Black Sister's Revenge (1976)

Original title: Emma Mae

Director: Jamaa Fanaka

Writer: Jamaa Fanaka

Composer: H.B. Barnum

Starring: Jerri Hayes, Ernest Williams II, Charles D. Brooks III, Leopooldo Mandeville, Malik Carter, Eddie Allen, Gammy Burdett, Teri Taylor, Synthia Saint James, Robert Slaughter, Eddy C. Dyer, Laetitia Burdett

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Mess with her man and she'll bust your face.

Plot: A naive young girl from the South moves in with her relatives in a Los Angeles ghetto. At first she is made fun of, but eventually she is accepted and plots to rob a bank to raise bail money for her new boyfriend, who is a jailed drug dealer.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

Well raise my rent!  I went into this expecting some Blaxploitation action and came out the other end thrilled that instead I got a great urban drama.  I'm guessing this was re-titled as BLACK SISTER'S REVENGE for the video market to jump on the Blaxploitation bandwagon and sex this up as a funky action flick but it's far from it.  It's a down to Earth drama about this poor young girl moving from the Deep South to urban Los Angeles and getting mixed up with the wrong man.  She transforms from this shy girl to a strong woman by the end of the film and it's a great ride from one to the other.  Jerri Hayes plays Emma and she owns it.  This is her only IMDb credit and you can tell she's not experienced actor but that helps this film so much.  Her performance is natural and that's how it is for a lot of the cast.  It's got that rawness about it that makes this feel much more like the genuine article.  Probably my favorite performance from her costars is Malik Carter who plays 'Big Daddy' Johnson.  He's got the goods, going from funny as shit to shit getting real and real fast.  I'm shocked he's only been in five movies.  This film might be on YouTube in full.  Check it out.  This really is a great flick.  It's fun but it's also a powerful statement on inner city life in the black community.  The Xenon DVD sports a good looking fullscreen print and trailers for six other Blaxploitation classics.