''Abar, The First Black Superman'' is a 1977

blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...

superhero film A superhero film (or superhero movie) is a film that focuses on the actions of superheroes. Superheroes are individuals who possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically feature Action film, ac ...

directed by Frank Packard and starring J. Walter Smith, Tobar Mayo, and Roxie Young. When it was released on VHS in 1990, it was re-titled ''In Your Face''.

Premise

Upon moving into a bigoted neighbourhood, the scientist father of a persecuted black family gives a superpower

elixir ELIXIR (the European life-sciences Infrastructure for biological Information) is an initiative that will allow life science laboratories across Europe to share and store their research data as part of an organised network. Its goal is to bring t ...

to a tough bodyguard, who then becomes a superpowered crimefighter.

Cast

* J. Walter Smith as Dr. Kinkade * Tobar Mayo as John Abar * Roxie Young as Mrs. Kinkade * Gladys Lum as Debbie Kinkade * Tony Rumford as Tommie Kinkade * Rupert Williams as Jim Kinkade * Tina James as Susan Kinkade * Art Jackson as Dudley * Allen Ogle as Peabody * Joe Alberti as Hunt * Dee Turguand as Mabel

Production

The film was the brainchild of James Smalley, a black pimp from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and Frank Packard, a white

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

; it was filmed partly in a working

whorehouse A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub pa ...

. Smalley ran out of money before the film was completed, and had to sell the film to the owner of a film processing lab to settle his unpaid bills. Originally titled ''SuperBlack'', it was completed in 1975, but not released until 1977, under the name ''Abar, The First Black Superman''; it would be renamed again for VHS release as ''In Your Face''. Its original release was very limited, primarily to what was known as the "

Chitlin' Circuit The Chitlin' Circuit was a collection of performance venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States that provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African American musicians, comedians, and other enterta ...

" of Southern

drive-ins A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollerskat ...

.Smith, Richard Harland
"Articles: Abar, the First Black Superman (1977)"

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

The film was shot in the Baldwin Hills and

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

neighbourhoods of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

without permits to do so, and at one point actual

motorcycle gang An outlaw motorcycle club is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, a ...

members who had been hired to play a black motorcycle gang surrounded the cars of the white police officers who had been called in to shut down shooting. The officers chose to stay in their cars.

References

External links

* * * {{YouTube, DrOEL_rV8N4, Abar, the First Black Superman Trailer Blaxploitation films 1970s superhero films American superhero films Film superheroes 1970s English-language films 1970s American films