Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

smatysia I thought, from the date, and the black cast, that this would be one of the "blaxploitation" films. Maybe some still consider it so, but to me those were horror and/or action flicks. This was a serious film, with themes, character development, drama, etc. Loved the music, by Curtis Mayfield and Gladys Knight and the Pips. I suspect that the filmmakers never really thought this would be seen by many white people, as many of its characters were very similar to the (seen today as racist) stereotypes that were widely held in those days. Even the characters themselves remarked upon this. And there was a lot of surprising candor in the portrayal of the destruction wreaked on the black family structure by the (fairly new, at that time) welfare system. Not bad at all.

moonspinner55 After playing a smartly-dressed working mom on television for years, Diahann Carroll finally gets back to her dramatic roots and triumphs here as "Claudine", a single welfare mother in a houseful of unruly kids who begins seeing a well-meaning garbage collector (nicely played by a low-keyed James Earl Jones). Dated product of the 1970s has all the expected stereotypes, but director John Berry has fun with the convincing urban milieu and gets mileage out of Claudine's monetary predicaments, played for sarcastic laughs. The script brings up some all-too-realistic problems which it hasn't a hope in hell of solving, but the sharp, knowing, wise-ass dialogue lends a bracing quality to these characters--one respects them almost immediately. It's a fairy tale, a black variation on "Cinderella", yet the film is a bit overreaching, hoping to be both a lightweight romp and a diatribe on how we're all victims of the Man. Despite the hardships we presume are to come, the overall absence of malice--coupled with a cast full of brash, wonderful kooks--is ingratiating. **1/2 from ****

Tamikalovesu2 I have seen this movie since I was a little girl, and being from New York and remembering how people lived back then brought back a lot of good memories. This movie is not just about wanting a fairy tale ending but understanding the struggles of becoming a better person, woman, and provider Claudine attempted to be. It was about the welfare system putting women in a binding situation. It was about the injustice of a system that invaded and put demands on a family to stay afloat. Diane Carroll was nominated for an Oscar for this role, and it was well deserved. If you want to experience a strong family with conflicting but wonderful bonding moments, enjoy Claudine. Your goal as a viewer is to keep an open mind, and understand the overall frustration.

kirvin-1 Claudine is one of those movies that you don't want to end and when it does you make up additional scenes in your mind! This movie is about a woman with 6 kids "living" on welfare in the bronx. she has a gig on the side as a domestic worker. she hooks up with a garbage man, named rupe and they hit it off, the kids however ain't trying to hear it. the story evolves around rupe trying to bond with the kids, claudine trying to battle with the welfare system and curtis mayfield's sound track punctuates the mood of the movie. gladys knight and the pips' vocals are tops! this movie has a "good times","coolie high","monky hustle" type of vibe to it. please see it. do it for me.