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Drop Squad

{{Infobox film

| name = Drop Squad

| image = Drop Squad FilmPoster.jpeg

| alt =

| caption =

| director = David C. Johnson

| producer = Butch Robinson
Shelby Stone

| screenplay = David C. Johnson
Butch Robinson

| story = David Taylor
David C. Johnson
Butch Robinson

| starring = {{Plainlist|

| music = Mike Bearden

| cinematography = Ken Kelsch

| editing = Kevin Lee

| studio = 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks

| distributor = Gramercy Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1994|10|28}}

| runtime = 86 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $2 million

| gross = $0.7 million (United States/Canada)

}}

Drop Squad (sometimes spelled as DROP Squad or D.R.O.P. Squad) is a 1994 American drama film directed by David C. Johnson and executive produced by Spike Lee via his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks.{{cite news |title=Drop Squad |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19941028/REVIEWS/410280303/1023 |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=1994-10-28 |access-date=9 January 2011}} The plot depicts a team of African Americans who kidnap fellow black people who they feel have betrayed their community and seek to "deprogram" them so that they will change their ways.{{cite news |title= Drop Squad |first=Hal |last=Hinson |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/dropsquadrhinson_b00989.htm |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1994-10-28 |access-date=8 January 2011}} The acronym DROP stands for "Deprogramming and Restoration of Pride".{{cite news |title=Come Back Brother |first=Yvonne R. |last=Keith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dq44E0M8CoIC&q=%22drop+squad%22&pg=PA37 |newspaper=Black Professional |date=Fall 1994 |page=37 |access-date=8 January 2011}} The film has been described as "[p]art thriller, part social satire".{{cite news |title=Spike Lee's 'Drop Squad' Falls Short |first=Leonard |last=Klady |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YuhgAAAAIBAJ&pg=3309,490003&dq=satirical+drama+drop-squad&hl=en |newspaper=The Rochester Sentinel |location=Rochester, Ind. |agency=Variety |date=1995-01-11 |page=6, Compass section |access-date=9 January 2011}}

The film was based in part on The Session, a 45-minute film Johnson produced in 1988 on a $20,000 budget,{{cite news |title=Making Movies |author=Eugene Holley Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dCwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22drop+squad%22&pg=PA111 |newspaper=Vibe |date=November 1994 |page=111 |access-date=8 January 2011}} and ultimately derived from a short story by David C. Taylor titled "The Deprogrammer".{{cite news |title=What does Spike Lee's 'Drop Squad' mask? |first=Ida |last=Peters |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ysIlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1212,4439112&dq=drop-squad+movie+%7C+film&hl=en |newspaper=The Baltimore Afro-American |date=1994-10-29 |page=B6 |access-date=8 January 2011}} Johnson described the differences between the two films as follows: "The short film was basically satire, an absurdist piece .... D.R.O.P. Squad, on the other hand, is realism. The characters have more at stake."

Plot

The film portrays an advertising executive, Bruford Jamison Jr. who is in charge of the "minority development division" for an advertising agency. Among the ad campaigns he is involved with is one for a malt liquor called "Mumblin' Jack", whose billboard depicts a woman in a skimpy bikini straddling a bottle, with the slogan "It Gits Ya Crazy!" Another ad campaign depicted in the film is a commercial filled with racial stereotypes (in which Spike Lee has a cameo) for a fried chicken restaurant's Gospel-Pak, which offers a Bible verse printed on every napkin.{{cite news |title=Film Review; A Satirical Look at Black Yuppies |first=Janet |last=Maslin |author-link=Janet Maslin |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9507E7D6133FF93BA15753C1A962958260 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1994-10-28 |access-date=9 January 2011}} Bruford's sister Lenora (Nicole Powell) calls in the Drop Squad to deprogram him. Bruford winds up being subjected to three weeks of psychological and physical brutality. Among the other persons who are shown being subjected to the deprogramming are a corrupt politician and a drug dealer.

The film also depicts a conflict among the members of the Drop Squad as to the tactics they should use. Rocky, the squad's leader, believes in using only nonviolent tactics, such as "subjecting them to a barrage of slides, posters, slogans and family photographs in hopes of restoring their sense of community", while Garvey believes that harsher methods have become necessary.

Cast

Response

The film opened on 163 screens in the United States and Canada and grossed $348,192 in its opening weekend and a total of $734,693. The movie was dropped from the theaters it played when the movie Drop Zone was released weeks later.{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dropsquad.htm |title=Drop Squad |work=Box Office Mojo |access-date=8 January 2011}}

Drop Squad has been suggested as a possible influence on Spike Lee's 2000 film Bamboozled.{{cite book |title=Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films |last=Bogle |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Bogle |edition=4th |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/tomscoonsmulatto0004bogl/page/361 361]–362 |url=https://archive.org/details/tomscoonsmulatto0004bogl |url-access=registration |quote=bamboozled drop squad. |access-date=2011-01-09}}{{cite book |title=Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More! |last=Pratt |first=Douglas |year=2004 |publisher=Harbor Electronic Publishing |location=New York |isbn=1-932916-00-8 |volume=1 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTUw1SDQECoC&q=bamboozled+%22drop+squad%22&pg=PA109 |access-date=2011-01-09}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{IMDb title|id=0109675|title=Drop Squad}}
  • {{Rotten Tomatoes|drop_squad}}

Category:1994 films

Category:Gramercy Pictures films

Category:1990s English-language films