Falconeer Everything that was right with the original "Super Fly" is wrong here. The original was the true definition of "independent film making;" very small budget, humble, and passionate. Nobody involved was famous, or a "big shot," and that gave the movie a kind of innocence that is lost on this showy sequel. The biggest mistake was taking the action out of New York City, as the ghetto backdrop played such a major role in the story, and it defined exactly who the character, Priest was. For this sequel the action is moved to more exotic settings of Italy, and later Africa. Thus the connection to the first film is lost. Everything here is bigger, more expensive, and everyone involved is more self-important due to the success they found with the first movie; thus the heart is lost as well. This is typical example of what goes wrong with sequels of great movies. The same thing happened with the "Penitentiary" franchise. The first one was an excellent piece of independent cinema, made with no money by a team of unknowns, and it was followed by an awful sequel, devoid of passion or artistic value. As far as Ron O'Neal, the man who made Priest such a fascinating character; he wasn't given the kinds of roles that he should have gotten. But he truly redeems himself after "Super Fly TNT," a few years later, with the excellent grindhouse classic "The Hitter," a film that received no attention, but is a million times better than this shallow vanity piece. I would encourage any fan of "Super Fly" and Ron O'Neal to skip this lame sequel and search out "The Hitter" instead.

MartinHafer Priest (Ron O'Neal) is back in a sequel to the hit "Superfly". However, this time he's quite different--a kindler, gentler sort of Priest. You see, in the first film, Priest was completely amoral---and made his fortune selling dope and women. Here, the film finds him living the good life in Europe--he's retired and financially secure. However, he is also vaguely dissatisfied and despite his repeatedly saying he's only out to make money and take care of himself and his woman, he is eventually persuaded to help a man (Roscoe Lee Browne) in his attempt to start a revolution in his small African nation against the colonial powers--he wants Priest to smuggle in weapons for their struggle. Finally, Priest has a purpose to life and his performance throughout the film is very restrained and low-key. This, I'm sure, is a big disappointment to fans who want the confident and ultra-bad anti-hero--not this confused and more likable guy. I appreciated, however, that the character finally showed some conscience and a sense of purpose (to quote Steven Martin from "The Jerk"--'I found my purpose!!').I do agree with one of the reviews that complained that it took so long for this plot to develop. It was clearly a slow film and could easily have been tightened up quite a bit. Also, I agree that the soundtrack was incredibly disappointing, as the original film had one of the best blaxsploitation scores ever--second only to the one from "Shaft". As a result, the film is certainly watchable but not a whole lot more. It's a shame, as the plot wasn't a bad idea--it just was so slow and dull when it should have been anything but.By the way, one thing to look for if you do see the movie is Robert Guillaume singing near the beginning. With his beautiful voice it's easy to see why, for a while, he played the lead in the play "Phantom".

vchimpanzee The movie opens with scenes of what turns out to be Rome. I didn't know where this was set, and I had no knowledge of the original 'Superfly', but I was curious. When I saw the Colosseum, I knew where it was.A group of rebels in an African desert gets ambushed, their weapons are taken, and the men are killed. Dr. Sonko is in the room when one of the rebel leaders is informed about what has happened. Later, Dr. Sonko goes to Rome. As it turns out, he wants Priest to help him.The first half of the movie didn't make a lot of sense, possibly because I didn't know the characters. I know they were playing poker, and that's about it. I did like Jordan Gaines, who was funny, and I wouldn't have recognized him had I not seen Robert Guillaume's name in the credits. I enjoyed hearing Priest say things like 'Can you dig it?' The music added to the movie, especially where there was what sounded like a traditional African performance mixed with 70s American soul. Scenes of African culture about halfway through the movie, including women carrying baskets on their heads, and people doing local crafts--these added to the movie as well.Roscoe Lee Browne is such an excellent actor. So I was surprised that he seemed distracted by his French accent, and not as talented as usual. But when he gave his big speech to Priest about why Priest should care about Umbia (I'm guessing at the spelling), THAT was the Roscoe Lee Browne I expected.Sheila Frasier did a good job as Georgia. Ron O'Neal's ability came through more in the second half, with some good though violent scenes where Priest had to use both intelligence and physical ability. The ending was great.I'd like to see the original 'Superfly'.

videomaniac Superfly T.N.T is a highly entertaining sequel which deserves more credit than it very often gets. I loved everything about this one with the exception of the soundtrack (I liked this soundtrack but missed Curtis Mayfield) and the film's finale (which doesn't end on as high a note as the original film since this time Priest's new line of hustling has just started). Alex Haley and Ron O'Neal did excellent work on this film. Haley's script is both powerful and fun. O'Neal makes a good directorial debut. He's even better in the role of Priest this time than in the original Superfly. Superfly T.N.T. has a fine cast too. It's one of my favorite films of the era and my favorite of the three Superfly movies (although they are all worth seeing). This is a great film if you can accept the soundtrack (very appropriate but not as cool as Mayfield) and the finale (Priest's work has just begun so there's no easy ending). God Bless Ron O'Neal and Alex Haley.