Coronet Blue is an American adventure drama series that ran on CBS from May 29 until September 4, 1967.
98-616: Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American filmmaker. He originally emerged as the writer of blaxploitation films such as Black Caesar and Hell Up in Harlem (both 1973), before becoming known as an author of horror and science fiction films — often containing police procedural and satirical elements — during the 1970s and 1980s. His directorial works include It's Alive (1974) and its sequels, God Told Me To (1976), The Stuff (1985) and A Return to Salem's Lot (1987). Early in his career, Cohen
196-472: A film noir crime story with a good old-fashioned giant monster movie' and that ' Michael Moriarty turns in a brilliant performance as Jimmy Quinn [...]'. Horror author and movie critic, Kim Newman , praises Cohen's plot originality and canny use of characters in Empire , pointing out the director's use of an oddball as lead – Jimmy Quinn – who would ordinarily be a secondary character or warrant solely
294-577: A junk food mogul who assists Mo with his investigation. Cohen cast Moriarty in It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive (1987)—the third part of the Alive Trilogy —and again in A Return to Salem's Lot (1987), the unofficial sequel of Stephen King 's novel and TV miniseries Salem's Lot . Cohen finished the 1980s with Wicked Stepmother (1989), in which the late Bette Davis made her last appearance. Cohen began
392-679: A portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin , the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s, the genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters , or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with
490-621: A 1930s twist. In 2004, Mario Van Peebles released Baadasssss! , about the making of his father Melvin's movie (with Mario playing Melvin). 2007's American Gangster , based on the true story of heroin dealer Frank Lucas , takes place in the early 1970s in Harlem and has many elements similar in style to blaxploitation films, specifically its prominent featuring of the song " Across 110th Street ". Blaxploitation films have profoundly impacted contemporary hip-hop culture . Several prominent hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg , Big Daddy Kane , Ice-T , Slick Rick , and Too Short , have adopted
588-481: A Jewish protagonist and was jokingly referred to by its director as a "Jewsploitation" film. Robert Townsend 's comedy Hollywood Shuffle features a young black actor who is tempted to take part in a white-produced blaxploitation film. The satirical book Our Dumb Century features an article from the 1970s entitled "Congress Passes Anti-Blaxploitation Act: Pimps, Players Subject to Heavy Fines". FOX 's network television comedy, MADtv , has frequently spoofed
686-422: A New York detective investigates a spate of killings by apparently random people who say that God told them to commit the crimes. He concentrated his work predominantly within the horror genre throughout the 1970s and 1980s, often incorporating elements of crime, police procedural , and science fiction with scathing social commentary. Cohen's It's Alive tells of a couple, Frank and Lenore Davis, who give birth to
784-516: A Seventies 'incoherent text' as Taxi Driver and a clear linchpin of The X-Files ." The Chicago Sun-Times sees Cohen's incoherent text in a different light, likening the film to a cinematic version of the card game 52 Pickup : "the movie does achieve greatness in another way: this is the most confused feature-length film [...] ever seen." But Time Out applauded Cohen for offering "the perfect existential anti-hero" in New York cop, Lo Bianco, in
882-474: A blaxploitation reference. He has an afro, sideburns, and a mustache. He carries swords, dresses in stylish 1970s clothing, and says that he hunts "Blaculas". A scene from the Season 9 episode of The Simpsons , " Simpson Tide ", shows Homer Simpson watching Exploitation Theatre. A voice-over announces fake movie titles such as The Blunch Black of Blotre Blame. Martha Southgate 's 2005 novel Third Girl from
980-426: A brief return to the director's chair for Cohen. Josef Rusnak remade Cohen's It's Alive in 2009. Still awaiting a score on Rotten Tomatoes , the existing reviews are also very poor. Even Cohen admitted that the remake was dreadful and states: 'It's a terrible picture. It's just beyond awful'. Cohen offered his 1974 script but remarks that it was completely ignored: "I would advise anybody who likes my film to cross
1078-556: A cameo appearance; Newman also explains how Cohen has relegated all the usual plot devices – in movies such as King Kong – to the background. Alternatively, the Chicago Reader , although viewing Cohen's monster movie as 'cheesy' and 'fun', ultimately condemns the movie as being 'curiously disengaged and sloppy'. The New York Times , following the film's opening day at the Rivoli Theater , had just 'a few words – only
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#17328594599151176-449: A cult following with black viewers. Dolemite , less serious in tone and produced as a spoof, centers around a sexually active black pimp played by Rudy Ray Moore, who based the film on his stand-up comedy act. A sequel, The Human Tornado , followed. Later spoofs parodying the blaxploitation genre include I'm Gonna Git You Sucka , Pootie Tang , Undercover Brother , Black Dynamite , and The Hebrew Hammer , which featured
