 Sweet Sweetback 's Baadasssss Song is a 1971 American independent drama film , written , produced , scored , directed by , and starring Melvin Van Peebles , father of actor Mario Van Peebles ( who is also in the movie ) . It tells the picaresque story of a poor African American man on his flight from the white authority . Van Peebles played the role of the eponymous Sweetback , and was the first black filmmaker to write , direct , produce , and star in a major motion picture .
The film was released in 1971 , and was the first film by a black director to be distributed theatrically by a