Hello, my name is Justin McLuhan. I'm here today with Will Sloan. And you're listening to

the important cinema club. And today, we're talking about Jamar Fanaka, a director part of the

L.A. Rebellion, who made some great movies and never, ever got a break. You probably haven't heard of him.

Although maybe you've heard of one of his most famous movies, that is 1979's Penitentiary.

Or Penitentiary 2 with Mr. T, who at one point it sounds like he goes to cancer.

Or 1987's Penitentiary 3 from the Canon Group.

It was very well reviewed in cult flicks and trash picks.

I remember that.

They were a big fan of Penitentiary 3.

These movies were substantial independent hits, especially the first one.

And Jamafinaka was one of the few black filmmakers making not just substantial hits, especially the first one. And Jamal Finaka was one of the few black filmmakers making

not just substantial hits, but any sort of movie in the late 70s, early 80s. You told me an

amazing statistic that in, I think, the year 1980, the only Hollywood movie to have a black

lead was stir crazy. Yeah, it was Richard Pryor, and he was

just like the supporting lead as well. But, you know, if you only know Jamafinaka from the

Penitentiary trilogy, which are exploitation films, they're films about boxing in prison,

one of them has Mr. T in it. You may not understand what sort of

filmmaker Jamafinaka was or could have been. And before we go back and explore who he is,

the other thing that you may, may know Jamafinaka for is his 1975 film Welcome Home Brother

Charles, which is famous for being a movie about a black man with a

giant four-foot penis that kills and strangles.

Whoa, four-foot?

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