesting tale of what happens when a bigoted white man wakes one day to find his skin has since turned black.
As the film begins, we meet the Gerbers, a typical white family living in a typical white neighborhood. There's Jeff Gerber (Cambridge), the head of the family, who make his living selling insurance, Althea Gerber (Parsons), Jeff's somewhat liberal wife, and their two children. One evening Jeff awakes to discover he's no longer white, and believes he suffering a bad dream. This turns out not to be the case, as Jeff retains his new skin color into the next day. He begins to look for answers, maybe it can be washed off if he showers for a lengthy period of time, or maybe the new color of his skin is attributed to spending too much time in his tanning bed, but there appears to be no real cause for what happened. Unable to hide from the outside world forever, Jeff ventures back into his regular routine, and soon learns that the color of his skin isn't the only thing that's changed. He finds racist attitudes prevalent throughout his workday and home life, as now, the system of which he used to be a part of, begins to turn on him, effectively forcing him to `walk a mile in another man's shoes'.
I really enjoyed this different sort of film, as it was an unusual blend of satire and social commentary. The writing was sharp and witty, and while this may not be a film for everyone, it does provide an interesting perspective, one that doesn't necessarily have to beat its' audience over the head (it does lay it on a little thick sometimes) with its' message. Some of the funniest scenes developed in part to Jeff and his wife's initial reaction to his change like Jeff showering for a really, really long time, his reviewing the warranty contract on his tanning bed, and his somewhat liberal wife asking if she should hide the money and serving him fried chicken and watermelon for dinner (she may be a liberal, but she's one of those liberals who's main contact comes from what she sees on the TV). Just think how you might act or be treated if one day you found that the color of you skin has changed, while you remain the same person on the inside. Cambridge does a wonderful job as the main character, beginning as a slightly bigoted individual who sees how life is from the other side. While a dislikable character in the beginning, I began to develop a sense of sympathy for him as the film progressed, not because his skin changed color, but because I felt he really began to understand the inherent differences in a system he worked in and was a part of for so long, and he understood flaws within his own character, now magnified in the attitudes and demeanor of people around him, his co-workers, family, friends, and community. He sees his world is not a particularly nice place to live, that is if you are not of the right color. The humor is pretty subtle, and doesn't seem to be prone to exaggeration, but more or less presented to mirror that of real life, as different forms of racism are presented, from the straight up type (the use of unpleasant racial terms and profiling by the police), to less obvious, more insidious forms in terms of accepted stereotypes and common misconceptions. The direction was a bit weird at times, as different things are incorporated into the film, strange music, odd text, (reminded me of sort of safe psychedelia used in the Monkees television show, only not to that extent) but then the late 60's and early 70's tended to elicit this kind of experimentation, which, at the time, seemed completely new and far out, but now serves mainly to effectively date films containing such elements. An interesting side note to the film, apparently the director received quite a bit of flak over his unwillingness to change the ending of the film. The studio executives had wanted him to incorporate an ending in which the main character would wake up and find his original skin color had returned, and the whole affair was to be presented as if it were all a bad dream (which would have ruined the film, in my opinion). Van Peebles resisted, and was finally able to keep his intended ending, maintaining his creative integrity and preserving the element that makes this film interesting and original. Is it controversial? I didn't get that feeling, although I will admit this movie probably isn't for everyone.
Presented here is a really good looking wide screen version of the film, which runs approximately just over an hour and a half. There really aren't any special features, not even a trailer, but there is an introduction by the director, Melvin Van Peebles, which can be chosen to play over the opening credits of the film. All in all, an interesting, fairly funny perspective that still bears relevance today, some thirty plus years after its' original release.
Cookieman108
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DVD ~ Lawrence Cook
DVD ~ Allan Arbus
DVD ~ Godfrey Cambridge
DVD ~ Ron O'Neal
DVD ~ Sidney Poitier
DVD ~ Mario Van Peebles
DVD ~ James Whitmore
DVD ~ Fred Williamson