1274-449: A driver who picks up hitchhikers with the sole intent of killing them – and – Walker (Warren Kole), a hitchhiker who accepts lifts in order to find his victims. The two killers pair up and inventively murder all the passengers on the bus, save for Stacia (Balk), who has since gone her own way. Stacia eventually winds up in the middle of a serial killer turf war , a war over which killer will get her first. Pick Me Up signaled
1372-516: A fictional character created for the video game series Fatal Fury , is a prime example of foreign black stereotypes. The sub-cult movie short Gayniggers from Outer Space is a blaxploitation-like science fiction oddity directed by Danish filmmaker, DJ, and singer Morten Lindberg . Jefferson Twilight, a character in The Venture Bros. , is a parody of the comic-book character Blade (a black, half human, half-vampire vampire hunter), as well as
1470-431: A film that "overflows with such perverse and subversive notions that no amount of shoddy editing and substandard camerawork can conceal [its] unusual qualities" and that by "[d]igging deep into the psyche of American manhood, it lays bare the guilt-ridden oppressions of a soulless society." TV movies TV series Blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in
1568-435: A killing spree. The film – an initial commercial failure – was re-released with a new and sharper advertisement campaign; it went on to become a moderate success, earning over $ 7 million for Warner Bros. and spawning two sequels, It Lives Again (1978) and It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987). Cohen followed-up It's Alive with the science-fiction serial killer film God Told Me To (1976), in which
1666-416: A lack of A-List actors and special effects, It's Alive still manages to maintain the viewer's interest due to Cohen's "unique horror concept and a script rich in ideas." Black Hole nevertheless points out that "[w]hile the drama is consistent, it's less successful as a seventies monster movie, and especially lacking now." Whereas Jaws (1975) revealed the shark slowly, Cohen's film "barely ever shows us
1764-439: A mid-1970s blaxploitation television series. In the catalytic scene of True Romance , the characters watch the movie The Mack . John Singleton 's Shaft (2000), starring Samuel L. Jackson , is a modern-day interpretation of a classic blaxploitation film. The 1997 film Hoodlum starring Laurence Fishburne portrays a fictional account of black mobster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson and recasts gangster blaxploitation with
1862-586: A mutated baby that kills its prey when trapped or frightened, holds a rating of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes , one of the highest ratings for his films. Focusing on the social context of the film at the time, The Film Journal points out that It's Alive "carries a potent mix of both suspense and social critique [...] [i]nvoking such taboo subjects as abortion as early as 1974." As well as being apt at providing 'suspense,' The Film Journal acknowledges Cohen's ability "to impart an intelligent nature to his otherwise pulpy horror films." Black Hole magazine opines that despite
1960-498: A mutated baby. The doctors and nurses at the hospital attempt to end the life of the deformed child, but it instead kills them and escapes. A police manhunt ensues as the fleeing mutation leaves dead bodies in its wake. Frank sees the child just as Dr. Frankenstein saw his monster and assists the police. The emphasis in It's Alive is on the potential effects of chemicals to the ecosystem, and experimental prescription drugs that can be harmful to unborn babies. The score for It's Alive
2058-429: A number of New York citizens embark on a killing spree because God Told Them To , is called "one of his most ambitious movies" that is "cemented in an interesting idea" by QNetwork Entertainment , who find Cohen's ideology of the existence of God interesting: "cynical at best" and "sacrilegious at worst." The magazine continues, however, to comment on Cohen's lack of patience and drive when completing his movies, regarding
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#17328594599152156-546: A pop tune on the radio, supposedly from a dead singer, yet never released until that moment-but he somehow knows the lyrics already, and surmises that he had to have been present at the recording session. In North Carolina, Alden is befriended by a cheery, ditzy blonde aspiring folk singer. Her imaginative fabrications gradually become strange and sinister, and he's forced to find out who she is. Michael spies an Asian girl whom he believes he met with in his forgotten past. Following her leads to brutes, discovering he knows karate ,
2254-482: A similar scene in Foxy Brown , in which Pam Grier hides a small semi-automatic pistol in her Afro. Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force series has a recurring character called "Boxy Brown" – a play on Foxy Brown. An imaginary friend of Meatwad , Boxy Brown is a cardboard box with a crudely drawn face with a French cut that dons an afro. Whenever Boxy speaks, '70s funk music, typical of blaxploitation films, plays in
2352-425: A spate of killings in the city. The cast is headed by Moriarty and co-stars David Carradine , Candy Clark , Richard Roundtree , and James Dixon (another Cohen regular). The Chrysler Building scenes were actually shot on location in and around the building, including the inside and outside of the cone atop the edifice. Cohen's next project with Moriarty was The Stuff (1985), in which an alien substance of sorts
