Black History Month: Don't Play Us Cheap

DON’T PLAY US CHEAP
Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles, based on his play
Starring Thomas Anderson, Jay Van Leer, Robert Dunn, Mabel King, George Ooppee McCurn, Joshie Jo Armstead, Frank Carey, Nate Barnett, Esther Rolle, Avon Long, Rhetta Hughes and Joseph Keyes
USA, 1972

So, Melvin Van Peebles wrote novels, made films and even released albums. DON’T PLUS CHEAP represents one of his forays into musical theater. You might be wondering if there is anything he can’t do and I guess the answer would be no.

This is the fairly simple tale of a group of Black friends, neighbors and family members gathered in an apartment to party Saturday night away. The only excuse they need is that it’s finally the weekend, but it also happens to be the matriarch of the group’s niece’s birthday.

A supernatural element is introduced when a couple of devils or imps… or maybe one devil and one imp… in the forms of bats and cockroaches decide to crash the party. The more experience one says it’s not worth it – Black people take partying too seriously to be stopped. But the devil-in-training gives it a try anyway, foiled by the partygoers time and time again.

This conceit is kind of funny, but as executed it’s a little confusing, especially since the movie isn’t much more than a filmed version of a play, so it’s very short and cheap in the way of special effects. Starting with the two devils plotting, in their altered forms, using strange camera tricks and editing, gets the proceedings off to a needlessly off-putting start. If you can make it through that opening, however, you’ll be reward with song after song as the Saturday night partiers revel in their freedom, if only for the weekend, each getting their own spotlight to perform.

Highlights include one of the songs early on with extra clever lyrics like, “You cut up the clothes in the closet of my dreams” and an entire ode to Saturday night.