ONE SMALL SEED MAGAZINE Issue #29 Digital 04 THE BEST OF | Page 62

Melvin
van Peebles

AIN’T NOT
BOTHERED
Melvin van Peebles’ life story can’t be traced along a single
trajectory: He tried his hand as a cable car driver in San
Francisco, traded some stocks, wrote a few novels - and is
best known for his classic film Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss
Song. His first feature film raised the eyebrows of the
conservative 1960s Hollywood establishment that invited him
to work as a director. But he had more on his mind than fame.
By directing the politically loaded Watermelon Man and
making Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song practically
single-handedly, he played a major role in paving the way for
the next generation of black American filmmakers. Despite
criticism for opening up the blaxploitation genre with his film,
he prefers to see the bigger picture. He is still going strong
at 78 and performing with his new band Melvin van Peebles
wid Laxatives (‘because they get shit done’).
Sandra Pfeifer meets van Peebles for an interview in his
New York apartment on 56th Street. It is decorated with a
giant hotdog and the backside of a skyblue 1979 VW van that
seems to have crashed through the wall. Fumes chug from its
exhaust pipe. ‘You see?’ He laughs, ‘It’s still trying to escape...’