Customer Reviews
if you dig Iceburg Slim this is your film 
2007-05-07
if you dig Iceburg slim and Donald Goines then you are gonna be feeling this film. a Brother who can Pass for White and a Older soul Brother who has Schooled the Younger Cat on the Street Hustle in Philly. there are so many twists and turns in this film and the Big Heist near the end makes you wonder can they make it back to the Bank in time? if this Film was Up-dated it would be outta control on the Real. the soundtrack was tight as well. the Preacher had me rolling as well. i was feeling that Hog in the Film. right on that film will take you back and make you think and this is the kind of film that had so much cleaverness going on it wasn't even funny. that toliet paper roll that passed for dollar bills would make Sheryl Crow even squeeze the charmin.
Pretty Good 2007-04-30
I wanted to read the book, but it's always checked out so I decided I might as well watch the movie. It was pretty good, despite the unhappy ending. But that's real life though. The characters were sophisticated and knew how to carry out their hustles, even though in the end Blue was too obsessed with the money and lost focus. Other than that, there was none of that sloppy, ill-mannered, dumb thug stuff that seems to be popular these days.I really love movies from the 1970s and this one will definetly be added to my collection.
The Sydney Poitier type of screen character is excellently demonstrated in "Trick Baby." 
2007-01-16
The Sydney Poitier type of screen character is excellently demonstrated in "Trick Baby," a film which seemed to slip by the critics...
The story is that of two con-men: White Folks (Kiel Martin), who, had a black mother and a white father and whose skin is white; and Blue Howard (Mel Stewart), a gray-haired black veteran who has taught the younger man everything he knows about the art of the confidence trickster...
Together they tricked the Mafia and the police; they make $10,000 and have to give some of it away to the local black protection merchant; they set up a confidence property deal to swindle some over-greedy white businessmen out of $150,000, but cannot quite get hold of the loot...
The quality of "Trick Baby" is that not all the blacks are all good, and not all the whites are all bad... What is more, it makes a point of showing that black men can play on their color to gain their own ends...
Trick Baby 2006-11-03
I was sadden by the fact that the movie seemed to be incomplete. I recently compared the movie to the book and everything in the movie seems to be in the first two chapters.
Classic...don't sleep on Trick Baby 
2005-01-17
Trick Baby is a film about a man named Blue who has raised a white man that they call "Folks," which is short for White Folks. Folks is supposedly mixed but appears to be portrayed by an all white actor. Blue is a hustler. He raises Folks to be a hustler. The two scam and pull fast ones for a living. On one particular occasion they get in over there head. Folks wants to leave the business behind and head to Chicago, but Blue is dedicated to see things through so that they can get some real hard cash. The chase scenes in this film are classic, I especially enjoyed seeing "Folks" run through the streets of Philadelphia. If you are fan of 70's cinema, you will notice a lot of regular character actors from the 70's in this film.
This movie is based on a book by Iceberg Slim. The promoters of the recent DVD release need to uplay the films literary connections, but Iceberg Slim is real big now and this film is based on one of his most popular works. Although over 30 years old, this film is still very enjoyable. It has a strong plot and a lot of action.
Iceberg Slim brought to film ! ! ! 2001-02-12
If you thought Philadelphia, The 12 Monkeys and Tradin' Places were the only films other than The Philadelphia Experiment set in Philly, you're dead wrong.
When it comes to grittyness, this early '70s film, which appears to be shot mostly in West Philly puts NYC to shame.... in terms of charactor and story development its also definitely *not* your typical blaxploitation film - - and this becomes clear the moment you realize that its actually an adaptation of a novel by Iceberg Slim, a writer who along with Donald Goines wrote about urban street life and told tales of hustlers and pimps long long before Shaft and Superfly. In fact, it was probably the realism of their books most likely that fueled the fantasy of that film genre....
The story is about the final days of a relationship between an aging hustler named Blue and his young counterpart/protege known as "White Folks" so named because he can pass for white, a bend which made their game all the more strong. While hated by most black folks because he looks like a white man, he is understood and protected by Blue - - and together their hustle and schemes seem almost righteous, because through Folks, Blue is able to engage in confidence games praying on greedy white people who believe they are about to get rich by exploiting black folk. Far from being jive talking hustlers, both are articulate and intelligent and have learned well from one another, making their game even stronger, til one day they hustle the wrong person putting a dirty cop and the mob on their tale, in the middle of the biggest hustle of their lifetime. Suddenly, its a race against time and the questions whether its time to get out of town or get out of the game.
Great film, great locations, well acted, and a nice bluesy soundtrack. If you like this film, check out the novel by Slim, as well "Across 110th Street" another interesting movie about the relationship between an idealistic young black cop and corrupt old guard white cop, and missing mob money in Harlem.
