Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

dworldeater Superfly is a groundbreaking urban crime classic and of the best films to come out during the blaxsploitation era. After the success of Shaft, this got the green light from Warner Bros. studio and went on to be a big hit and in my opinion a much better film than Shaft. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. and starring Ron O'Neil as Priest and rounded out by the excellent and totally on point score by Curtis Mayfield, Superfly is a powerful, amazing film. Priest(Ron O'Neil) is a cocaine dealer that is tired of the life and takes steps to get out. Ron delivers an incredibly tough, but cool performance here and comes across very authentic. He definitely embodies what could have been one of the baddest hustlers in town. The film has a lot of style, but has a lot of depth and commentary on what life was like for urban blacks at this time. While Priest is indeed superfly(beyond cool), and a very charismatic and bad ass character, the film does show that hustling is'nt easy and is a hard life that our main man is trying to get out of. The film is very realistic and gritty, much like getting hit in the face with a bike lock. Much of this is still relevant today, especially with regards to crooked cops and civil rights. While, a lot of blaxsploitation movies are very entertaining and fun. Superfly, is much more than that and is a exceptional film and classic that really holds up.

Mr-Fusion The big draw to "Super Fly" is Curtis Mayfield's case study in funk. A score like that, the sort that defines and threatens to hijack a movie, it doesn't come along everyday.. Which isn't saying the rest of the movie is bad. It's a one last drug score" story, played right down the middle. And it's not fair to the movie to say this has been done to death, but this was clearly more potent in its subject matter back in '72. It's worth seeing today, mostly for the gritty locations, brooding Ron O'Neal, and the bleak results of dead-end ghetto life.Really, it's that sweet music I can't get out of my head.6/10

kjphyland Well...where to start...if it wasn't for Curtis Mayfield occasionally doing some tricks I may have nodded off throughout the first hour...but then it dawned on me...this was 1972 and we hafta stick it to da man! As a piece of cinematic history it is worth the effort...as anything else it is just an appalling piece of garbage. The acting is very wooden and the script has more N words than the Oxford dictionary. At least we now know that it applies to African Americans...of any colour. It has a quite juicy softcore approach to intimate scenes however...no matter how forced they seem. The upshot is...selling toot is a very dodgy business...but it has its merits...you can get a very cool car, some appalling dressage and bad hats. I give it 5/10 just for the concept of getting "outa the business". Hoo-rah!

chaos-rampant Ron Earl is the Priest, independent Harlem coke dealer who is out for the big deal, one last push before he's out of there and out of the street. He also happens to be the protagonist and the one character we're called to empathize with and if that pose a problem for some, it's a directorial choice I applaud even only for its disregard of PC norm. In a genre populated for the most part by cops, private dicks and other manifestations of the law, having a drug dealer kicking ass and not in the name of some higher value, without him renouncing his past or seeing the error of his ways and becoming goodie two-shoes in a last minute, flimsy attempt to redeem the movie in the eyes of moral censors, without being heavy-handed or trashy is certainly admirable. Those that enjoy taking the moral high ground against the movie they're watching will find plenty of ground here to do so. I don't. I might oppose a movie on a political level but only when it tries to make a political statement out of it and Superfly sure as hell doesn't, at least not beyond what genre conventions might dictate (i.e. whitey is bad). The Priest however renounces the hypocrisy of "Black Nation" scumballs going around asking him for money just as much as he rails against the "redneck faggot" captain who doubletimes as the local drug lord.So if Super Fly is so good, it's because The Priest's desire comes across so transparent, strong and clear. Get off the street. A home, a vine, his woman, that's all he wants out of life now, despite (or perhaps because of) him being a societal leech feeding off people's addiction. Dealing drugs is just a job for him, a means to an end. His partner Eddie rambles on at one point early in the movie about how "it's all whitey left them to do" on which I call shenanigans; that way of thinking is never further expounded upon in relation to the Priest's goal and Eddie in the end proves himself to be a backstabbing, greedy son of a bitch. I think the best way to sketch out The Priest's character is by using Lee Marvin's words when he was asked what it felt like to have played so many bad guys in his life: "My characters weren't bad. They were just trying to get through the day". That's pretty much the wavelength Super Fly channels its protagonist through. Neither condemnation, nor approval, it's just the way it is.Super Fly is so damn good however, not just because its drug dealer protagonist comes across as genuine and sympathetic, but more so because it never allows itself to be drawn to the sillier end of blaxploitation. No 'mack daddy' sleazy pimpin' fabulousness here, the movie is constantly rooted in reality, taking itself serious before asking the viewer to do the same, but also groovy and funky as only blaxploitation flicks can be. A big part of that distinct seventies charm is due to Curtis Mayfield's stupendous score, playing over most of the film, but also the seedy back-alleys and rundown neighborhoods of then contemporary Harlem, the grime almost reaching across the screen.Grade A blaxpoitation then, but also a smokin' hot crime flick with characterization that is better than most, good pace, all-around good acting, booty-shaking' music, afros and a few punches thrown in for good measure, Super Fly is among the best of its kind. Strongly recommended.