recognized importance by all its cast and crew. Cosby as Himself also appears in a cameo. Vincent Schiavelli as Jerry, Cinemation employee who initially manages to distribute Sweetback to two theaters across America. Wesley Jonathan as "Panther", although seen leaving midway through a showing, he returns with 22 other members of the Black Panthers. Recognizing the revolutionary film to be of immense cultural substance, he helps bring crowds to the film, even though it stands on its own as opposed to being a part of a greater number of movies. Reception The film received mostly positive reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times named it one of the best films of the year. Baadasssss! was nominated for several "best of" Independent Spirit and NAACP Image awards for 2005, including best feature, director, actor and screenplay. It was listed in the African-American Film Critics Association's top-ten films of 2004and won best feature film at the 2004 Philadelphia Film Festival. However, the film ended up being a commercial failure, making less than $400,000 at the box office during its limited theatrical release. Leonard Maltin lists the movie in his book 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen'' and he writes "Mario Van Peebles has written, directed, and starred in a number of films over the years but this is his most personal piece of work-and I think his best." Awards and nominations 2004 Gijón International Film Festival Best Feature – Mario Van Peebles (nominated) 2004 Philadelphia Film Festival Best Feature Film – Mario Van Peebles (winner) 2005 Black Reel Awards Best Actor, Drama – Mario Van Peebles (nominated) Best Director – Mario Van Pebbles (winner) Best Film, Drama (nominated) Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted – Mario Van Peebles (winner) Best Supporting Actress – Joy Bryant (nominated) 20th Independent Spirit Awards Best Director – Mario Van Peebles (nominated) Best Feature – Mario Van Peebles (nominated) Best Screenplay – Dennis Haggerty, Mario Van Peebles (nominated) 36th NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture – Mario Van Peebles (nominated) Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film (nominated) Soundtrack A soundtrack album was released by the label Barely Breaking Even. References External links 2003 films 2003 biographical drama films 2003 independent films African-American biographical dramas African-American films 2000s English-language films American docudrama films Films about filmmaking Films about film directors and producers Films about films American films based on actual events Films set in 1970 Films set