Don't Play Us Cheap (1972)

Not rated and overall, I would consider it mostly pretty innocent, considering that the rest of of the Melvin Van Peebles box set has a lot of questionable material.  But the only things that you could really see in this movie is some off-screen sexuality and drinking.  I mean, the point of the movie is to not judge people having a good time and the MPAA section of this blog is doing a pretty good job of judging.

DIRECTOR: Melvin Van Peebles

I mean, it's Black Godspell, right?  I mean, that's a gross generalization, but it hits a lot of the same beats with a lot of the same aesthetic.  I have to say that I didn't know that a movie like this would be in the Melvin Van Peebles box set.  At one end, this movie is fundamentally Melvin Van Peebles.  It's a movie that is no-holds-barred the Black experience.  But on the other end, it is wonderfully optimistic.  That might be what I want to explore in this blog more than anything else.

Don't Play Us Cheap is a trip.  The first ten minutes, I didn't know what was happening.  That's pretty typical for Van Peebles.  His movies have an element of the avante garde and the first minutes of this movie encapsualte that philosophy aggressively. Okay, that's fine.  But then, I figure out that Van Peebles has adapted a stage play that is both super direct and incredibly heady?  There is something to unpack there.  Let's ignore the first few minutes.  I think my other blogs on Van Peebles lets you know that there are some things in his movies that are just chaotic.  (It's incredibly dismissive of me, but the reality is that I probably just don't get it beyond, "He wants to shake his audience out of complacency Bertold-Brecht style.")  I love that this is a play.  I only think that would work if you didn't ignore that this was a play.  The movie has an intimate relationship with its characters, which is good considering that there is room for confusion about what the rules for this world are.

I hate that I keep coming back to the well of Black culture, but Don't Play Us Cheap almost exist as a heightened version of A Raisin in the Sun.  The set reflects institutionalized poverty, but also reflects that there's been a lot of happiness in his home, for all of its trappings.  Yes, the story does get into some occultish things, especially with the arrival of the two imps / devils.  Because I associate this more of a story of the conversion of a devil, I'm going to be referring to the imps as devils.  I'm not alone in that. The final song of the movie is about not giving the devil a chance, so I'm not alone in that read.  Everything about these characters emits a sense of cultural exhaustion. While the party is for Earnestina's birthday, we really understand that this is a celebration of Saturdays.  It's such a small concept.  Considering that two devils will come and try to destroy the party because it is was devils do, it's hard to think that the fate of two supernatural characters lives and breathes on the notion that a simple party is considered successful.

But I love the message of the story, mainly because I feel like I'm being preached to specifically.  I kept thinking, "Why is this party so important?"  I mean, it advocates drinking and irresponsible relationships.  (Okay, I'm still being kind of a snob about irresponsible relationships.)  But this Saturday party fundamentally means something to all the attendees.  It's entire focus is people's happiness.  As much as Brother David wants to derail the party by trying to inject petty jealousies and infighting, people are far more happy by simply saying that life isn't always easy, but a party is a nice time to remember that happiness is what it is all about.  Now, I can feel the Catholic in me shrivling up, putting all of this happiness first.  Yeah, I think there's a bunch of stuff about moderation that I believe in my soul and that living a life around parties is problematic.  But I also believe that sometimes, people desperately need moments of happiness to look forward to.  While the story doesn't outright says it, it says it indirectly throughout the film.

Miss Maybel, in my read, is an angel.  She's the powerhouse who is throwing the party.  For each of the devils' attempts to derail this good time, she's the one with the immediate answer for why these things don't matter.  It's not that she puts up with a lot.  After all, she's the one who scolds Earnestine when she tries to make Brother Trinity jealous.  She has standards.  But she's also a character with clear goals.  She wants everyone to be happy and to bring that happiness closer to God.  I feel like I'm injecting all of this religious stuff into a movie about drinking and carousing, but it's in the language of the movie.  This is a movie that believes in God.  But it only shows God through misconceptions about God and what evil really is like.  It's interesting, because the tools of the devils in this story are what is the tool of the good Christian.  Brother David, especially, talks to people about the moral outrages going on in the house.  Now, because this is a musical and a work for Van Peebles, it's done in an overt and over-the-top way.  But technically, everything he's saying reflects the language of the moral crusader.  The irony of the matter is that the guy is straight up dressed like the archetype of the devil in these scenes.

I do wonder if Miss Maybel is meant to be a straight up angel.  I just tossed that idea around in the last paragraph, but she's also the one who has the most commentary on how things work around there.  When Brother Trinty arrives, Van Peebles has him enter in a flurry of early '70's independent special effects.  That's fine, because Earnestine seems to be the confused one about a lot of situations.  For her to dismiss what should have been a demonic entry kind of scans with the character.  But there are supernatural special effects throughout the film, often in front of Miss Maybel and she dismisses everything as "I need to get that lock fixed."  It's great as a joke, but more telling as a character, especially considering the end of the movie.  While Brother David feels like he's being crafty and coniving, Miss Maybel never seems bothered by his tricks.  It's why the turn for David as a cockroach (but reads as beetle?) becomes so interesting.  There's almost this protest about killing the roach from the other tenants, but this is the one time that Miss Maybel shows initiative as opposed to a laissez-faire attitude towards life. The closing of the movie, showing Miss Maybel climbing the walls and ceiling, chasing after Brother David, is especially telling.  Yeah, it could be written off as either the logic of a musical or the avante-garde return of Van Peebles during a closing credit sequence.  But it also reads as if she knows more than she lets on.

It's odd that this is a love story.  I'm still unpacking Brother Trinity a bit, which I should be.  Honestly, Trinity might be the protagonist, which is odd because he's the devil.  (I tell my students that morality doesn't determine who your protagonist is.  It's whose goals we're following.)  Trinity has both the internal and external conflict to follow.  He needs to keep the party going so that he can have a second chance at life and with Earnestine.  But it is also an internal conflict as the party serves as a trial for humanity.  After all, while Trinity was alive, he only found value in being mean.  But this tiny apartment acts as proof that people are fundamentally good and forgiving.  The fact that they can unbeknownst to them, take in a devil and continually forgive him for things that he tries doing to them shows the willingness to move past petty things as jealousy or spite.  Trinity bases his entire life on fostering pettiness, and there are a room full of people who, no matter what you do to them, continue to welcome him to the feast.  

I'm reminded of "my father's house has many rooms."  Trust me, I'm a pretty judgmental turd and I'll continue being so because people don't turn on a dime.  But there's something almost sacred about holding a feast.  They acknowledge that God has given them great things.  Yeah, God is in the background.  I can't deny that.  But this is a house where Christianity has an impact on the characters.  It doesn't matter that a wife is cheating on her spouse.  He just wants her to have a day where she can cut loose, sing, and dance.  It doesn't matter