The Monkey Hu$tle

I think that Monkey Hustle is a very misunderstood film, mostly because of a misleading ad campaign that tried (and still tries, via the VHS and DVD packaging) to sell it as a plot-driven scam flick, a black version of The Sting. That's not what this is. Daddy Fox, the con man character is only a character in an ensemble. This film is much more like Car Wash--a group of disparate characters in a common place interacting. Except in this case the common place is a neighborhood instead of a place of business. Although "Monkey Hustle" is a term coined by Daddy Fox in an early scene,it doesn't only refer to con games--it also refers to the way all the characters are hustling for love, for success, or for respect. The direction is loose and the performances are almost universally winning. Yaphett Kotto is amusingly verbose as Fox and Rudy Ray Moore is hilariously--and purposefully-- over the top as numbers runner Goldie.

Now, I'm not saying that this was a great film, but it is a lot better than its rep, and certainly not the total artistic failure it is often represented as. One thing that holds the film back is that it does seem to be lacking a few necessary scenes near the end that would explain how Goldie and the Fox stopped the Freeway expansion. There are scenes that obviously lead up to that missing climax (with lots of knowing winks and secret smiles), and scenes after it is announced that the freeway project has been canceled (characters giving each other the "high sign")--but nothing about how the heroes made it happen!

However, plot is not a big part of this kind of movie. No, the most important element "Car Wash" had that "Monkey Hustle" lacked was a really great soundtrack of classic tunes to tie things together. "Monkey Hustle" is noticeably music-lite for its genre. There is one decent tune--the title track--and it gets played a lot. But lots of scenes cry out for music, and the ones that get it have to make due with endless variations of this same theme. I predict that if AIP had sprung for a funky soundtrack like the producers of Car Wash did, and the filmmakers had come up with even five or seven more minutes of action to explain the ending, "Monkey Hustle" would be seen as a minor classic of the 70's black film era. It never would have been a "Cooley High," but it could have at least been a little brother to "Car Wash" (and it is a HELL of a lot better than "Thank God It's Friday").

Story takes place in Chicago involving a hustler (Yaphet Kotto), who recruits four teenagers to perform rip-offs for him in exchange for pocket money. The other central point is a soul food restaurant owned and operated by Kotto's lady friend, played by Rosalind Cash, and Rudy Ray Moore as an underworld type who owes Kotto some big undisclosed favor. Good cast also includes Randy Brooks, Frank Rice, Fuddle Bagley, Donn Carl Harper, future producer/director Thomas Carter (pre-White Shadow), Kirk Calloway, Steven Williams, a small uncredited role by Robert Townsend and a young Debbi Morgan. Townsend and Williams also appeared in Cooley High.

A new highway threatens a Chicago neighborhood, so to protest the residents throw a block party.

Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-half stars (out of four), calling it a "good-hearted muddle" but opining that "they must have left half the script back in Hollywood." Ebert did note with pleasure that the film's business justified opening the balcony at the now-demolished Roosevelt Theater, where he had not sat in four years. He is spot-on here. The film never really seems to have a direction and just sort of meanders. This can work on occasion, but does not seem to here.

In 2009, "Black Dynamite" star and co-writer Michael Jai White cited "The Monkey Hu$tle" as a major influence, telling the Los Angeles Times, "It was just brash, unlike anything I'd ever seen... I remember these bigger-than-life characters, who reminded me of my uncles, and it was the first time I saw anything familiar in my life on the big screen." This adds a little weight to the film that it does not provide itself, as "Black Dynamite" is truly impressive.

This film has an untraditional style and format. The closest I could compare it to is CAR WASH, as both are not about a particular person but about a group of people living in a ghetto neighborhood. However, unlike CAR WASH, this isn't a comedy though there are a few mildly funny moments. Plus, while CAR WASH is not for everyone's taste, I liked the film and found many of the characters likable.

This non-traditional narrative might bother many, as the film does seem rather disjoint. Plus, given that most of the people aren't all that likable (and several are very unlikable), the film isn't one I'd recommend you watch. It's really a shame because this style COULD have worked very well....with likable and more interesting people. The folks in this film are mostly hustlers--out of work young adults who will lie, cheat and steal to make a few bucks. Their idol is Yaphet Kotto--in an odd role as a master film-flam man.

The bottom line is that this just isn't a very good film--with an inferior script, lousy characters and a lackluster musical score. There are many, many Black-American films from the 70s that are so much better and more interesting than this dull mess.

This movie is worth renting just to see Goldie and his Goldie Mobile! Not a bad plot, and the song "Monkey Hustle' is a riot!