Alicia I love this movie so much

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

gavin6942 A new highway threatens a Chicago neighborhood, so to protest the residents throw a block party.Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-half stars (out of four), calling it a "good-hearted muddle" but opining that "they must have left half the script back in Hollywood." Ebert did note with pleasure that the film's business justified opening the balcony at the now-demolished Roosevelt Theater, where he had not sat in four years. He is spot-on here. The film never really seems to have a direction and just sort of meanders. This can work on occasion, but does not seem to here.In 2009, "Black Dynamite" star and co-writer Michael Jai White cited "The Monkey Hu$tle" as a major influence, telling the Los Angeles Times, "It was just brash, unlike anything I'd ever seen... I remember these bigger-than-life characters, who reminded me of my uncles, and it was the first time I saw anything familiar in my life on the big screen." This adds a little weight to the film that it does not provide itself, as "Black Dynamite" is truly impressive.

C. Sean Currie (hypestyle) Released in 1976, Monkey Hustle (or Hu$tle, as per the title cards) is a so-so entry in the African-American action/comedy films that were preeminent in the 1970's. The lead player here is Baby D (Kirk Calloway), a Chicago teen who apparently is a con-artist in training. He and his friends are mentored by Big Daddy Foxx (Yaphet Kotto), an established con-man (read: 'hustler') who has taught his apprentices how to fleece the unsuspecting from their (presumably) hard-earned money and merchandise. The popular hangout for the kids is at Mama's restaurant. Mama (Rosalind Cash) doesn't like the kids being taught how to steal and con, and only barely tolerates folks like Foxx and the even more flamboyant Glitterin' Goldie (Rudy Ray Moore).The plot of the film, such as it is, tacitly revolves around plans for the city to build a highway that would go right through where Baby D and everyone else in this (south side?) neighborhood live. Thus begins the titular 'Monkey Hustle' which involves scamming city officials and others who have an interest in razing the neighborhood. Mostly, the civic activism of the plot only serves as a tenuous link for several extended skits and unrelated misadventures involving all the film's characters. Future soap star Debbi Morgan and future "Hollywood Shuffle" director Robert Townsend are among the film's younger cast.The black "exploitation" trend was already waning in Hollywood, and this only had minimal success at the box office upon release. This is not among the 'classics' of the 70's era black comedies (that title goes to cult favorites like Uptown Saturday Night and Car Wash), but it's interesting to see respected character actors Kotto and Cash more or less slumming it and interacting with the likes of Moore (who basically plays a less foul-mouthed Dolemite here). Viewers who are not cult-comedy/exploitation/black-film completists should only rent, not buy.

mohouze404 One has to remember, that with the introduction of Shaft and Superfly, Hollywood churned out one blaxploitation film after the other, whether the script and acting succeeded or not. During the 70's, at the height of the blaxploitation film era, the genre was completely plot-driven rather than character-driven. Ask yourself how many times a neighborhood could be saved from some type of demolition? How many times could someone come up with just the right lottery numbers? Take this film for what it is, something lighthearted that introduced actor/director Thomas Carter, II, Debbi Morgan of All My Children, Charmed, The Hurricane, Rosalind Cash of The Omega Man, General Hospital, and Tales from the Hood, Randy Brooks of Another World and Generations. And, of course, Rudy Ray Moore. These actors had to eat, support families, and it was training ground for some later great work.

taneishqua When I give a movie a 4, I mean it is really bad. This is the kitchen sink mentality of these movies with the violence, glamour and pimps all taken out. Instead we have a now very dated formula of a small time hustler hanging around a group of kids with oversized afros and egos. The best part of it, is Rudy Ray Moore(Dolemite) appearing as Goldie featuring a shirt made out of gold chains, whether hes a hustler, gangster, pimp or leader we will never know. But he steals the show withs his larger than life, style (You're my main man!!). The children do little more than try to make money and use outdated jive lines such as "Slick the slick" and there are the antics of a 12 or 13 year old boy called the kid who has a gang of synchopant kiddies who hang around trying out all sorts of nickel and dime shit. It is funny at least in its use of the cheesiest disco soundtrack possible. The roller skating scene is very funny with the disco music heavy on wah wah guitar and kids with oversized afros and flares dancing around in a bright red rink. The kids fight and steal but there is no real violence or sex involved. Overall the acting is cardboard, storyline tapering and a piece of claptrack that is an embarassment from start to finish. Its only saving graces may be the Keystone cop and Goldie, otherwise its schtick. I think too it portrays African Americans as greedy and over sexed simpletons who just want to make money and have a good time.