Adrian Haley After the runaway success of Pulp Fiction everyone was wondering what Quentin Tarentino would do next. What he did was take a novel called Rum Punch, change the race of most of the characters and some of the plot, and turn it into a homage to Blaxploitation films. It was a risky move, considering studies show that white audiences tend to avoid movies with black actors.
While the film was critically acclaimed, the risk didn’t pay off. The film holds the distinction of being Tarentino’s second-lowest-grossing opening weekend, and unlike the lowest (Reservoir Dogs) it wasn’t a movie from a total unknown but by a hip young director coming off the hype surrounding Pulp Fiction. Since white audience historically don’t turn out in droves for movies with black leads, Tarentino was accused of making a “black” movie just so he could say he had. Spike Lee was especially upset with the 38 uses of the n-word in the movie, saying, “What does he want to be made — an honorary Black man?”
