Watermelon Man 1970 Written by Herman Raucher and directed by Melvin Van Peebles. I'd seen the movie when it came out but hadn't seen it in years.
Godfrey Cambridge plays a white family man who sells insurance. He's kind of an obnoxious boor and a bit of a bigot. One day he wakes up and finds he's turned black. Over the next couple of days poor Godfrey loses his job, his doctor, his wife and kids. The neighbors throw rocks through his windows. They start calling, telling him to move out, eventually a delegation shows up in his living room. They'll buy him out, paying him $100,000 for his $38,000 house. He goes off, buys an apartment building and opens his own insurance agency.
Estelle Parsons plays Godfrey's wife, Erin Moran plays his daughter, Howard Caine is his boss, Kay E Kuter plays his doctor, Mantan Moreland plays the counterman at a cafe, D'Urville Martin (director of Dolemite) plays a bus driver, Paul Williams plays a clerk and Emil Sitka plays a delivery man.
I thought the story was entertainingly told, Van Peebles uses fast cuts, variable film speeds, psychedelic images, adds text and other visual hoopla to add to the narrative. It's got plenty of laughs but it's still a pretty serious and angry film. Godfrey does a great job as the poor guy who has his life turned completely over. Worth seeing. Makes me glad I picked up the DVD.
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