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How sad is this?

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Nothing to really recommend about this unfunny attempt at a mid-'70s "blaxploitation" "musical" featuring a group of jive-talking' mamas on three-wheeled motorcycles who constantly tangle with a group of incompetent L.A. cops while simultaneously dealing with the threat of an evil Colonel Sanders-look-a-like who plans on creating a cloned race of...well, actually I was never really sure what he was trying to do. The boring plot is razor thin, the performances are sub-high school drama class and there's just not enough good music to make it worthwhile. The highlight of the film is a sequence with the Stax-signed vocal group The Dramatics performing their hit "Whatcha See is Whatcha Get" on a dungeon set(?). That was cool. The rest is barely worth a look. You have been warned.

I saw this movie for the first time on TCM 06/18.10, Never heard of it. A very bad depiction of black people. I thought the "Man Tam" thing( Blacks acting like goons ) was over by 1975. I was in college and we were not clowning like that. The only thing I liked about it was the Dramatics singing. Very awful. Unbelievable, a waste of money. I recognized one actor and was surprised that he stoop so low. I don't think Denzel would ever stoop that low. I waited for the credits to see who wrote and produced this piece of garbage. Put this one in the vault. I would rather see Super Fly or Foxy Brown. Poor taste, I do not recommend any Media station to show this kind of garbage again.

After many years of wanting to see this film, opportunity finally knocked when TCM aired it on December 18 2009. Did Christmas come early? Sadly, no, as Darktown Strutters is just a dreadful mess. There are some good elements here, from the music to the custom motor trikes, but it all adds up to very little. At best, serial vet William Witney directs the film as if it's a television situation comedy, but his efforts (such as they are) are consistently undermined by the uncharacteristically awful editing of Morton Tubor. Filled with jump cuts and unintentional visual non sequiturs, Darktown Strutters is also burdened with an incoherent screenplay from George Armitage. Even the presence of familiar faces like Sam Laws, Dick Miller, and Zara Cully (Mother Jefferson) doesn't move the film into positive territory, though a third act appearance by The Dramatics is a highlight. Perhaps the cast and crew indulged in one too many Pot-sicles whilst producing Darktown Strutters, but this is one bad trip indeed.

Directed by William Witney and written by George Armitage, Darktown Strutters is quite simply, the forerunner to I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA! It is slapstick comedy that was seen on a bigger budget in BLAZING SADDLES, but because of the storyline it was quite ahead of its time. The Darktown Strutters, a group of female bikers, come into Watts, where Syreena(fearless leader of the quartet) is looking for her mother. In the middle of it all, a racist, fast food magnate is plotting to manipulate the Black community for his own intentions. Highly stylized, and fast-paced, what makes Darktown Strutters so silly is its contemporary take on urban America and racism. Modern issues such as abortion, fast food chains, cloning, police brutality, and racism are interwoven quite effectively. The villain of the piece, one Colonel Louisville Cross, made his millions as owner of the Sky Hog fast food chain: where the pork ribs are bonesuckin' good! It is a very amusing spin on the benevolent image of the dearly departed Colonel Sanders(of KFC fame), who walked the earth when this film was released. It's also funny how they avoided copyright infringement by replacing fried chicken with pork: the other white meat. It's also funny to see Syreena's contempt for the Colonel the minute she sees him. It's easy to see why the movie is overlooked. During that period, I really don't think Black Americans were in the mood for such comedies, especially when the Blaxploitation era was full of hardcore action flicks. I think too many viewers on the IMDB, who have seen this, just don't get some of the jokes. If you were around during that time, and/or if you are of African American descent, you will get a lot of the comedy on display. To compare this to Car Wash makes no sense. And it is not as weird as people make it out to be. As I said earlier, it was simply ahead of its time.