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Melinda (1972)


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.