Father and son have a nice conversation that is a blend of reminiscence and behind the scenes information. History repeats itself or art imitates life imitating art. Both father and son faced and overcame similar logistical and industry challenges. They speak about the state of filmmaking at the time, historical events and the general sentiment for black cinema of the era. Melvin relates his motivations for writing his book and bringing the legacy film to fruition. They reflect on their interactions with the real life personalities as portrayed in the film. Certain scenes depicting their relationship on screen have Mario recalling how he felt at the time. They note how their father-son relationship started to build during the making of the legacy film. Both offer insights into filmmaking that they learned during their careers and respective films. This track has a unique dynamic as the films of father and son blur so much - clips from Sweet Sweetback are interspersed in Badasssss! - that they could easily be talking about one or both films much of the time. Mario even strove to use the same locations as has father had 30 years prior.

Father and son have a nice conversation that is a blend of reminiscence and behind the scenes information. History repeats itself or art imitates life imitating art. Both father and son faced and overcame similar logistical and industry challenges. They speak about the state of filmmaking at the time, historical events and the general sentiment for black cinema of the era. Melvin relates his motivations for writing his book and bringing the legacy film to fruition. They reflect on their interactions with the real life personalities as portrayed in the film. Certain scenes depicting their relationship on screen have Mario recalling how he felt at the time. They note how their father-son relationship started to build during the making of the legacy film. Both offer insights into filmmaking that they learned during their careers and respective films. This track has a unique dynamic as the films of father and son blur so much - clips from Sweet Sweetback are interspersed in Badasssss! - that they could easily be talking about one or both films much of the time. Mario even strove to use the same locations as has father had 30 years prior.

I was going to say I am surprised only one other person reviewed this commentary since I thought people on this site were into making films, and would definitely own this DVD, but maybe not. And the earlier review is really good, so I am going to have trouble adding much to it.

It is not an incredibly informative track since the movie explains most of the story very well. But there are great moments where the dad explains some details missing from the film. And how many times he points out something like "it really happened that way" is good, because it is easy to think a lot of it was dramatized for the movie.

You can definitely hear in Melvins voice how much of a badass he was, and how hard he worked to put his vision on screen. He almost seemed surprised at how much his son remembered and got exactly right for this film.

Unique to the film are comments about various actors and their abilities to keep the comedy just below the surface. Mario was pressured to make it more funny, and he took producer Michael Mann advice to heart to never let up on the pressure; Even in moments of small victories. And Mario points out the actors who were really good at being funny just enough to be funny, but not enough to make it a comedy.

Melvin really liked the interviews on screen, and how much that added to the feeling of the truth and back stories to what we saw. He probably also admired how cost efficient it was to explain motivations and the industry environment this way.