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

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

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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

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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

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, and Frank Packard, a white

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and

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; it was filmed partly in a working

whorehouse A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe t ...

. 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 was renamed again for VHS release as ''In Your Face''. Its original release was very limited, primarily to what was known as the " Chitlin' Circuit" of Southern

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

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The film was shot in the Baldwin Hills and

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neighbourhoods of

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without permits to do so, and at one point actual

motorcycle gang An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or club (in Australia), is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purpo ...

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 African-American superhero films Film superheroes 1970s English-language films 1970s American films English-language action films