Review: Melinda

Black DJ Calvin Lockhart meets and romances the title foxy mama (Vonetta McGee) before she is tragically murdered. He spends the rest of the film hell-bent on getting revenge, with the help of a somewhat bitter old flame (Rosalind Cash) and an ambitious businessman/karate instructor (Jim Kelly). Paul Stevens plays the slimy white mobster villain.

 

Surprisingly well-intentioned Hugh A. Robertson blaxploitation flick from 1972 features a solid performances by Lockhart. He is perhaps a little mincey and flamboyant to be playing an enthusiastically heterosexual playboy DJ, but he’s pretty good, and like Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier, he certainly has a lot more acting range than most blaxploitation actors). Also fine is McGee (doing wonders in short time), whilst there are lesser turns by Cash (whom I’ve never much liked as an actress) and cameo player Kelly (I believe it was his big break into films, but even in his best film “Black Belt Jones”, he was no actor).

 

The screenplay is by Lonne Elder III (“Bustin’ Loose”, “Sounder”), from a story by Raymond Cistheri, who worked on the story for “Body Snatchers” (with Larry Cohen) in the mid-1990s. It has a strong, somewhat romantic set-up (not something you normally find in these sorts of films), and a solid, violent conclusion, but gets a little lost somewhere in the middle. This is largely because McGee is gone and dull Cash shows up. Still, it’s far more ambitious than most in the genre (a genre I love, by the way). Worth a look if you’re curious, certainly.

 

Rating: C+