I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)

Movie Info

Thankfully OG deaths have dropped in recent years

Jack Spade (Keenen Ivory Wayans) has just received bad news.  His brother Junebug has OGed (Over Gold) when he became addicted to gold chains.  Now, Jack against the wishes of his mother Belle (Ja’net Dubois) is going after his supplier Mr. Big (John Vernon) and his lackeys Willie (Kadeem Hardison) and Leonard (Damon Wayans).  Jack is no hero and will need help in the form of his mother’s former boyfriend John Slade (Bernie Casey) and a team made up of urban heroes Slammer (Jim Brown), Hammer (Isaac Hayes), Kung Fu Joe (Steve James), and Pimp of the Year Flyguy (Antonio Fargas).

Pimp of the Year!!!

Written and directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka helped put the Wayans on the map.  The parody of blaxploitation films was relatively well received and over the years, the film has become a cult hit.

I saw I’m Gonna Git You Sucka not long after it came out on video.  As a kid, a lot of the jokes went over my head so it was good to revisit it.  The smart parody comedy was a great example of why In Living Color became such a big hit.

We’re gunning for you!

The story is where the parody aspect comes into play.  All the characters are stock characters from blaxploitation films from the ’70s.  You have to community helper, the Black Power activist, the soldier, a kung-fu Jim Kelly character, and the evil white man ruining the lives of the people in the poorest areas of the city.  I like how it is constructed, but the movie sometimes is too clever for its own good and when it is, it doesn’t flow as well.  You can see some lasting effect of I’m Gonna Git You Sucka in films like Black Dynamite as well.

So that’s how they became the Brady Bunch!

The cast of the film is great.  Keenen Ivory Waynes holds his ground with the powerhouses Bernie Casey, Isaac Hayes, and Jim Brown.  I particularly like Antonio Vargas as the Pimp of the Year “Flyguy”.  Other Waynes staples appear in Kadeem Hardison and David Alan Grier along with Waynes family members Damon Waynes, Kim Waynes, Marlon Waynes, and Shawn Waynes in various roles.  Clarence William III is good as the domesticated Black Power supporter who is married to Brady Bunch star Jan  Brady Eve Plumb.  Chris Rock’s “One Rib” guy still gets quoted today.

The movie could have maybe been better served by making it look like an old movie.  I would have loved to see the movie gritty and grimy like Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror which was made to look like a grindhouse film.  When I’m Gonna Git You Sucka was made, that wasn’t really the style being used, but it would have suited the film better.

I make this hat look good!

The Wayans became a powerhouse in entertainment through In Living Color and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka shows what the brothers and their friends are capable of.  It is a fun movie with a fun cast.  It does help if you are versed in blaxploitation, but it isn’t necessary.  The characters of Slade (Bernie Casey), Hammer (Isaac Hayes), and Slammer (Jim Brown) were set up for a potential TV series in a pilot called Hammer, Slammer, & Slade which aired on December 15, 1990 (the Jack Spade character was played Eriq La Salle), but the series wasn’t picked up.

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