Superfly is in many ways classic pulp, but O'Neal and Mayfield push it toward a sort of epic grandeur.

The film's gut pleasures are real, and there are a lot of them. But, they always connect with one another in a world so precisely, cruelly, excitingly balanced that there is no movement without countermovement, no pressure without a greater pressure in return.

This interesting feature is one of the few Hollywood films that takes an honest look at the lives of African-Americans in the ghetto.

Roundly condemned as a glorification of drug dealing, it's actually an acrid film noir on a classic theme—the hood who must make one last score before he quits the business.

With some of the best costumes since the musicals of the '50s and one of the '70s funkiest scores, it's quite rudimentary on most levels - it's no Shaft.