Contentar
Best movie of this year hands down!
ShangLuda
Admirable film.
Derrick Gibbons
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Wizard-8
The idea of Metro Goldwyn Mayer dipping its toe into the blaxploitation genre may at first sound strange, but actually MGM did this several times, most notably with the "Shaft" films. But while the "Shaft" films are well know to this day, "Melinda" has been all but forgotten today. It doesn't take long upon watching it to figure out why. The first third of the movie is incredibly slow and dull. The next two-thirds has a bit more speed and action, but too little and too late. Director Hugh A. Robertson was obviously hampered by a poor screenplay, but he was also obviously restricted with a limited amount of money, since the movie looks more like an effort for television than for the silver screen. But that's not to say that Robertson should be totally absolved of fault. There are some very poorly directed sequences, and his instructions to the movie's star Calvin Lockhart make the talented actor's character come across as selfish, obnoxious, and cruel. I have a feeling that even the target audience at the time found this a sub par effort, though I'll admit I have seen much worse 1970s blaxploitation films.
MartinHafer
Apart from being Jim Kelly's first film, this is a rather ordinary blackspoitation film. It's neither an over the top bad but enjoyable film of the genre nor is it one of the outstanding ones...but lies somewhere in the middle.When the film begins, Frankie (Calvin Lockhart) is a handsome and successful DJ...and he seems to know just how pretty he is. In fact, when he meets Melinda, he struts his stuff and impresses her so much she does the nasty with him...and they both are then inexplicably in love. However, after Frankie leaves, some unknown fiends come in and trash his pad...and kill Melinda. When Frankie returns, jerks cops arrest him but they cannot hold him...and Frankie decides to work his way up the chain of command in the black and white mobs until he finds Mr. Big and makes him play. And, wisely, for the big showdown, Frankie brings along his kung fu buddies and they have a hellacious smackdown.If you are looking for pimps and the like, you won't find it in this one. Instead, it's much like a normal drama merged with a blacksploitation film...watchable and enjoyable but not especially memorable.By the way, like many films in this genre, there is nudity, violence and rough language...which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone!
galaxxy500
That super-ego brilliant Mutha Frankie J. Parker played by Calvin Lockhart is a ghetto disc jockey who smooth talks and womanizes until he meets a sultry gal named Melinda played by Vonetta McGee. Things go smoothly until Melinda winds up dead in Frankie's apartment. The mob is behind the hit since Melinda had one of their audio tapes concealed in a cigarette box. Frankie cant take on the mob all by himself so he rounds up a few buddies and struggling businessman and karate instructor Charlie Atkins played by Jim Kelly and together form a small army and go into combat. Kelly, who is responsible for the violence and Lockhart take on thugs, steal their cars and drive up to the mob boss's mob to "clear things up" and "close the deal". In the end Frankie rekindles a lost love interest and Kelly and his crew go back to the real world and leave Frankie and his old time gal to reconcile and understand each other throughout the end of the film. Through this violent action film I saw a lot of the characters emotions, the fear,the struggle,the anger,the courage, and the love and romance. At the end I felt good inside. I could Identify with the characters who went through all that. To me this film has been overlooked and underrated. "Melinda" should be digitally remastered and recorded on DVD. I strongly recommend this film to anyone. Look past the color and the genre. This is your kind of Black Film.
hillari
A smooth DJ falls for a woman he's just met. When he finds her dead a short time later, he discovers that she had been killed because of her ties to organized crime. The DJ decides to avenge her death, receiving the help of a woman (the late, great Rosalind Cash) whom he had scorned. This film doesn't exactly follow the bullets and blood formula of many other Blackploitation action films. It does a little better on characterization, especially of the DJ and his scorned gal pal. However, it doesn't get as deep as it promises to be.
