Popular reviews

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  Review by Jack Often ★★★½

  I've known about this film for a long time thanks to its infamous title though I wasn't expecting it to be essentially a sweet teen romance. Honky is one of a number of films I've seen lately, (like the works of Jamaa Fanaka,) that get unfairly slapped with the specious 'blaxploitation' label when they don't really fit, or are at least something much more than that. The only exploitive things about this film are its title and ad campaign, and arguably the very end which goes quite a bit farther than it needs to.
  Breathtaking Brenda Sykes and titular honky John Neilson are high school sweethearts, pseudo-hippies who fall in love at a pep rally and spend their days hanging…

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  Review by crushedopinions ½

  *sorry William Marshall🧛🏾‍♂️

  Fuck this movie, bro👍🏾this is basically a story about how White men can't effectively protect Black women and it'll always end terribly, so don't even test the shit out when you're young...

  and if that Isn't the message being conveyed, then explain the ending? Also, the rich Black girl getting the poor White boy wrapped up in drug trafficking - That's just supposed to reinforce the agenda? Or what? Make it make sense, Mr. Graham💀cause Honky was a tonal mess, didn't do what I Think you Wanted it to do.. n yeh, this movie's pretty trash, imo.

  Honky is a case of a director simply doing too damn much for an emotional response. Honky hits like ragebait, yet they only say honky once(?) while nigga gets dropped in the double-digits🤣goofyass!

  Watched on YouTube ~~

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  Review by b

  FRESH THOUGHTS

  I have a lot of issues with this story.

  They had amazing chemistry.

  But he had issues. Why did he call her a bitch when she wanted to go home. Why couldn't he stop her from making a big decision to runaway to Alabama? Why couldn't he protect her. Why did he admit to being ashamed of being with her.
  Well we know why.
  I hate all men.
  Also there's a r*pe scene that you just don't expect. I don't really like how it ends or what message it wanted to send.

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  Review by genie ★ ★★

  her blaming all her bad behaviour on her zodiac is so real like shes so ahead of her time!
  overall its okay, could've been done way better but for the time and budget, you get what you're given. cute soundtrack and brenda skyes is so gorgeous i want her face and that red two-piece.

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  Review by Marc Kloszewski ★★★ 1

  Uneven but interesting. A movie about "teenagers" (the male lead is in his late 20s) with an exploitation sensibility. It feels like a racier young adult novel. Starts off like it will be an upbeat "us against the world" love story, then quickly turns darker as we learn that Shelia is well-heeled but not well-behaved. Their adventures (heavily weighted towards scoring grass) don't make much of an impression, and the climactic tragedy comes out of nowhere, and even that feels shrugged off.

  Add in an atypical Quincy Jones score (it's folky). Bit parts from folks you'll know from TV. William Marshall lending his authority to the role of Shelia's put-upon doctor father.

  One potent sensual scene, from the days when you could get more mileage from kissing and touching.

  It's not a bad film. I am always interested to see how movies of this time period handle (or fumble) the issues of the day.

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  Review by Marty McKee ★★

  A simplistic teen romance that falsely marketed itself as a violent drive-in picture (“A love story…of hate!”), HONKY is a nice showcase for black leading lady Brenda Sykes, gorgeous, sweet, and charming. Unfortunately, there is little else to enjoy about the film, which is syrupy, overly melodramatic, and stuck with a real bummer of an ending (the New York Times called HONKY “awful”) that leaves the audience thinking they wasted their time following these characters for 90 minutes. Also seen in BLACK GUNN, CLEOPATRA JONES, and MANDINGO, among other exploitation movies, Sykes eventually married Gil Scott-Heron and left show business in 1978. Our loss, her gain.

  Directed by William A. Graham, who normally worked in television (including Frank Sinatra’s only…

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  Review by anita

  such a beautiful film both beautiful human beings <3 

  the ending kinda sucks they could do better but i really loved this film, it’s so ahead of it’s time & those hillbilly’s cowboys annoyed me so much lol

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  Review by gtdavecosplay ★★★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

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  Review by Jeroen Kraan ★★½

  With a story and title like this, you imagine the film will either be tastelessly exploitative or some profound forgotten piece of art, but I regret to inform you that is is neither. Instead, Honky is basically a Panavison tv movie with a Quincy Jones soundtrack that at one point features a jaw harp. The story is stuck halfway between a don't-parents-suck high school movie and a serious racial and/or crime drama. I kind of admire the downer ending, but the film doesn't really deserve it.

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  Review by mallalai ★★★★

  beautiful people

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  Review by stella ★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

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  Review by Matthew Schmitz ★

  Watched on YouTube.

  Pretty much my life story...

  
  
  

  
  *I only watched this for the Quincy Jones score, which was just ok.