Black Shampoo

Black Shampoo (1976) is a gem that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a male black female hairstylist who is also a gigolo and white chick magnet. His new female front desk employee may cause him to fall in love and change his ways. Unfortunately for him her ex-boyfriend is a member of the mob and has other plans for her.

This movie is directed by Greydon Clark (Angel's Brigade) and stars John Daniels (Getting Over), Tanya Boyd (The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood), William Bonner (Big Foot), Anne Gaybis (Friday the 13th Part III) and Jacqulin Cole (Angels' Brigade).

This felt like a movie that couldn't decide if it wanted to be soft porn or a blaxploitation film, so it's a little bit of both. The soundtrack is excellent and the premise had potential. Unfortunately, John Daniels isn't as charismatic as some main characters from this era and his lines are nothing special, but the sex scenes are excellent and ladies are gorgeous. The ending of this film with the chainsaw and ax is a 10/10 and the highlight of the film.

Overall, this movie is very average with a tremendous ending. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

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.

They just don't make 'em like this no more. Grungy as only a '70s B-Movie can be, and filled with hilariously overblown 'tude. The acting is minimal, the script is charmless and vulgar, and the lousy video version I saw made it look like a cheapo porn flick.

If you want to invite your friends over for a MST3K-type party, this would be a good one to rent. The opportunities to throw wisecracks at the screen are hard to resist!

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.

One of the funniest movies meant not to be funny. If you like to sit around with friends and watch old goofy movies in the late hours, then this is a movie you should rent. I am so fond of this movie that I named myself in part after the man I call Black Shampoo. The star of the movie has a Lou Ferrigno quality. You'll enjoy laughing at scenes that make no sense other that to show some nudity or punch some wise guy in the nose. A wild ride that may or may not have inspired some of the greatest movie makers of our time.