Watermelon Man (1970)
- Directed by
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Genre
- comedy drama
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 1h 37m
- Rated
- R
- Rating
- 6.3 of 10 from 62 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A white insurance salesman who is deeply prejudiced wakes up one day to find his skin has turned black. The film follows his stunned reactions and the sudden shift in how people treat him.
satiricalabsurdthought-provokingunsettlingdarkly comicconfrontationaldated
What happens
Watermelon Man is a 1970 American satirical comedy film directed by Melvin Van Peebles and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Caine, D'Urville Martin, Kay Kimberley, Mantan Moreland, and Erin Moran. Written by Herman Raucher, it tells the story of an extremely bigoted white insurance salesman named Jeff Gerber, who wakes up one morning to find that he has become black. The premise for the film was inspired by Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and by John Howard Griffin's autobiographical Black Like Me. Van Peebles' only studio film, Watermelon Man was a financial success, but Van Peebles did not accept Columbia Pictures' three-picture contract, instead developing the independent film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. The music for Watermelon Man, written and performed by Van Peebles, was released on a soundtrack album, which spawned the single "Love, That's America". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
The Landlord (1970)
Something for Everyone (1970)
Joe (1970)
Putney Swope (1969)
Alex in Wonderland (1970)
American Beauty (1999)
End of the Road (1970)
Getting Straight (1970)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.