The Return of Superfly (1990) Triton/Action-Drama RT: 95 minutes Rated R (language, violence, drugs, sexual content) Director: Sig Shore Screenplay: Anthony Wisdom Music: Curtis Mayfield Cinematography: Anghel Decca Release date: November 9, 1990 (US) Cast: Nathan Purdee, Margaret Avery, Leonard Thomas, Christopher Curry, Carlos Carrasco, Samuel L. Jackson, Luis Ramos, Kirk Taylor, David Groh, John Gabriel, Tico Wells, Patrice Ablack, Arnie Mazer, Eric Payne, Ruthanna Graves, David Weinberg, John Hayden, Joe Spataro, O.L. Duke, Timothy Stickney. Box Office: $610,402 (US)
Rating: ***
It’s hard to believe that The Return of Superfly has been around for more than 30 years. Rather, it’s hard to believe 1990 was more than 30 years ago. It’s funny how time flies as you get older. I clearly remember going into the city to see The Return of Superfly on a Sunday afternoon in November ‘90. As I waited in line at the now-closed Eric’s Place Theater to buy my ticket, I hoped I’d be able to follow it since I never saw Super Fly (1972) or its 1973 sequel Super Fly T.N.T. I only knew that they dealt with a drug dealer named Youngblood Priest played by the late Ron O’Neal who I knew from the 1979 martial arts actioner A Force of One starring Chuck Norris.
I ended up liking The Return of Superfly, but didn’t rewatch it until I came across a copy three decades later (i.e. last week). Seeing it again after so much time was quite an experience. It’s a total throwback! If not for references to Arsenio Hall and Pat Sajak, I’d swear that it was made in 1975 not 1990. Watching it, I briefly felt like I’d been transported back to the 70s- aka the Golden Age of Blaxploitation. Once I saw that nobody wore loud, flashy outfits and heard the rap music on the soundtrack, it brought me right back to the past-present. Who says time travel isn’t possible (yet)?
Nathan Purdee (The Young and the Restless) takes over O’Neal’s role as the former drug dealer now living the straight life in Paris as a successful businessman. He returns to the States upon receiving news that one of his former associates was killed by a rival gang. He’s taken into custody upon arrival at Kennedy Airport and spends three days at a detention center before he’s allowed to call his lawyer (Curry, C.H.U.D). It turns out the NYPD, working in conjunction with the DEA, want Priest to return to his old life and inform on his old pals. They’re looking to take down ex-cop/drug kingpin Hector Estrada (Carrasco, Speed) and threaten to jam Priest up if he doesn’t cooperate. They release him with a week to consider their offer.
After a couple of run-ins with fake cops working for Hector, Priest decides to take matters into his own hands. If anybody is going to put a stop to the drug war in Harlem, it may as well be him since the real police can’t seem to protect him. He’s helped by Willy Green (Wells, The Five Heartbeats), a Vietnam vet and illegal weapons dealer whose specialty is explosives. Together, they try to bring down Hector’s little empire.
Directed by Sig Shore, who produced the first two Super Fly films and also directed the 1985 female vigilante flick Sudden Death starring sexy starlet Denise Coward in her only significant movie role, The Return of Superfly has a cheap, gritty look to it. Although set in New York, a lot of it was filmed in Connecticut. At least I assume so; the producers thank the state and people of Connecticut in the end credits. It must be a significant portion. Either way, the action takes place in an urban landscape populated by drug dealers, crack chefs, junkies, dirty cops and irate neighbors sick of the gun violence that plagues their neighborhood. I got a real kick looking at the storefront in an early sequence. One of the shops is a Buster Brown shoe store. I haven’t seen one of those in ages. Does the brand even exist anymore? Who else remembers those dopey commercials from the 70s and early 80s? In any event, the look of the movie never betrays its low-budget origins. It comes from a place where action movies get made for a tiny fraction of the cost of the average Fast & Furious film- the last one, The Fate of the Furious, cost $250 million. As a movie geek weaned on 70s and 80s trash cinema, it’s a place I like very much.
No question about it, O’Neal is the definitive Youngblood Priest. Recasting the role is like trying to replace Richard Roundtree as John Shaft. Before you say it, Samuel L. Jackson (seen in an early role here) plays his nephew in the 2000 reboot, hence NOT a recasting or replacement. That being said, Purdee doesn’t do too bad a job in the part. He’s nothing to write home about either. He’s okay. He’s still the coolest cat on the street. With everything he has going on, he finds time to woo this foxy mama named Francine (Avery, The Color Purple), a club owner who knows the score better than any man. She proves valuable in finding a way to screw with Hector’s operation. It’s too bad she doesn’t get a lot of screen time. Carrasco is fine as the main bad guy and Curry is pretty good as Priest’s slimy lawyer. Leonard Thomas (King of New York) overacts shamelessly as Hector’s main henchman. Wait until you hear his insane laugh.
There are a few cool action scenes in The Return of Superfly. It has a good amount of violence. That’s the way it should be. Why else do people see movies like this? It certainly isn’t for intelligent writing, Oscar-level acting or brilliant insights into the human condition. Leave that stuff to Fellini, Kurosawa or Scorsese. We’ll take the violence, sex and super bad music. The soundtrack contains a few new Curtis Mayfield tunes including “Superfly 1990”, a collaboration with rapper Ice-T. That one is especially BAD (as in good).
Trashy grindhouse flicks like The Return of Superfly are so much fun if taken on their own terms. That definitely applies in this case. It’s badly made on several levels, but it’s still cool. When I see a movie like this, I like to imagine myself sitting in a grungy urban theater watching a triple feature surrounded by potentially dangerous types. It may not be everybody’s idea of Heaven, but you know what they say about different strokes and different folks.
