Director: John Coney
Year Released: 1974
Rating: 3.0
Intergalactic traveler Sun Ra (he's really from Birmingham, Alabama) comes to Earth to corral African-Americans and take them back to his home planet ... and in the meantime, play some incredible jazz for us all. A cult classic in every sense, this manages to capture not just Ra's sound but also his politics - it never dawned on me that the 'myth' he generated was a reflection of his politics, and how minorities must feel like they are from another planet - while wrapped up in a plot that borrows from sexploitation, blaxploitation and 50's/60's sci-fi pictures. The anti-Caucasian slant is a little troubling - the same way an anti-African-American slant would give me fits - but I suppose it's a time and place kind of thing and honestly, this isn't a picture that takes itself very seriously. Ra plays it all with a straight face - the way he played 'life' with a straight face - but he had to have been chuckling inside. Every time I personally think about Sun Ra and his Arkestra, I can't help but be reminded about nuclear war (yeah) and how it's a motherfucker (don't you know).
