Superfly
(1972)

Director: Gordon Parks, Jr.

Key Cast: Ron O’Neal, Sheila Frazier, Julius Harris, Carl Lee, Charles McGregor, Nate Adams, Polly Niles, Tvonne Delaine, Henry Shapiro, Jim Richardson

Rating: R

Genre(s): Action, Crime, Drama

Song Sample:
"Superfly"

One of the most famous blaxploitation films to come out of the 1970s, "Superfly" was also one of the most controversial because of its seeemingly glorified depiction of its star - Harlem drug dealer Priest. (Played by Ron O'Neal.)

Ron O'Neal took the movie screen by storm and is best remembered for his role in "Superfly." He plays Priest, a Harlem cocaine dealer who wants to get out of the drug business. But the white mob kingpins who control him, don't want to let him out of the mob syndicate. Everyone knows on the street that "no one leaves the mob." At least, alive that is.

Determined to get out, Priest embarks on a journey that leads to murder, revenge and double-crosses in his effort to start a new life.

Will he succeed?

With a memorable, funky soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield, "stick it to the man" storyline and superb direction by Gordon Parks Jr., "Superfly" was an African-American box office hit in 1972. It remains a blaxploitation movie classic to this day.

∙  "Superfly" was financed by three African-American businessmen.  One of them was Gordon Parks, who directed Shaft and is the father of Gordon Parks Jr., who directed Superfly.

∙  The film "Superfly" is best remembered for its movie soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield.  "Superfly" is one of the few movies where the soundtrack has made more money than the film itself.

∙  Curtis Mayfield wrote, produced and performs on the Superfly movie soundtrack.  He purposely made the lyrics anti-drug.

∙  Curtis Mayfield also composed and produced the movie soundtracks for these other Top 100 BlackClassicMovies.com films: Claudine, Sparkle, and A Piece of the Action.

∙  Ron O’Neal, who stars as Superfly, auditioned for the role of John Shaft in the movie Shaft.  The producers thought that Ron O’Neal’s skin was too light for the role and turned him down.

∙  There were two sequels made to Superfly.  Superfly T.N.T (1973) and The Return of Suiperfly (1990).  The sequels did not achieve the same box office success as the original movie.

∙  The director of this movie, Gordon Parks, Jr. is the son of Gordon Parks who directed Shaft, another Top 100 BlackClassicMovies.com film.

∙  Curtis Mayfield was nominated for a 1973 Grammy Award for Best Original Score written for a Motion Picture for the "Superfly" Movie Soundtrack.

Buy the Superfly Movie DVD
"Superfly" is one of the most famous and controversial
movies to be made during the blaxploitation film era.

Starring Ron O'Neal, "Super Fly" also has one of the
best and most memorable movie soundtracks ever done.

 
Free shipping on orders
over $25.

Superfly Movie Posters
Buy vintage Superfly movie posters at Moviegoods.com. Moviegoods also has collectible Superfly posters in other languages and movie posters for the Superfly sequels -
"Superfly T.N.T." and "The Return of Superfly."

Click the poster image on the left
for purchase details.

Superfly Movie Soundtrack - Download Songs Now
The soundtrack for the movie "Superfly" was a music
sensation when it was released and to this day it remains
a classic.

Composed and sung by Curtis Mayfield, the album reached
#1 on three Billboard charts - Black Albums, Pop Albums
and Jazz Albums.

You can listen to music samples by pressing the play
button on the music player to the left.

Also, you can download individual songs from the
"Superfly" movie soundtrack or the entire album.

Superfly Movie Soundtrack
The "Superfly" movie soundtrack has been digitally-remastered
to provide the best sound quality on CD.

A top-selling album, "Superfly" contains the following
Curtis Mayfield songs:

"Freddie's Dead"
"Pusherman"
"Superfly"
"Give Me Your Love"
"Junkie Chase"
"Eddie You Should Know Better"
"Little Child Runnin' Wild"
"No Thing On Me"
"Think"

(You can listen to music samples by pressing play
on the AmazonMp3 player above.)

Buy the Superfly Movie Soundtrack on CD

 
Free shipping on orders
over $25.

Here are the lyrics to the title song, "Superfly" by Curtis Mayfield.

Darkest of night
With the moon shining bright
There's a set goin' strong
Lotta things goin' on
The man of the hour
Has an air of great power
The dudes have envied him for so long

Oooh, Superfly
You're gonna make your fortune by and by
But if you lose, don't ask no questions why
The only game you know is Do or Die
Ah-ha-ha

Hard to understand
What a hell of a man
This cat of the slum
Had a mind, wasn't dumb
But a weakness was shown
'Cause his hustle was wrong
His mind was his own
But the man lived alone

Oooh, Superfly
You're gonna make your fortune by and by
But if you lose, don't ask no questions why
The only game you know is Do or Die
Ah-ha-ha

The game he plays he plays for keeps
Hustlin' times and ghetto streets
Tryin' ta get over
(That's what he tryin' to do, y'all)

Taking all that he can take
Gambling with the odds of fate
Tryin' ta get over (4x)
Woo, Superfly...

The aim of his role
Was to move a lot of blow
Ask him his dream
What does it mean?
He woudn't know
"Can't be like the rest"
Is the most he'll confess
But the time's running out
And there's no happiness

Oooh, Superfly
You're gonna make your fortune by and by
But if you lose, don't ask no questions why
The only game you know is Do or Die
Ah-ha-ha

Superfly (4x)

"Tryin' ta get over..." (9x)

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Here are the lyrics to another popular song from this album, "Freddie's Dead" by Curtis Mayfield.

Hey, hey...
Love, love...
Yeah, yeah...
Uh huh...
Freddie's dead.
That's what I said...
Let the man rap a plan; 'said he'd send him home.
But his hope was a rope, and he should have known.
It's hard to understand; there was love in this man.
I'm sure all would agree, that his misery,
was his woman and things.
Now Freddie's dead.
That's what I said...
Everybody's misused him; ripped him off and abused him.
Another junkie playin'; pushin' dope for the man.
A terrible blow, but that's how it go...
Freddie's on the corner now... if you wanna be a junkie, wow...
Remember, Freddie's dead...
We're all built up with progress,
but sometimes I must confess,
we can deal with rockets and dreams,
but reality... what does it mean? Ain't nothing said.
'cause Freddie's dead.
Hey, hey...
Love, love...
Hey, hey...
Yeah, yeah...
Huh huh...
Love, love...
Yeah, yeah...
Huh huh...
Yeah, yeah...

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