2450-404: A staging of Mozart 's opera Don Giovanni in the manner of a blaxploitation film, set in contemporary Spanish Harlem, with African-American singers portraying the anti-heroes as street-thugs, killing by gunshot rather than with a sword, using recreational drugs, and partying almost naked. It was later released on commercial video and can be seen on YouTube . A 2016 video game, Mafia III ,
2548-477: A very few – about Q , offering a brief neutral synopsis and a couple of quotes. Variety are more favourable, focusing on Cohen's 'wild' and 'bizarre' – albeit realistic – efforts: Q has great fun mixing realistic settings with political satire and a wild yarn'. They go on to say that the film belongs to both Moriarty and the Monster. It's Alive , the first part of Cohen's horror trilogy featuring
2646-555: A worldwide gross of $ 98 million. The film starred Colin Farrell , Katie Holmes , Kiefer Sutherland , and Forest Whitaker ; it was produced by David Zucker . His next film, another action-crime thriller titled Cellular (2004), also featured phones and, like Phone Booth , it was a modest commercial success with an estimated budget of $ 25 million and a gross worldwide return of $ 50 million. Cellular starred Kim Basinger , Chris Evans , William H. Macy , and Jason Statham . Cellular
2744-546: Is a kind of blaxploitation Western . Some of the later, blaxploitation-influenced movies such as Jackie Brown (1997), Undercover Brother (2002), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), and Django Unchained (2012) feature pop culture nods to the genre. The parody Undercover Brother , for example, stars Eddie Griffin as an afro -topped agent for a clandestine organization satirically known as
2842-454: Is a more pressing issue: he has been targeted for assassination by the same mysterious group that dumped him in the river. Over the remaining episodes, "Michael Alden" attempts to discover his identity and the identities of his assailants, who are referred to in one episode as "Greybeards." During this, he discovers that he speaks fluent Spanish and French, but he has no idea how or why he learned these languages. He also discovers that he can play
2940-464: Is a young monk who may hold a clue to Michael Alden's real identity after he sees Alden's likeness in a painting. ( NOTE: This episode is edited on the DVD release to remove a copyrighted poem recited near the end of the episode.) A mysterious photograph of a funeral reception for a murdered girl shows Alden present. Though a young man was convicted, and Alden has no memory of the event, he suspects he might be
3038-544: Is found bubbling out of the ground. The Stuff is marketed at the general public, which rapidly becomes addicted to it. David "Mo" Rutheford, an industrial saboteur, played by Moriarty, is hired to investigate the origins of the Stuff and decides to destroy the product. The film co-stars Danny Aiello , Brian Bloom , Scott Bloom , Andrea Marcovicci , Patrick O'Neal , and Paul Sorvino . Saturday Night Live regular Garrett Morris plays Charlie W. Hobbs a.k.a. Chocolate Chip Charlie,
Larry Cohen - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-629: Is historically linked to the slavesploitation subgenre. By far, the best-known and best-studied exemplar of slavesploitation is Mandingo , a 1957 novel which was adapted into a 1961 play and a 1975 film . Indeed, Mandingo was so well known that a contemporary reviewer of Die the Long Day , a 1972 novel by Orlando Patterson , called it an example of the "Mandingo genre". The film, panned on its release, has been subject to widely divergent critical assessments. Robin Wood , for instance, argued in 1998 that it
3234-434: Is indeed a part of another – later – Baby-Monster horror trilogy. In short, Filmcritic says that Cohen's film should not be confused with art; and yet, it is "pretty scary stuff" that "manages a few neat tricks." God Told Me To a.k.a. Demon (1976), Cohen's science fiction thriller , has a rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes , making it Cohen's most successful directorial effort, critically. The film, in which
3332-616: Is no truly equal "Black Hollywood" as evidenced by the " Oscars So White " scandal in 2015 that caused uproar when no black actors were nominated for " Best Actor " at the Academy Awards. Slavesploitation, a subgenre of blaxploitation in literature and film, flourished briefly in the late 1960s and 1970s. As its name suggests, the genre is characterized by sensationalistic depictions of slavery. Abrams, arguing that Quentin Tarantino 's Django Unchained (2012) finds its historical roots in
3430-528: Is set in the year 1968 and revolves around Lincoln Clay, a mixed-race African-American orphan raised by "black mob" . After the murder of his surrogate family at the hands of the Italian mafia , Lincoln Clay seeks vengeance on those who took away the only thing that mattered to him. The notoriety of the blaxploitation genre has led to many parodies. The earliest attempts to mock the genre, Ralph Bakshi 's Coonskin and Rudy Ray Moore 's Dolemite , date back to
3528-480: Is targeted for assassination. Alden is reunited with people who claim to be his parents and fiance. But when certain things do not add up, he begins to wonder if they "really are" who they say they are. At a college in New York, Alden is the focus of experiments to overcome amnesia, but he must share a dorm room with students and earn his keep by working shifts at campus security, but this puts him in conflict with protesting students. Brother Anthony ( Brian Bedford )
