Leonard Jackson plays a barber who is also the domineering head of a middle-class African American family. Jackson is forced to rethink his values when his previously docile wife (Clarice Taylor) joins their three children in rebelling against her husband's retrogressive behavior.
Acting
Clarice Taylor's transformation from doormat to dynamo.
Writing
Sharp dialogue that roasts respectability politics.
Production
Rare studio comedy centering Black middle-class life.
Director
Oscar Williams
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during blaxploitation's peak, this was explicitly marketed as the antidote — 'a Black film you can take your family to.' The tagline directly name-drops Coffy and Super Fly while promising something radically different: dignity without exploitation.
Director Oscar Williams was primarily a writer and poet; this was his only feature film. The cast is stacked with future TV legends — Clarice Taylor would become Cliff Huxtable's mother on The Cosby Show, and Carl Franklin went on to direct Devil in a Blue Dress and One False Move.
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