Article: Pioneer Melvin Van Peebles gets his due

Hollywood, it seems, has opened its arms to a new generation of black filmmakers. Now that Eddie Murphy, Spike Lee and Robert Townsend, among others, have shown their legs at the box office, every studio wants a black artist to call its own. Directors such as Keenen Ivory Wayans, Charles Lane, Euzhan Palcy, Wendell Harris, Mario Van Peebles, and the Hudlin brothers are either flirting or fully engaged with major film studios. The movie industry knows the cutting edge when it sees it gleaming.

None of this would be true were it not for Melvin Van Peebles. The director of pivotal films such as "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" and "Watermelon Man" has been publicly praised by Lee, ...

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