3626-620: Is the "greatest film about race ever made in Hollywood , certainly prior to Spike Lee and in some respects still". Blaxploitation films have had an enormous and complicated influence on American cinema. Filmmaker and exploitation film fan Quentin Tarantino , for example, has made numerous references to the blaxploitation genre in his films. An early blaxploitation tribute can be seen in the character of "Lite", played by Sy Richardson , in Repo Man (1984). Richardson later wrote Posse (1993), which
3724-433: Is told by a woman and two men that they know his intentions and that he has—somehow—betrayed them. They drug him, strip him of all identification, and dump him in the river. Later, he manages to pull himself ashore, and the only words he says are "Coronet Blue". He can't remember his name, and there are no clues to his identity, as there is no record of anyone with his fingerprints. Suffering from amnesia, possibly due to
3822-430: Is used as a medium in a magic act , and a blue coronet is part of her costume. This intrigues Alden and Anthony, who are then unexpectedly drawn into a strange plot. Feds want to exploit Alden's amnesia for simulating a mission to Mars . Brainwashed, he and a partner are placed into a drug-induced simulator. His partner's breakdown aborts the mission, just as Michael begins to remember parts of his past. Alden hears
3920-518: The "B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D." . Likewise, Austin Powers in Goldmember co-stars Beyoncé Knowles as the Tamara Dobson / Pam Grier -inspired heroine, Foxxy Cleopatra . In the 1977 parody film The Kentucky Fried Movie , a mock trailer for Cleopatra Schwartz depicts another Grier-like action star married to a rabbi . In a scene in Reservoir Dogs , the protagonists discuss Get Christie Love! ,
4018-497: The BBC , the lawsuit alleged 'that Mr. Cohen and Mr. Poll pitched the idea to Fox several times between 1993 and 1996, under the name Cast of Characters .' The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an adaptation of the 1999 published comic book series by Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill . In 2006, Cohen was included in the Masters of Horror TV anthology, which also included – but
Larry Cohen - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-718: The Harlem underworld characters in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973), Jim Kelly 's character in Enter the Dragon (1973) and Fred Williamson 's character in The Inglorious Bastards (1978). Afeni Shakur claimed that every aspect of culture (including cinema) in the 1960s and 1970s was influenced by the Black Power movement . Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was one of
4214-588: The Northeast or West Coast mainly take place in poor urban neighborhoods. Pejorative terms for white characters, such as " cracker " and " honky ", are commonly used. Blaxploitation films set in the South often deal with slavery and miscegenation . The genre's films are often bold in their statements and use violence, sex, drug trafficking and other shocking qualities to provoke the audience. The films usually portray black protagonists overcoming " The Man " or emblems of
4312-577: The Rudy Ray Moore -created franchise Dolemite , with a series of sketches performed by comic actor Aries Spears , in the role of "The Son of Dolemite". Other sketches include the characters " Funkenstein ", " Dr. Funkenstein " and more recently Condoleezza Rice as a blaxploitation superhero. A recurring theme in these sketches is the inexperience of the cast and crew in the blaxploitation era, with emphasis on ridiculous scripting and shoddy acting, sets, costumes, and editing. The sketches are testaments to
4410-484: The "Annual Players Ball ", has become an often-referenced pop culture icon—most recently by Chappelle's Show , where it was parodied as the "Playa Hater's Ball". The genre's overseas influence extends to artists such as Norway's hip-hop duo Madcon . In Michael Chabon 's novel Telegraph Avenue , set in 2004, two characters are former blaxploitation stars. In 1980, opera director Peter Sellars (not to be confused with actor Peter Sellers ) produced and directed
4508-532: The 1950s and 1960s included the fantasy-suspense anthologies Kraft Television Theatre (1958) and Kraft Suspense Theatre (1965), the espionage TV series Blue Light (1966) starring Robert Goulet and Coronet Blue (1967) starring Frank Converse , and the science-fiction TV series, The Invaders (1967–1968). In 1966, he wrote the screenplay to the Western film Return of the Seven (also known as Return of
4606-420: The 1958 film The Blob . It has a moderate fresh rating of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes . The Apollo Movie Guide remarks that The Stuff works on a purely visceral level, and that it further achieves a tongue-in-cheek social parody of a society that cannot help buying into the latest craze. Although Apollo praised the juxtaposition of Cohen's clever screenplay and Michael Moriarty 's performance, it states that
4704-421: The 1970s – such as Columbo – he further turned his hand to directing. His directorial debut was the 1972 comedy film Bone (aka Beverly Hills Nightmare) starring Yaphet Kotto . Cohen directed Dial Rat for Terror (1973) and Housewife (1973) before creating the It's Alive series in 1974. He wrote, produced and directed the horror film It's Alive , about a mutant monster baby that embarks on
4802-604: The 1980s, Cohen directed, produced, and scripted a number of low-budget horror films, many of which featured actor Michael Moriarty . The first was Q – a.k.a. Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) — about an Aztec god known as Quetzalcoatl (the Winged Serpent) resurrected and nesting atop the Chrysler Building . The film is set in New York City, as was typical for Cohen, and sees two police detectives investigating
