Film Review: ‘Watermelon Man’ is a Pivotal Film in Black Cinema History

Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 27, 2021 - 11:07am

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on February 25th, 2021, reviewing the 1970 film “Watermelon Man,” currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

An historic black cinematic curiosity from 1970, “Watermelon Man” features an almost forgotten stand up comic and actor from the 1960s named Godfrey Cambridge. Cambridge portrays Jeff, who begins the movie as a white man, and the one morning wakes up and he’s a black man. This transition is at first frightening for him, but after going through the stages of denial, anger, depression, etc., he accepts the man he his by making it personal. With Oscar-winner Estelle Parsons as Jeff’s wife.

“Watermelon Man” is is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Featuring Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Kaine, Kay Kimberly and Emil Sitka Written by Herman Raucher. Directed by Melvin Van Peebles. Rated “R”