Os Vigaristas

Two con-men in Philadelphia by the name of "Blue Howard" (Mel Stewart) and "White Folks" (Kiel Martin) find that they may have gone too far when they conned an older white man out of $10,000. What they didn't count on was the man having a heart attack and being the father of the local mafia godfather. Yet instead of lying low or possibly fleeing the city both Blue and Folks decide to continue in their trade. Anyway, while not necessarily as good as some of the other "blaxploitation" films of this particular time it managed to pass the time for the most part. But that's about all I can say as there really wasn't anything spectacular or memorable about it. For what it's worth though I thought Vernee Watson-Johnson (as "Cleo Howard") looked nice and probably should have been given a bit more film time. But that's just my opinion. In short, I suppose it deserves an average rating.

The story is that of two con-men: White Folks (Kiel Martin), who had a black mother and a white father and whose skin is white; and Blue Howard ( Mel Stewart), a grizzled black veteran who has taught his young protégé everything he knows about the art of dishonest tricks…

Together they cheat the Mafia and the police; they make $10,000 and have to give some of it away to the local black protection retailer; they set up a confidence property deal to get by fraud some over-greedy white businessmen out of $150,000, but cannot quite shield the stolen loot…

The distinguished trait of the film is that not all the blacks are all good, and not all the whites are all bad… What is more, it makes a point of showing that black men can play on their color to win their own ends

An interesting, extremely well-performed little movie about a pair of Philadelphia con artists who get more than they bargain for when they cross swords with a corrupt cop and the local Mafiosi.

Trick Baby begins well and builds up midway to a terrific foot-chase through the seamier side of the city. In the second half it starts to run out of steam and becomes a little predictable. Things are bogged down especially by a lengthy scene involving a preacher, who is the only character that strikes a false note. In spite of this the movie never loses one's attention completely. The cast down to the supporting players is excellent: Beverly Ballard particularly shines as a woman used and abused by slick operator White Folks (Kiel Martin) and Dallas Edward Hayes does terrific work as the ruthless and relentless cop.

The use of locations is terrific, and the movie has a rawness and immediacy utterly missing from thrillers today. Minor reservations aside, Trick Baby is well worth a look – 8/10.

While this movie is set mostly in the Black neighborhoods of Philadelphia, many of the Whites are quite prejudiced and many of the actors are Black, this really isn't a blaxploitation film--though Netflix has categorized it that way on its web site. Instead, it's like a more modern version of THE STING with a multiracial cast.

Mel Stewart ("Henry Jefferson" from ALL IN THE FAMILY) and Kiel Martin star as con-men who swindle the wrong man. The old guy they cheat out of $10,000 suffers a fatal heart attack when he realizes he was swindled AND he's the uncle of a mob boss--who now has ordered the deaths of these cons. However, unlike THE STING, there is some rough language, nudity and a very, very downbeat ending. I enjoyed the film and appreciated seeing these two lesser name actors getting a chance to play leads, but hate seeing it branded with the label "blaxploitation" because many take this to mean that the film is cheap and formulaic--which it certainly isn't. Hardly a great film, it is still well worth a look for an interesting story.

After years of knowing about this movie and also knowing it was on YouTube, I finally decided to watch this just now there. It stars Kiel Martin-who would later be known as Detective LaRue on "Hill Street Blues"-and Mel Stewart-who was on the No. 1 TV show "All in the Family" as Henry Jefferson during this period. They play a couple of con men exploiting the attitudes of certain white people in order to bilk them of lots of money. But one of those scams comes back to haunt them. I'll stop there and just say that this was quite fun and a little sad when the ending comes. Martin is smooth playing the son of mixed races passing for white while Stewart shows more range here than he did on "All in the Family" and other TV shows he did after that. This was made during the "Blaxploitation" era of the early '70s but the dialogue suggests more of a noir feeling not unlike some '40s movies since they also deal with crooked cops and the mafia. So on that note, I recommend Trick Baby.