Black Shampoo

1976 "He's bad…he's mean…he's a lovin' machine!"
4.7| 1h22m| R| en| More Info
Released: 05 March 1976 Released
Producted By: World Amusement Company
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A black hairdresser's sexual escapades with married customers lead to a confrontation with a jealous mobster.

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Reviews

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Michael_Elliott Black Shampoo (1976) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Mr. Jonathan (John Daniels) has all the white ladies lined up at his barber shop. Not only is he great with their hair styles but he's also got a massive you-know-what and these rich white ladies want it. His secretary Brenda (Tanya Boyd) ends up capturing his heart but shes in deep with an evil mob boss (Joseph Carlo) and soon he's out for revenge.BLACK SHAMPOO is an obvious take-off on the Warren Beatty film and I must say that this is rather entertaining from start to finish. Director Greydon Clark certainly keeps the film moving at a very nice pace and the screenplay has some terrific, offensive and at times dirty sleaze going on that helps make the film quite memorable.I have to say that the highlight is the first twenty-minutes of the film when we see a number of white ladies lining up to get a piece of this black man. All of these scenes are done with the tongue planted firmly in the cheek but the scenes are quite funny and also very sleazy as there's no limit of totally nude women. Just check out the sequence where he makes a house-call only to get attacked by two young ladies and then their mom comes out to teach them how it's done!The second half of the film loses some of the more dirty moments but we're still treated to some entertaining action. Of course, being a blaxploitation film there are a lot of stereotypes. This includes a couple gay barbers who are rather embarrassing in how over-the-top and zany their "gay act" is. WIth that said, the three leads are good enough for this type of film and they at least help keep you into what you're watching.BLACK SHAMPOO certainly isn't a masterpiece but then again it really wasn't trying to win awards. The film was made on a low-budget and the director manages to make something memorable out of it. It's trashy but fun.
chow913 Blaxploitation is a seriously underrated genre. Bottom line, it you enjoy blaxploitation you'll love 'Black Shampoo' he's one bad mother... shut your mouth.Actually the hero Mr. Jonathan isn't a vigilante. He's just the only straight hair stylist at a salon catering to desperate white housewives. Inevitably Mr. Jonathan ends up giving his clients more than just shampoo, that is if their daughters don't get to him first.Mr. Jonathan gets into a tussle with a give turkey heroine smugger whom wants Mr. Jonathan's love interest back as his black sex slave. When Mr. Jonathan tries to defend her, their salon is vandalized by thugs.The whole thing ends in a bloody showdown involving chainsaws, axes, and pool sticks. Surprisingly violent.So the plot's light but 'Black Shampoo' delivers on the classic blaxploitation is promises.The recent film 'Black Dynamite' failed as a parody of blaxploitation because it failed to realized that blaxploitation is funny enough on its own.
Scott LeBrun I got a fair amount of entertainment out of this diverting if forgettable blaxploitation entry, but then I approached the whole thing looking at it as tongue in cheek. If one were to take it seriously, they might well find it in the "so bad it's good" category. A stiff, not too charming John Daniels is cast as Mr. Jonathan (whether that's his first or last name doesn't matter), owner / operator of a hair salon and also irresistible stud muffin to a variety of (mostly white) women. Trouble brews when Brenda (Tanya Boyd), his secretary, is threatened by her former employer, a mob boss named Mr. Wilson (Joseph Carlo). Wilson and his thugs mean business, and among their methods used are the trashing of the salon and the sodomizing of one of the employees. This dumb but fun movie comes complete with the expected funky music score with the ever present "wacka wacka" guitar, two flagrant gay stereotypes, and what will be the most appreciated by exploitation fans, an ample serving of female nudity. This certainly is a trashy outing, as the over sexed daughters of one customer unrelentingly come on to Mr. Jonathan, and it can be a very funny one as well. Just witness the awkwardly staged and ridiculous salon trashing episode. One has to see it to believe it. Hell, there's even a Western themed costume party in which one party goer is absurdly dressed in ballet gear. Things really pick up towards the end, where Mr. Jonathan is pursued by the sadistic mob flunkies armed with a miniature chainsaw. Now, we don't get to see too much detail when he carves them up, but this is an amusing bit of business nevertheless. In fact, the climax in general is pretty violent. With the level of exploitation on display, this should entertain some viewers, and it manages to generate some hearty laughs as well; the music score is at times utterly ridiculous. All in all, this probably won't become a classic or get too many retrospectives but it's a mild hoot for people with certain tastes. Seven out of 10.
DrSatan This is one of the worst blaxploitation flicks I have seen. More incompetent than Disco Godfather. Tries to be an action/skin flick; fails at both. Starts with lots of skin, although one of the women is just not attractive in any sense. Goes through the motions with an "evil white mobsters" plot that goes nowhere. Half the movie is dialogue free montoge to music that, mercifully, is easy enough to fast forward. The ending sequence with the chainsaw killings and poker-cue as spear ripped straight from "Sweet Sweet Back" are violent enough I guess. Only really amusing feature is the ridiculous dialogue given to the hairdressers; but even this is soured by an unnecessary curling iron as anal probe sequence. Avoid this picture at all costs; I wish I did.