Part of the 1970s blaxploitation vanguard, Superfly's (1972) gritty authenticity elevates it above its subsequent imitators. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. -- the son of Shaft (1971) director Gordon Parks -- funded by black businessmen, and shot by a mostly black crew, Superfly was as much a statement against white-dominated Hollywood behind the camera as it was a convincing depiction of a certain segment of black city life. Shooting on-location in New York, Parks energetically evoked the violence and material allure of Youngblood Priest's (Ron O'Neal) drug dealer existence, while the famous still-photo montage of people of all races snorting coke attested to what enabled Priest's "superfly" life. Counterpointing the heroic effects of Priest's flamboyantly clothed charisma and his plot to stick it to the Man, Curtis Mayfield's trailblazing, best-selling soundtrack matched the urban mood while lyrically attesting to the negative effects of drugs. Even so, Superfly became a controversial hit, as African-American critics decried its influence on cocaine use and the glorification of criminals; the filmmakers observed that they were just telling it like it was. Either way, Superfly confirmed the financial as well as rhetorical power of the nascent blaxploitation genre in the wake of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1970) and Shaft (1971).