4900-407: The 1990s was less prolific and concentrated solely on scriptwriting, except for a brief return to directing with the Masters of Horror episode " Pick Me Up " (2006). His first project, Phone Booth (2002), became involved in a Hollywood bidding war, the script eventually ending up in the hands of Joel Schumacher . Phone Booth was a commercial success with an estimated budget of $ 13 million and
4998-458: The 1990s with his film The Ambulance (1990) starring Eric Roberts . The film is set in New York City and is focused on Josh Baker (Roberts), an aspiring comic book artist, who investigates a string of disappearances: people who are picked up by a mysterious ambulance that never reaches the city hospital. The Ambulance features cameos by Stan Lee , Larry Hama and Jim Salicrup of Marvel Comics . He would direct only two other films during
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#17328594599155096-586: The 1990s, one being the Blaxploitation film Original Gangstas (1996), featuring Jim Brown , Pam Grier , and Fred Williamson . For most of the decade, Cohen concentrated on writing. He penned the remainder of the William Lustig Maniac Cop Trilogy ;– he had previously scripted Maniac Cop in 1988 – that features Robert Z'Dar as undead Maniac Cop, Matt Cordell, and B-Movie horror actor Bruce Campbell . He then provided
5194-461: The Bronx in New York City at an early age. Cohen exhibited a voracious appetite for films as a child, visiting the movie theaters at least twice a week, and most of them being double features , the young Cohen managed to consume at least four movies a week. He was a fan of the hard-boiled and film noir movies that featured actors such as Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney ; films that were penned by
5292-525: The Left is set in Hollywood during the era of blaxploitation films and references many blaxploitation films and stars such as Pam Grier and Coffy . Coronet Blue It starred Frank Converse as Michael Alden, an amnesiac in search of his identity. Brian Bedford co-starred. The show's 13 episodes were filmed in 1965 and were originally intended to be shown during the 1965–66 television season, but CBS put
5390-687: The Magnificent Seven ), a sequel to the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven , which had the return of Yul Brynner as gunslinger Chris Adams. Four episodes he wrote for Blue Light were edited together to create the theatrical film I Deal in Danger , released in December 1966. He also created the Western TV series Branded (1965–1966) and was the co-creator with Walter Grauman of Blue Light . Although Cohen continued to write TV and film scripts during
5488-484: The TV series The Invaders and also scripted episodes of The Defenders and The Fugitive . Cohen began his career as a writer for well-known television series, concentrating his efforts on the crime and detective genres. He penned several episodes of The Defenders (1964) — which starred E.G. Marshall — one episode of Espionage (1964), and episodes of The Fugitive (1964–65). Other writing credits during
5586-559: The United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement , the black power movement , and the Black Panthers spurred African-American artists to reclaim the power of depiction of their ethnicity, and institutions like UCLA to provide financial assistance for African-American students to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting a less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term,
5684-491: The United States has been controversial. Some held that the blaxploitation trend was a token of black empowerment, but others accused the movies of perpetuating common white stereotypes about black people . As a result, many called for the end of the genre. The NAACP , Southern Christian Leadership Conference and National Urban League joined to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation. Their influence in
5782-639: The actual killer. Alden unwittingly gets caught up in a plot to kill a political figure and his daughter. Anthony is lured to a strange apartment by a naval officer, where he finds a girl in a harem costume . Police later accuse him of murder, when the officer's body is found in the same room where his fingerprints are also found. Alden makes arrangements to pay a man $ 2000 for his true identity, but both are pursued by ruthless hit men. A troubled boy joins him hiding out in Central Park , unable to face home responsibilities after his father dies. A reluctant girl
5880-609: The background. The cardboard box also has a confrontational attitude and dialect similar to many heroes of this film genre. Some of the TVs found in the action video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne feature a Blaxploitation-themed parody of the original Max Payne game called Dick Justice , after its main character. Dick behaves much like the original Max Payne (down to the "constipated" grimace and metaphorical speech) but wears an afro and mustache and speaks in Ebonics . Duck King ,
5978-482: The blaxploitation era, such as Rudy Ray Moore , Antonio Fargas , Dick Anthony Williams and Pam Grier all make cameo appearances. In one scene, Martin, in character as aging pimp "Jerome", refers to Pam Grier as " Sheba, Baby " in reference to her 1975 blaxploitation feature film of the same name. In the movie Leprechaun in the Hood , a character played by Ice-T pulls a baseball bat from his Afro. This scene alludes to
