I recently saw a documentary called "The Fifty Worst Movies" (a title and concept they ripped off from the book by the same title). Since I like to occasionally laugh at a bad film, I decided to get a copy of "J.D.'s Revenge". However, the movie wasn't nearly bad enough to be in the documentary (and this could be said of many of the selected films). Sure, it was bad (far worse than many of the IMDb reviews would indicate) but the basic concept of the film isn't really bad at all--it's just that the horrible acting by Glynn Turman as "J.D." and the writing combined for a very bad paranormal blaxploitation film.
Turman plays a nice guy who is going to law school and driving a cab. His wife manages to convince the overly studious guy to take a night off and go on the town with some friends. While a participant in a stage hypnosis show, the spirit of J.D. somehow creeps into him and slowly begins to reveal itself. This really wasn't explained well and was a bit confusing as to the how and why. Regardless, this isn't a huge problem. The huge problem is that the character of J.D. is almost like a combination of Steppin' Fetchit and Scarface!! The guy that Turman becomes is a giant walking negative stereotype of a 40s Black man and it's not even close to being subtle or clever--just rather silly and often offensive. What's worse is that some of J.D.'s behaviors were just cruel and made the film, at times, tough to watch. All the nudity wasn't the problem (though there was a lot), but when he rapes his wife and treats women like garbage I cringed and felt it was perhaps pandering to some that might actually enjoy seeing this sort of violence. This is certainly NOT a film that would receive the Betty Friedan seal of approval!!
Turman's stupid characterization (which I blame on him and the writers) is a real shame, as there really was a decent story idea underneath all this crap (which included repeated and unnecessary shots of cows being slaughtered among other things). A man wrongly killed who returns from the dead years later to set things right is an exciting idea and how all this was worked out in the end was far more clever than I would have expected given the overall tone of the movie. Lou Gossett's character and his on-screen brother really were interesting and complex--too bad J.D. was just an idiot!
By the way, Turman playing a jive-talking 40s punk reminds me of Robert Townsend's film "Hollywood Shuffle" as the film laments that the only roles for Black men in films are pimps, drug dealers and the like (which was very true until recently).
Turman plays a nice guy who is going to law school and driving a cab. His wife manages to convince the overly studious guy to take a night off and go on the town with some friends. While a participant in a stage hypnosis show, the spirit of J.D. somehow creeps into him and slowly begins to reveal itself. This really wasn't explained well and was a bit confusing as to the how and why. Regardless, this isn't a huge problem. The huge problem is that the character of J.D. is almost like a combination of Steppin' Fetchit and Scarface!! The guy that Turman becomes is a giant walking negative stereotype of a 40s Black man and it's not even close to being subtle or clever--just rather silly and often offensive. What's worse is that some of J.D.'s behaviors were just cruel and made the film, at times, tough to watch. All the nudity wasn't the problem (though there was a lot), but when he rapes his wife and treats women like garbage I cringed and felt it was perhaps pandering to some that might actually enjoy seeing this sort of violence. This is certainly NOT a film that would receive the Betty Friedan seal of approval!!
Turman's stupid characterization (which I blame on him and the writers) is a real shame, as there really was a decent story idea underneath all this crap (which included repeated and unnecessary shots of cows being slaughtered among other things). A man wrongly killed who returns from the dead years later to set things right is an exciting idea and how all this was worked out in the end was far more clever than I would have expected given the overall tone of the movie. Lou Gossett's character and his on-screen brother really were interesting and complex--too bad J.D. was just an idiot!
By the way, Turman playing a jive-talking 40s punk reminds me of Robert Townsend's film "Hollywood Shuffle" as the film laments that the only roles for Black men in films are pimps, drug dealers and the like (which was very true until recently).