Watermelon Man

Synopsis: Jeff Gerber, an insurance agent, lives in a typical suburban neighborhood. He is also both racist and a fitness freak. But Jeff's bigoted world of taunting and harassing black people on and off the job is turned upside down when his skin inexplicably turns dark overnight. As Jeff tries to come to terms with this unexplained phenomenon that has befallen him, he soon becomes the victim himself when all of his friends and neighbors suddenly shun and harass him. This puts a strain on his marriage and loyal wife Althea, who begins to crack under the pressure. When all medical attempts to change his skin back to his former color fail, Jeff accepts that Kharma has caught up with him. Jeff tries to see the light of being a persecuted black man in this cruel and segregated world with the help of some of some new black friends, some of whom were people he, as a white man, taunted and harassed.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director(s): Melvin Van Peebles

Actors: Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Caine, D'Urville Martin

Production: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win.


IMDB:: 6.5

Collection Edit Watch PDF Buy

: R
Year:: 1970
: 100 min
: 92 Views

[THUDDING]
[GLASS CLINKING]
79, 80, 80, JUMP, 82,
83, 84, 85, 86...
[SIGHS]
[PANTS]
[JEFF GRUNTING]
Come on, harder.
Come on, yell.
Jimmy crack corn,
and i don't care
Jimmy crack corn,
and i don't care
my master's gone away
(Jeff)
Take that, my good man.
Oh, you are fast,
Muhammad aAli.
You are fast, all right.
Ooh! Rabbit punch.
Jesus, ref, are you blind?
You're a credit to your race.
(MALE NEWSCASTER)
...damage estimated
in the millions.
It's the 3rd such outbreak
in this area this month
and reflects the unrest
that has plagued the area
since early last year
when similar conflagrations
arose
all across the country...
Morning, troop.
Hello, sweetheart.
Hey, Burton.
Should another such incident occur,
he would be compelled to ask
for special federal riot troops,
an action that no one wants.
Least of all, the White House
which has been hopeful
that such disturbances were over,
at least for the time being.
That's got to be the smallest screen
in the world.
They look like ants.
They're getting very dangerous.
A screen that size ought to
only have 15-minute shows.
[CHUCKLING]
Get it?
Small screen, small shows.
You said that yesterday.
You didn't get it yesterday either.
It wasn't funny yesterday
any more than it'll be funny tomorrow.
Critics everywhere.
Aren't you concerned
with the civil rights issue?
Yeah, sure.
Most people are just crazy.
They think at any moment
a negro's gonna hit 'em over the head
with a watermelon and steal
their high school ring.
I think white people
have to show greater interest
and understanding. How else--
Look, aAlthea.
Your bus will be coming by soon.
I'd like to give 'em a head start.
Makes a contest out of it.
It is now post time.
Thank you, my dear.
Off to another smash week
in the insurance gig.
I want you to know that I feel
I'm leading a boring life.
I am so advised.
You were so advised yesterday.
It wasn't funny yesterday either.
Don't kiss me.
I wasn't gonna kiss you,
it's just that my shorts
are too tight, that's all.
Mommy, can we watch daddy run out the door?
No, you may not.
Oh, boy.
There goes your stupid bus.
Doesn't stand a chance.
There he is, the son of a bitch!
Step on it, you got him by 50 yards!
Sorry, folks, I got to
make a stop at this corner.
(MAN)
have your exact change ready, folks.
[ALL YELLING]
Come on.
[ALL CONTINUE YELLING]
(MAN)
Hurry up! Hurry up!
[PASSENGERS GROANING]
(MAN)
Go! Go! Go! Go!
(PASSENGERS)
Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey.
[PASSENGERS CHEERING]
[PASSENGERS CHATTERING]
(PASSENGERS)
oh, shit.
[SIGHS]
Winner, and still undefeated, folks.
Pay some respectful homage, please.
Some applause, please?
[CHUCKLING]
Shows you have good taste, lady.
Fare, please
Arrogant, arrogant.
They're all arrogant.
In the good old days, back in the old south,
you'd have to drive from back here!
[LAUGHING]
Get it? Back of the bus?
Why don't you take
all the money you save
racing this bus and race a cab?
(JEFF)
That is very funny.
[JEFF LAUGHING]
Hey, driver, you hear that?
I'm only good for short distances.
100 yards, maybe.
But over a long haul,
they just don't have it in 'em.
Camptown race track
5 miles long
doo-dah, doo-dah
Camptown race track
5 miles long
(JEFF)
See you tomorrow, fans.
Same time, same station.
Yeah, you're not such
a big shot when it rains, are you?
When it rains, you ride.
No, no, when it rains, it pours.
[HUMMING]
[SIGHS]
come on, joe.
hey, joe, come on.
come on, come on.
mornin', mr. gerber.
ah, mornin', joe.
how goes it?
oh, ok.
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Herman Raucher

Herman Raucher (born April 13, 1928) is an American author and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the autobiographical screenplay and novel Summer of '42, which became one of the highest-grossing films and one of the best selling novels of the 1970s, respectively. He began his writing career during the Golden Age of Television, when he moonlighted as a scriptwriter while working for a Madison Avenue advertising agency. He effectively retired from writing in the 1980s after a number of projects failed to come to fruition, though his books remain in print and a remake of one of his films, Sweet November, was produced in 2001. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018