Black Shampoo

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.

Man, I haven't seen this much nudity and so many stereotypes in a long time! Black, White, Rich, Gay, Straight--It has all of them.

Man,could the Gay hairdressers be more flaming? damn. And I have known a few gay hairdressers.

This has all the 70's clichés ever invented and portrayed in this sort of film, but Shaft, Superfly, Dolemite it ain't! LOL.

OK, it is NOT a great movie, It is a low budget cheese fest, yes.

But I really love seeing women in old movies who haven't been Botoxed, Implanted or Siliconed!You know what I'm sayin'? All natural hair, and...well you know.

The clothes are so funky, and it's hard to believe people dressed like that, but styles have a way of coming back around.

I grew up in those days. I was 12 when this movie came out, so I obviously didn't see it, plus I was nerdy, white and un-hip. (Still white and nerdy) LOL! So don't be so quick to over analyze and critique this film, it is what it is, and so are the other blaxploitation films of the 70's.

I love this kind of stuff, even if it is stupid, lame and dumb.

Damn, those women are fine.

Like 6 nude scenes in 30 minutes! Yee haw! I'm a typical guy, huh? Peace!

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!

"Mr. Jonathan" (John Daniels) is a black hairstylist who owns a salon on the Sunset Strip which is quite popular to his rich, female clientele. Not only does this salon have two dedicated hairdressers in "Artie" (Skip E. Lowe) and "Richard" (Gary Allen) but it also features the talents of the aforementioned Mr. Jonathan who the ladies simply cannot resist. Be that as it may, one day while paying a house call to one of his customers, three men enter his salon and, after physically assaulting Artie, order the newly-hired receptionist named "Brenda St. John" (Tanya Boyd) to contact a mob boss by the name of "Mr. Wilson" (Joseph Carlo)--or else. Quite distraught about being located by Mr. Wilson--and upset that Artie has been hurt--she reluctantly agrees to call him that night. However, before she does that, she feels obliged to apologize to Mr. Jonathan first. One thing eventually leads to another and the two of them become lovers. What Mr. Jonathan doesn't realize, however, is that Mr. Wilson is not a person to trifle with and he is determined to have Brenda as his mistress again. Now, rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be an entertaining movie to a certain degree in spite of the rather low-budget production values. To that effect, both the script and the acting was equally weak with Skip E. Lowe probably turning in the most uneven performance overall. The one saving grace, however, was the performance of Tanya Boyd who dominated every scene she was in. Granted, she was either partially-clad or completely nude in some of them, but even so she was quite attractive and her appearances definitely benefited the film to a large degree. That being said, while this clearly wasn't a great movie by any means, I guess it had its moments and I have rated it accordingly. Average.