With time, he became more aware of the way the movie fit in alongside other iconoclastic American movies made in the same era. ‘Personality Crisis: One Night Only’ Review: Scorsese Pays Tribute to the Ultimate New York Doll “I didn’t get the big picture until later,” he said, noting that he later found out his father received death threats as a result of the production.

As a 13-year-old on the set of the 1971 production (where he cameos in the sexually explicit opening scene), Mario said that the representational value of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” wasn’t part of his experience. In addition to pursuing his own career as an actor and filmmaker, the younger Van Peebles has been the caretaker of his father’s legacy for decades, even playing Melvin in the 2000 biopic “Badasssss!” But that investment in the legacy of the project came later. “This film was made at a time when you didn’t really see Black people onscreen with facial hair,” Mario told the crowd, “let alone some of the crazy shit my dad does in this movie.” The outdoor event, taking place in the newly opened NYFF venue of Damrosch Park, served as a timely reminder of the movie’s massive cultural impact as well as its value in proving that movies with Black protagonists had commercial appeal. Four days later, his son Mario was onstage to introduce his father’s most iconic achievement, as “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” screened in a new 4K restoration by the Criterion Collection at the New York Film Festival. On Wednesday, legendary filmmaking maverick Melvin Van Peebles died at the age of 89.

Panther by Melvin Van Peebles