Black on Black Cinema: Ep59: Watermelon Man

This week on Black on Black Cinema, the crew discuss the 1970 comedy-drama film, Watermelon Man, directed by Melvin Van Peebles and starring Godfrey Cambridge and Estelle Parsons. The story of an unlikeable (by everyone) white man named Jeff Gerber who wakes up one day as a Black man in the 1970s. Challenging notions of white liberalism, disparity, and pushing the envelope of racial comedy in its time, Watermelon Man pulls no punches. More than simply a morality tale, Van Peebles takes a stab at the heart of what it means to be a man of color during that time.