The 1988 comedy "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" was a loving send-up of blaxploitation action films of the 1970s, like "Shaft," and "Hell Up In Harlem." Written and directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans, the film starred Chris Rock, Kadeem Hardison, and Damon Wayans, alongside a cavalcade of blaxploitation veterans like Jim Brown and Isaac Hayes. The story is centered on Jack Spade (Keenan Ivory Wayans) who returns home from the army to find his old neighborhood overrun by dealers and crooks, and his brother dead from an overdose of gold chains.
But Spade isn't about to take this lying down, and vows to avenge his brother's death and rid the streets of gold chains for good. His target is the dastardly Mr. Big (John Vernon, who played plenty of '80s villains), who controls the corporate gold chain empire that has been infesting the city. Together with the help of new friends and allies like John Slade (Bernie Casey), Kung Fu Joe (Steve James), and Fly Guy (Antonio Fargas), they set out to clean up the city and take back the streets once and for all.
With plenty of laughs, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" has sadly been remembered as merely a spoof comedy, becoming a lesser-known cult classic over the years. But there's also plenty of gang-busting violence in between the jokes, and some genuinely funny fight scenes, and it deserves to be appreciated by a wider audience.