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#17328594599156076-420: The day after the last airing of Coronet Blue . Due to a number of pre-emptions, only 11 of the 13 episodes were shown during the initial run. The theme song was performed by rhythm and blues singer Lenny Welch . In an introductory sequence in the first episode, Frank Converse's character is aboard a passenger ship docked in New York, and is briefly addressed as "Gigot". Lured to a secluded spot on deck, he
6174-470: The effects of the drug, the mysterious near-drowning victim adopts the name "Michael Alden," a combination of the name of his doctor and the name of the hospital where he was taken to recover. After checking out of the hospital against medical advice, Alden tries to unravel the mystery using the only clue he has—by checking out any business or enterprise that is named "Blue Coronet", "Blue Crown", or any other similar name he can think of. He discovers that there
6272-473: The end products as being "hastily thrown-together" and "a mosaic of scenes, rather than a satisfying whole." In conclusion QNetwork give the film an even 2 1/2 stars for being the "clumsiest and most entertaining schlock of the last 20 years." CinePassion online magazine simply states: "[a] work of genius, in other words, possibly the Cohen joint that brims with the most all-pervasive invention and danger, as radical
6370-582: The episode " Pick Me Up ". In 2017, Cohen was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fantasia International Film Festival . Lawrence George Cohen was born in Manhattan , New York City, on July 15, 1936. His family was of Jewish ancestry. His sister, Ronni Chasen , was a publicist who worked with him beginning early in his film career. He moved to the Riverdale section of
6468-403: The example set by Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song , many blaxploitation films feature funk and soul jazz soundtracks with heavy bass , funky beats and wah-wah guitars. These soundtracks are notable for complexity that was not common to the radio-friendly funk tracks of the 1970s. They also often feature a rich orchestration which included flutes and violins. Blaxploitation was one of
6566-479: The film is not a classic. It does, however, award the film a modest Apollo Rating of 77/100. The Chicago Sun-Times , on the other hand, sees The Stuff as a widely ambitious movie that fails mainly due to distracting glitches and a lack of plausibility, specifically, "What we have here are a lot of nice touches in search of a movie." Chicago Sun-Times rating: 1 1/2 stars out of 5. Bloody Disgusting nevertheless awarded The Stuff 3 stars out of 5, pointing out both
6664-578: The first film categories to have female leads portray brave, heroic, active protagonists. Actresses such as Pam Grier in Coffy and Gloria Hendry in Black Belt Jones opened the door for actresses to become action stars which inspired later films such as Kill Bill and Set It Off . Following the popularity of these films in the 1970s, movies within other genres began to feature black characters with stereotypical blaxploitation characteristics, such as
6762-496: The first films to incorporate black power ideology and permit black actors to be the stars of their own narratives, rather than being relegated to the typical roles available to them (such as the " mammy " figure and other low-status characters). Films such as Shaft brought the black experience to film in a new way, allowing black political and social issues that had been ignored in cinema to be explored. Shaft and its protagonist, John Shaft, brought African-American culture to
6860-511: The first one ended. More mutated babies are appearing around the country. Frank has now joined a renegade mob who are attempting to stop the government from killing these strange mutations. The emphasis in It Lives Again is on accepting one's child, even if it is born with deformities or disabilities. The score is again provided by Bernard Herrmann . The cast includes John P. Ryan , James Dixon , Andrew Duggan , and Frederic Forrest . During
6958-477: The genre's glorification of stereotypical "criminal" behavior. Alongside accusations of exploiting stereotypes, the NAACP also criticized the blaxploitation genre of exploiting the black community and culture of America, by creating films for a profit that those communities would never see, despite being the vastly misrepresented main focus of many blaxploitation film plots. Many film professionals still believe that there
7056-479: The genre's heyday in 1975. Coonskin was intended to deconstruct racial stereotypes, from early minstrel show stereotypes to more recent stereotypes found in blaxploitation film itself. The work stimulated great controversy even before its release when the Congress of Racial Equality challenged it. Even though distribution was handed to a smaller distributor who advertised it as an exploitation film, it soon developed
7154-470: The good and the bad, "[I]t's smart, it's relevant and it has some bad acting. [It should be] enjoyed for all the wrong and some of the right reasons that it is not just a horror movie, but a very honest and important movie as well." His fantasy horror Q a.k.a. Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 61%. TV Guide praise Cohen for his intelligence, creativity and originality and further comment that '[Cohen] successfully combines
7252-548: The goods." The magazine does agree, however, that It's Alive was "a sufficiently powerful monster movie and [that] audiences wanted more." Filmcritic draws attention to the humour element, especially the scenes where the Baby-Monster is rustling in the bushes, unseen, comparing it to the scene in Basket Case (1982) when that film's Baby-Monster is stuffed into a garbage sack after being cut away from its human twin. Basket Case
