Trick Baby (1972)

Director: Larry Yust

Starring: Kiel Martin, Mel Stewart

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Sometimes even the players get played.

Plot: White Folks and Blue Howard -- two hucksters with a talent for pulling off complicated scams without a hitch. White Folks is light-skinned enough to pass for Caucasian, a circumstance that he and Blue use to the utmost advantage … until they run afoul of mobsters and cops, who all want a piece of the pie.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes

The opening sequence starts off with a great little con and once the relationship between the two main characters is revealed, it's huckster time. The first third of the film is fun and light-hearted but with some serious business at hand that relates to the opening con. The next third gets a little more serious and less care free and then there's the hard final third. It's the 70s so it's going to be cynical. I loved it.


Folks and Blue (Martin & Stewart) have great chemistry. Both of these guys were fantastic. The acting across the board was very good. The title has a double meaning. Besides the obvious con man reference, it's also what Folks is. His father was white and his mother was black. He was born and raised in the ghetto. It's assumed that his mother was a prostitute, a baby born as a result of a trick.

Hey, it's Isaac from THE LOVE BOAT and he's a pimp!?!?!?

I had heard of the black writer, Iceberg Slim before and I've been anxious to see a film adaptation of one of his novels. From what I knew, it's pretty gritty, real stuff. Surprising, this is the only movie that's been made so far. There's one in production for next year and that's it. It's a top-notch film that needs to be seen by a wider audience. I was in the mood for some good 70s Blaxploitation last night and I got much more than what I asked for.