The screening of Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song in 1971 began a completely new kind of relationship between American Blacks and the movies. Not only did the film present the first of a series of Black superheroes taking violent vengeances on honky, it was also the first major film produced under total Black control. That the latter was due to Sweetback's being written, produced, directed, edited, financed and starred in by the protean Mr. Van Peebles takes no luster away from the fact that at last we had a Black motion picture that had not been" messed over" by the Man. From the beginning Sweetback was a lightning rod for critical furies, partly because it treated forbidden subjects. The plotlaid in Los Angeles and southern California-is simple. It begins with a small black street waif given food and shelter by a gaggle of maternal whores. In the next scene, the lad, about fifteen and earning his keep doing chores around the bordello, is sexually initiated by an experienced prostitute. To the woman's surprise, the boy displays an astounding gift for coup-ling; in her delight she gives him the epithet of the title. Next comes Sweetback the adult, sharply dressed, still working in a brothel where his gift is a major contribution to the stag shows. But later he comes upon white detectives beating a confession out of Moo-Moo, a young black militant. Casting off passivity (thus far in the film he has spoken nary a word) he beats the cops insensible and thus finds himself unable to return to his old life. Now we follow the hero hurrying through the ghetto, seeking aid. He gets help from a former mistress and a preacher who operates a training academy for prostitutes. He and Moo-Moo finally get a ride out of town, only to discover that the building where they take refuge is the clubhouse of a white motorcycle gang. In a stunning sequence, Sweetback is forced to battle the