1970s blaxploitation movies that have been cut or banned in Australia.
Pre-November 1971 decisions are here.
Black Angels
Directed by Laurence Merrick / 1970 / USA / IMDb
In January 1984, Prestige Video had THE BLACK ANGELS passed with the Special Condition ‘that this film/tape will not be exhibited in any State in contravention of State’s law relating to the exhibition of films’.
Rating the video backlog
In February 1984, it became law for all videotapes to be classified. At this time, the Film Censorship Board began reviewing previously released titles.
In November 1984, Prestige Video’s BLACK ANGELS was refused due to ‘explicit and gratuitous sexual violence’.
Why was it banned?
Prestige Video (au) – VHS – 81:45
Preceded by the Motion Picture Association of America’s R-rating.
68:00 – A woman is abducted from the street by two men in a car. They take her to a warehouse where they chain her up and rip open her top. One of the men holds a knife to her breasts. It ends with her screaming, the sound of which continues over the following scene of a biker couple kissing. Presumably, this is uncut and the editing of the sequence does not indicate any censorship.
Super Fly
Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. / 1971 / USA / IMDb
In September 1972, a 2619.00-meter (95:28) print of SUPER FLY was banned because of ‘indecency and incitement to drug abuse’.
Warner Bros. appealed to the Films Board of Review. They overturned the ban and passed it with an R-rating in February 1973.
VHS release
An 87-minute tape of SUPER FLY was passed with an R-rating in October 1986. It was awarded for sex, which was identified as being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
…and for also drug abuse.
Warner Home Video released the tape as part of their Video Gems range.
Hammer
Directed by Bruce D. Clark/ 1972 / USA / IMDb
In July 1973, a 2492.96-meter (90:52) print of HAMMER was censored by 18.89-meters (00:42) for an R-rating. The cuts were made to remove ‘excessive violence’.
United Artists Australasia was the applicant.
The excessive violence
Simon reports.
MGM (us) – DVD – 90:53 (NTSC) minus MGM lion before and after.
The 00:42 of ‘excessive violence’ would have come from some of these scenes.
04:00 – Riley (John Quade) beating up one of the dock workers.
20:30 – Roughhouse (Stack Pierce) being crushed to death by the car.
41:00 – Cops chase a black guy who is beaten by Brenner (William Smith).
78:00 – Brenner beating the Professor (Mel Stewart).
88:00 – Hammer (Fred Williamson) killing Brenner by putting his head through a car window.
The deaths of Roughhouse and Brenner are the most likely target for cuts because both show their dead, blood-splattered faces.
Slaughter
Directed by Jack Starrett/ 1972 / USA – Mexico / IMDb
In February 1973, a 2503.00-meter (91:14) print of SLAUGHTER was censored by 26.21-meters (00:57) for an R-rating. The cuts were made to remove ‘excessive violence’.
Roadshow Distributors released it theatrically.
Blaxploitation double-bill
In May 1985, a video containing SLAUGHTER and FOXY BROWN (1974) was passed with an R-rating. It was awarded for:
Violence
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
Sex and Language
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
Communications and Entertainment released the tape on their Playaround Video label.
SLAUGHTER ran 92-minutes and was presumably uncut.
Black Caesar
aka The Godfather of Harlem
Directed by Larry Cohen / 1973 / USA / IMDb
In November 1976, a 2496.00-meter (90:59) print of BLACK CAESAR was censored by 16.30-meters (00:35) for an R-rating. The cuts were made to remove ‘excessive violence’.
Filmways Australasia submitted and released it as THE GODFATHER OF HARLEM.
Retitled for VHS
In December 1988, an 88-minute video was passed with an R-rating. It was awarded for sex and violence, which were described as being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
CBS/Fox Video released the tape under its original title of BLACK CAESAR.
DVD release
A DVD was issued in December 2013 by Umbrella Entertainment.
The December 1988 classification was used, so it is missing consumer advice.
