COONSKIN
Directed and Written by RALPH BAKSHI
Before it was released, Coonskin was a "controversial" movie. Representatives of CORE who saw it in preview denounced it for trafficking in vicious racial stereotypes, and this anger caused its original distributor, Paramount, to relinquish it gratefully to a smaller, less visible competitor. Once this happened, of course, the film was defended by other black groups charging censorship. They claimed that although Coonskin indeed showed blacks as hookers, hoodlums and con artists, it also showed the principal characters as tough, smart and ultimately victorious over still worse oppressors—mainly, corrupt cops and vile mafiosi.
As so often happens...
