Black Girl (1972) on Netflix
Billie Jean dances at a bar to buy her mother Rosie a larger house. Her older sisters resent Rosie's affection for Netta, the foster daughter coming home for Mother's Day.
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- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.8/10754 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
The cramped house holds Norma Faye and Ruth Ann, Billie Jean's two older sisters, along with Rosie, their mother, their grandmother Mu'Dear, and Mu'Dear's boyfriend Herbert. Both sisters dropped out of high school and are raising children alone, and Billie Jean wants something else for herself. She left school as well and works as a dancer and waitress at the Groovy Bar and Grill, saving money to buy Rosie a bigger house. Rosie holds her up against Netta, the foster daughter she raised, whose own mother is mentally ill. Netta is coming home from college for Mother's Day, and the sisters, who resent how Rosie dotes on her, tell Billie Jean that Netta will move into her room.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Black Girl (1972)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Playwright J.E. Franklin called the poster for Black Girl a blatant misrepresentation: it blew up a five-second shot of Norma Faye snarling and threatening Billie Jean with a knife.
- Voice-overs were used to erase the word "fucks" so Black Girl would be eligible for a PG rating, and J.E. Franklin was urged not to tell anyone the cuts had been made, as people might think they had missed something.
- J.E. Franklin said efforts were made early in filming to exploit material for sex and violence, and she tried to have a scene where Billie Jean disrobes removed; it stayed in the film, though without nudity.
- Franklin got Peggy Pettit cast as Billie Jean rather than what she called "a light-bright-damned-near-white actress", but against her wishes the director cast Claudia McNeil, who had been in A Raisin in the Sun, as Mu'Dear.
- Franklin wrote the film adaptation of her own play Black Girl for a very small advance, and the experience was unhappy: producer Lee Savin dropped Woodie King Jr. from the project, and the director refused to hire Shauneille Perry as her assistant.
