Watermelon Man (1970) was Melvin Van Peebles' Hollywood directorial debut. Godfrey Cambridge stars as a bigoted white middle class family man named Jeff Gerber who's luck and perfect white sterile life is about to change. One day, he wakes up as a black man. This comes as a shock not only to him but his wife. His children (untouched by racism) don't even seem to care. But the neighbors and his "friends" don't like it one bit and ostracize him from the community. As we go through the picture we witness Jeff's change in attitude and ethics. He loses his family and friends and eventually his high paying job. Jeff learns to accept his change and uses his knowledge to help those in his new community.
Melvin Van Peebles took a lot of flak from his Studio company for not making a "happy ending". Mr. Van Peebles felt that their was no reason and that his movie ended on an up note. I feel the same way as well. How else could have you ended this movie? There was no other way. My only gripe with this movie was the goofy make-up job they did on Mr. Cambridge. They slathered him in peach colored body paint. Other than that nit pick, I loved this movie. Melvin Van Peebles is another one of your most underrated directors that you'll ever come across. His body of work has been sadly neglected by the viewing public.
Highly recommended.
Melvin Van Peebles took a lot of flak from his Studio company for not making a "happy ending". Mr. Van Peebles felt that their was no reason and that his movie ended on an up note. I feel the same way as well. How else could have you ended this movie? There was no other way. My only gripe with this movie was the goofy make-up job they did on Mr. Cambridge. They slathered him in peach colored body paint. Other than that nit pick, I loved this movie. Melvin Van Peebles is another one of your most underrated directors that you'll ever come across. His body of work has been sadly neglected by the viewing public.
Highly recommended.