Robert L. Goodwin wrote, directed, and produced Black Chariot in 1971 on the streets of South Central Los Angeles, crowd-funding the film from the Black community and shooting guerrilla-style on 35mm. He four-walled the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for its premiere. Then it disappeared.
Goodwin was already one of the first Black writers in network television, having scripted Bonanza, All in the Family, and Love American Style. This was his only film. Bernie Casey plays the drifter, a man drawn into a Black militant organization and forced to reckon with questions of loyalty and conscience. It was Casey's first lead.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture completed a 4K restoration. It is playing now at Anthology Film Archives in New York. Kino Lorber is handling wider theatrical.
Before this: Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971).
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