7350-455: The identities of the other Soviet agents. And nobody could really identify him because he didn't exist as an American. Coronet Blue was actually an outgrowth of 'The Traitor' episode of The Defenders . A man called "Gigot" by an assailant is pulled from a river, but has no memory of his past except two words--"Coronet Blue". He is rehabilitated and gives himself the name "Michael Alden" and begins his trek to "find his past" but soon realizes he
7448-439: The institutional oppression of African-American culture and history. Later films such as Super Fly softened the rhetoric of black power, encouraging resistance within the capitalist system rather than a radical transformation of society. Super Fly still embraced the black nationalist movement in its argument that black and white authority cannot coexist easily. The genre's role in exploring and shaping race relations in
7546-487: The invention of the blaxploitation genre, although Cotton Comes to Harlem was released the prior year. Blaxploitation films were also the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music . [S]upercharged, bad-talking, highly romanticized melodramas about Harlem superstuds, the pimps, the private eyes and the pushers who more or less singlehandedly make whitey's corrupt world safe for black pimping, black private-eyeing and black pushing. Blaxploitation films set in
7644-515: The late 1970s contributed to the genre's demise. Literary critic Addison Gayle wrote in 1974, "The best example of this kind of nihilism / irresponsibility are the Black films; here is freedom pushed to its most ridiculous limits; here are writers and actors who claim that freedom for the artist entails exploitation of the very people to whom they owe their artistic existence." Films such as Super Fly and The Mack received intense criticism not only for
7742-554: The likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett . Cohen was especially a fan of director Michael Curtiz , whose films include The Adventures of Robin Hood , Casablanca , and Dodge City . He majored in film studies at the City College of New York . During the 1950s Cohen worked for the NBC television network, where he learned how to produce teleplays , and shortly afterward began writing his own television scripts. He created
7840-501: The mainstream world. Sweetback and Shaft were both influenced by the black power movement, containing Marxist themes, solidarity and social consciousness alongside the genre-typical images of sex and violence. Knowing that film could bring about social and cultural change, the Black Power movement seized the genre to highlight black socioeconomic struggles in the 1970s; many such films contained black heroes who were able to overcome
7938-568: The no-nonsense pimp persona popularized first by ex-pimp Iceberg Slim 's 1967 book Pimp and subsequently by films such as Super Fly , The Mack , and Willie Dynamite . In fact, many hip-hop artists have paid tribute to pimping within their lyrics (most notably 50 Cent 's hit single " P.I.M.P. ") and have openly embraced the pimp image in their music videos , which include entourages of scantily-clad women, flashy jewelry (known as " bling "), and luxury Cadillacs (referred to as " pimpmobiles "). The most famous scene of The Mack , featuring
8036-543: The piano and has some martial arts skill. During his travels Alden befriends Max Spier ( Joe Silver ), owner of The Seeing I, a restaurant where Alden sometimes works as a dishwasher. Alden also befriends a monk, Brother Anthony ( Brian Bedford ). Both are recurring characters; they are not seen in every episode. The Greybeards are even more rarely glimpsed, but the credits identify two recurring Greybeards (seen only fairly fleetingly in two episodes) as Vincent (Robert Burr) and Margaret (Bernice Massi). The series ended before
8134-498: The plantation as one of the main origins of boxing as a sport in the U.S. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed black film makers, particularly Spike Lee ( Do the Right Thing ), John Singleton ( Boyz n the Hood ) , and Allen and Albert Hughes ( Menace II Society ) focused on black urban life in their movies. These directors made use of blaxploitation elements while incorporating implicit criticism of
8232-509: The poor production quality of the films, with obvious boom mike appearances and intentionally poor cuts and continuity. Another of FOX's network television comedies, Martin starring Martin Lawrence , frequently references the blaxploitation genre. In the Season Three episode "All The Players Came", when Martin organizes a "Player's Ball" charity event to save a local theater, several stars of
8330-452: The rethinking of race relations in the 1970s. Blaxploitation films were originally aimed at an urban African-American audience but the genre's audience appeal soon broadened across racial and ethnic lines. Hollywood realized the potential profit of expanding the audiences of blaxploitation films. Variety credited Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and the less radical Hollywood-financed film Shaft (both released in 1971) with
8428-558: The show on hiatus when they reversed an earlier decision to cancel the drama Slattery's People . The network had plans to show Coronet Blue the following year, and CBS head of programming Michael Dann said, "there still is enormous enthusiasm" for it, but it would take another full year before the network aired it as a summer replacement . It proved moderately popular and developed a cult following . According to Converse, CBS wanted to renew it but by then Converse had signed to do another series for ABC , N.Y.P.D. , which premiered
