I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
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| I'm Gonna Git You Sucka | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Keenen Ivory Wayans |
| Produced by | Eric L. Gold Raymond Katz |
| Written by | Keenen Ivory Wayans |
| Starring | Keenen Ivory Wayans Bernie Casey Isaac Hayes Steve James Antonio Fargas Jim Brown John Vernon Ja'net Du Bois |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | December 14, 1988 (USA) |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka is a 1988 comedy feature film written, directed by and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans. It is a parody of blaxploitation movies.
Featured in the film are several African American actors who were part of the blaxploitation phenomenon; including Jim Brown, Antonio Fargas (Starsky and Hutch's Huggy Bear), and Isaac Hayes. Other actors featured in the film were Kadeem Hardison, John Witherspoon, Damon Wayans, Clarence Williams III, Chris Rock and Ja'net Du Bois (from Good Times).
The main villain, Mr. Big, was played by John Vernon, famous for his role as Dean Wormer in Animal House. Vernon comments on his appearance in the film, stating that while he would seem to be "above playing an exploitation villain", many others (including Angie Dickinson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Shelley Winters) have appeared in similar roles. Eve Plumb (Jan from The Brady Bunch) also has a memorable cameo appearance as the white wife of a former Muslim radical now in hiding.
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[edit] Plot
Keenen Ivory Wayans plays Jack Spade, who returns from the army to his old neighborhood following the death of his brother, Junebug. The police determine Junebug's death to be the result of an "OG", or "Over Gold" — the victim has overdosed on gold chains. A brief image of Junebug is shown featuring him covered, head-to-toe, with gold chains, and there is a recurring gag when various characters wonder "how did he go to the bathroom with all that shit on?" When not distracted by his old girlfriend and Junebug's wife Cheryl (Dawnn Lewis), Jack seeks revenge for his brother's death.
He declares war on Mr. Big (John Vernon), a powerful local crime lord who is seen as the person responsible for putting gold chains on the streets of Jack's neighborhood. Jack enlists the help of John Slade (Bernie Casey) Jack's childhood idol, who fought bad guys in the 1970s. With John's help, Jack enlists an "army" consisting of Hammer (Isaac Hayes) and Slammer (Jim Brown), Flyguy (Antonio Fargas), and Kung Fu Joe (Steve James). Together with his army, Jack sets out to eliminate the gold chain trade from the streets of his neighborhood and take down Mr. Big.
[edit] Notable appearances
This film features a scene with a very young Chris Rock in only his third film role. Chris plays the role of "Rib Joint Customer", where he is trying to order food and drink from Hammer's store. This scene marks the origin of the line, "Good Lord! That's a lot of money!" as Chris constantly tries to bargain with Hammer to get the most amount of food for the absolute cheapest price possible, no matter how small the actual portion is, despite having a large wad of $100 bills.
The film also features a brief cameo by the late '80s hip hop group Boogie Down Productions who perform the theme music for Jack Spade, entitled "Jack of Spades". As Slade describes early on in the film, "Every good hero should have his own theme music" Slade's theme music, incidentally, is the same as the theme to the 1971 movie, Shaft, and a group of musicians is seen trailing him, performing the famous instrumental.
A young Shawn and Marlon Wayans and Wesley Jonathan also appear in the movie as Antonio Fargas' character runs down the street. This marks the only time all five major Wayans siblings appear in the same film (their sister Kim Wayans appears as a very bad lounge singer; during her performance, a disgusted Slade asks a waitress "who is that?" The waitress replied - "she's the director's sister," with the camera panning to Keenen). In the same scene, the members of the band Fishbone can be seen, complete with instruments. Anne-Marie Johnson also has a role as Cherry, Jack's potential date for the night. After Jack confesses to his exaggeration as to the size of his manhood, Cherry comes clean in regards to the fact that she hasn't been as forthcoming about her physical attributes either, revealing her to be bald and an amputee.
[edit] Spin-off
On December 15, 1990, an hour long television pilot entitled Hammer, Slammer, & Slade[1] premiered. Isaac Hayes (Hammer), Jim Brown (Slammer), and Bernie Casey (Slade) reprised their parts from I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Also returning were Ja'net DuBois and Steve James. Although Keenen Ivory Wayans wrote and executive produced the pilot, he didn't appear in it. Instead, the character of Jack Spade was portrayed by ER star Eriq La Salle. Also appearing was a then-unknown Martin Lawrence in Kadeem Hardison's part as Willie, Mr. Big's nephew and one of his henchmen.
Hammer, Slammer, & Slade went unsold and floated around syndication. The pilot aired around the same time that Keenen Ivory Wayans was achieving success with his TV series In Living Color.
