Melinda (1972)

the audience applauded

Really Surprised!

Excellent but underrated film

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The idea of Metro Goldwyn Mayer dipping its toe into the blaxploitation genre may at first sound strange, but actually MGM did this several times, most notably with the "Shaft" films. But while the "Shaft" films are well know to this day, "Melinda" has been all but forgotten today. It doesn't take long upon watching it to figure out why. The first third of the movie is incredibly slow and dull. The next two-thirds has a bit more speed and action, but too little and too late. Director Hugh A. Robertson was obviously hampered by a poor screenplay, but he was also obviously restricted with a limited amount of money, since the movie looks more like an effort for television than for the silver screen. But that's not to say that Robertson should be totally absolved of fault. There are some very poorly directed sequences, and his instructions to the movie's star Calvin Lockhart make the talented actor's character come across as selfish, obnoxious, and cruel. I have a feeling that even the target audience at the time found this a sub par effort, though I'll admit I have seen much worse 1970s blaxploitation films.

Apart from being Jim Kelly's first film, this is a rather ordinary blackspoitation film. It's neither an over the top bad but enjoyable film of the genre nor is it one of the outstanding ones...but lies somewhere in the middle.When the film begins, Frankie (Calvin Lockhart) is a handsome and successful DJ...and he seems to know just how pretty he is. In fact, when he meets Melinda, he struts his stuff and impresses her so much she does the nasty with him...and they both are then inexplicably in love. However, after Frankie leaves, some unknown fiends come in and trash his pad...and kill Melinda. When Frankie returns, jerks cops arrest him but they cannot hold him...and Frankie decides to work his way up the chain of command in the black and white mobs until he finds Mr. Big and makes him play. And, wisely, for the big showdown, Frankie brings along his kung fu buddies and they have a hellacious smackdown.If you are looking for pimps and the like, you won't find it in this one. Instead, it's much like a normal drama merged with a blacksploitation film...watchable and enjoyable but not especially memorable.By the way, like many films in this genre, there is nudity, violence and rough language...which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone!

Though their on-screen time together is short, the dashing Calvin Lockhart and the mesmerizing Vonetta McGee made quite a delicious pair in "Melinda." His mocha complexion and swiftly-melting-heart against her café au lait luminescence and wariness-turning-to-warmth are bewitching to behold in the early seduction scenes of this R-rated, '70s Black cast rarity. From their first encounter in a funky supper club to "back at Frankie's place" and the few days they get to spend together, there is an intoxicating mix of mental chess play, crackling sexuality, sweet humor and soul-baring communicated by veteran Lockhart and then-budding starlet McGee - both wonderful actors.My frustration with this set up is that because the love scene between "Frankie" and "Melinda" is so potentially erotic (remember there were very few full-on lovemaking scenes between Black actors on the big screen in '72 - especially between two this attractive), someone at MGM deemed it necessary to mute that eroticism by having a henchman follow the first-time lovers home, stand outside the door eavesdropping, become aroused and bring himself to a simultaneous orgasm along with the pair inside. It's truly a travesty. "Melinda" is a mob boss thriller, not "Flip Wilson Sends Up Shaft!" The music and vibe senselessly switch from seductive to comedic as the bad guy outside is making goofy faces while the gorgeous people inside are getting it on all over the living room floor. The lovin' is low-lit by the fireplace which adds an air of mystery yet is ultimately ruined because the editors keep cutting back and forth between the sex-down inside and the brightly lit bulls**t outside. Without the cold shower of "comic relief," this could have gone down as among the era's most arousing love scenes - Black and beyond.It feels like another case of Hollywood being uncomfortable with and/or afraid of Black sexuality. I wish Mr. Robertson or Mr. Lockhart were still here to reflect on this. Perhaps Ms. McGee could answer me. Did some cigar-chomper at MGM or in the MPAA, after reading the script or seeing the dailies, say, "O.K., we can only keep the sex hot-n-heavy if we break it up every few seconds with some completely out of character (for a thug) stupidity, or just call it a wrap with a fade-to-black at the foreplay stage on the sofa." The "guidelines" for such things were, and still are, just that whimsical...administered on an impossible to pin down case-by-case basis. Beyond Lockhart & McGee, "Melinda" is a cool slice of diverting entertainment. The controllers of the MGM film library should make this title available in a high quality DVD. As another commenter expressed, even though the budget for "Melinda" was obviously low, director Hugh A. Robertson and the cast created an earthy snapshot of Black Los Angeles better than most from the 70's so-called "blaxploitation" flicks. "Melinda" also boasts one of the first screen appearances by Black karate champion Jim Kelly (who later co-starred in "Enter the Dragon" with Bruce Lee, and his own star vehicle "Black Belt Jones"). Plus, there is a righteous score by African American composer/arranger Jerry Peters featuring R&B singing great Jerry Butler. If you ever come across a copy of the rare soundtrack Lp (on Pride Records), grab it.If "Melinda" is ever respectfully released on DVD, the sorely underrated Calvin Lockhart will flash one of his dazzling pearly white smiles from Heaven above - boasting enough wattage to illuminate a month of soulful Sundays.

A smooth DJ falls for a woman he's just met. When he finds her dead a short time later, he discovers that she had been killed because of her ties to organized crime. The DJ decides to avenge her death, receiving the help of a woman (the late, great Rosalind Cash) whom he had scorned. This film doesn't exactly follow the bullets and blood formula of many other Blackploitation action films. It does a little better on characterization, especially of the DJ and his scorned gal pal. However, it doesn't get as deep as it promises to be.