8526-475: The slavesploitation genre, observes that slavesploitation films are characterized by "crassly exploitative representations of oppressed slave protagonists". One early antecedent of the genre is Slaves (1969), which Gaines notes was "not 'slavesploitation' in the vein of later films", but which nonetheless featured graphic depictions of beatings and sexual violence against slaves. Novotny argues that Blacula (1972), although it does not depict slavery directly,
8624-460: The solution to the mystery of Michael Alden's identity was revealed, but series creator Larry Cohen later told his biographer: ...Converse was not really an American at all. He was a Russian who had been trained to appear like an American and was sent to the U.S. as a spy. He belonged to a spy unit called "Coronet Blue." He decided to defect, so the Russians tried to kill him before he could give away
8722-512: The stereotype of the protagonist (generalizing pimps as representative of all African-American men, in this case) but for portraying all black communities as hotbeds for drugs and crime. Blaxploitation films such as Mandingo (1975) provided mainstream Hollywood producers, in this case Dino De Laurentiis , a cinematic way to depict plantation slavery with all of its brutal, historical and racial contradictions and controversies, including sex, miscegenation, rebellion. The story world also depicts
8820-453: The story of the third adaptation of Jack Finney 's 1955 science-fiction novel The Body Snatchers , a tale of alien invasion and paranoia : Body Snatchers was directed by Abel Ferrara and starred Forest Whitaker . Throughout the decade Cohen was further involved in various TV projects including NYPD Blue and the Ed McBain -inspired 87th Precinct: Heatwave . Cohen's output after
8918-700: The street and avoid seeing the new enchilada." Cohen was married twice: to Janelle Webb, until their divorce in 1980; and then to Cynthia Costas, from 1994 until his death. He had two daughters. His sister Ronni Chasen was murdered on November 16, 2010 in a drive-by shooting in Beverly Hills. On March 23, 2019, Cohen died from cancer at his home in Beverly Hills, California , at age 82. Cohen's science fiction horror film and satirical social commentary The Stuff (1985) garnered mixed reviews, often being compared to Jack Finney 's The Body Snatchers novel and
9016-556: The white majority that oppresses the black community. Blaxploitation includes several subtypes, including crime ( Foxy Brown ), action/martial arts ( Three the Hard Way ), Westerns ( Boss Nigger ), horror ( Abby , Blacula ), prison ( Penitentiary ), comedy ( Uptown Saturday Night ), nostalgia ( Five on the Black Hand Side ), coming-of-age ( Cooley High / Cornbread, Earl and Me ), and musical ( Sparkle ). Following
9114-407: Was a prolific television writer, creating series such as Branded , Blue Light , Coronet Blue , and The Invaders . Later on he concentrated mainly on screenwriting, including Maniac Cop and its two sequels; Phone Booth (2002); Cellular ; (2004) and Captivity (2007). In 2006, he returned to the directing chair for Mick Garris 's anthology series Masters of Horror , directing
9212-457: Was composed by Bernard Herrmann , known for his contributions to many Alfred Hitchcock films, including Psycho , North by Northwest , and Vertigo . The welling strings, horn arrangements and harp glissandos throughout the film prefigure the soundtrack to Herrmann's final film score two years later for Taxi Driver. The cast includes John P. Ryan , Sharon Farrell , James Dixon, and Andrew Duggan . It Lives Again (1978) picks up where
9310-491: Was created by Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Cohen's contribution was the segment Pick Me Up , based on a short story by David Schow , who also wrote the teleplay . It stars Fairuza Balk and Cohen regulars Laurene Landon and Michael Moriarty . Pick Me Up is the story of woman traveling on a bus that has broken down along a stretch of lonely two-lane blacktop . Enter two serial killers : Wheeler (Moriarty),
9408-469: Was later re-made as Connected (2008), Cohen being credited with the story. He then scripted the horror-thriller films Captivity (2007) and Messages Deleted (2009); however, both films fared poorly on a critical and commercial level. Cohen nevertheless received acclaim for the above-mentioned Pick Me Up , which he directed for the Mick Garris TV series Masters of Horror (2006). The episode
9506-558: Was not limited to – writers and directors as diverse as Dario Argento , Clive Barker , John Carpenter , Richard Chizmar , Don Coscarelli , Wes Craven , David Cronenberg , Joe Dante , Guillermo del Toro , Ernest Dickerson , Stuart Gordon , James Gunn , Sam Hamm , Tom Holland , Tobe Hooper , Lloyd Kaufman , Mary Lambert , John Landis , Joe R. Lansdale , Bentley Little , H.P. Lovecraft , Joe Lynch , William Lustig , Peter Medak , Lucky McKee , Kat O' Shea, Robert Rodriguez , Eli Roth , David Schow , and Tim Sullivan . It
9604-541: Was written by splatterpunk - horror author David Schow , and starred Cohen regular Michael Moriarty . In 2003, Cohen, together with production partner Martin Poll , was at the center of a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox , claiming the company had intentionally plagiarized a script of theirs titled Cast of Characters in order to create the Sean Connery -starring League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003. According to
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