Abar The First Black Superman (1977)

This legendary film was nigh impossible to see for years. I had heard it was so incendiary that no one would run it. I heard it was lost because the distributor was so small it went bankrupt and disappeared. I heard all sorts of weird stories from people who had never seen it but had heard about it...

I eventually picked it up on low budget DVD and put it aside, but it wasn't until Turner Classic ran it that I actually saw it now I'm left wondering what the hell was that?

A black doctor studying heart disease moves into a white neighborhood and is abused by his neighbors. He refuses to move because he needs the large house for his experiments. When a near riot happens outside of his house he is rescued by Abar and his motorcycle driving men. Abar tries to talk the doctor to move back to the ghetto but he refuses.Eventually Abar becomes the doctor's bodyguard.  However once tragedy strikes the doctor gives Abar the serum he had been working on and Abar becomes a god-like being correcting the wrongs of the world.

While the film is very much a political manifesto, the film is also very much an exploitation film with a wicked guitar riff that plays during the occasional action sequences. The film is also completely and utterly out there with several unexpected and "WTF was that" twists and turns. By the time Abar becomes god-like you will be staring at the screen wondering what everyone connected with the film was thinking---and drinking or smoking. Its just out there. One line at the very end almost caused my father and myself to choke to death in complete and utter disbelief. Its one of those lines where you look at each other and go-"did she really just say that?" Oh yes she did.

I have no idea what to say.

Too long by 20 minutes and so goofball at times this film is not going to be for all audiences. At the same time if you want off the beaten path do see this ASAP.