Sun Ra (and his Intergalactic Solar Arkestra) in Space is the Place (1974)

Directed by: John Coney
Starring: Sun Ra, Barbara Deloney, Raymond Johnson

Jimmy Fey, The Channel 5 Stone Jive Announcer: As you are probably aware, several local mystics have predicted a landing from space this afternoon, here at this spot opposite the Sector Five government building, in the person of a black musician and thinker named Sun Ra... Upon landing, he will reveal to the world his so-called 'Plan for the Salvation of the Black Race.' However, it is now a few minutes after the time Mr. Ra is scheduled to appear, so apparently he is not as efficient as our own NASA people.

I'll be honest, when I came across this movie, I really didn't have any idea who Sun Ra was. Luckily for me, Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive entry. Apparently, Ra was a black jazz musician who claimed "he was of the 'Angel Race' and not from Earth, but rather from Saturn. Ra developed a complicated persona of 'cosmic' philosophies and lyrical poetry that preached 'awareness' and peace above all." He also founded an influential experimental jazz group named The Arkestra.

These days, the best a guy like this could hope for is to get his own cable access show, or maybe a spot on The Surreal Life. But the 70's were a different time my friend, and anyone with a few hundred bucks and a week to spare could make his own movie. Thus, not content with spreading his message solely though music, Ra decided to create a movie. So, we get Space is the Place, an incredibly extremely odd film, even compared to other counterculture movies of that time. It's basically the story of two powerful beings who gamble for the fate of the black race, but trust me, that doesn't even begin to describe what goes on in this movie.

Space is the Place begins on Ra's home planet, a place apparently designed by Sid & Marty Krofft. Disembodied hands wander the landscape freely, cloaked beings with mirror faces pop into frame at random times... that kinda thing. From this planet, Sun Ra (who spends the entire movie in traditional ancient Egyptian garb) watches the suffering of the black man on Earth. He's upset that while his planet has groovy vibes and awesome music, Earth is full of guns, anger & frustration.

I've got a plan.

So, Sun Ra (in full Bond-Villan exposition mode) announces the solution is to set up colony of black people on his planet to see what they can do without any white people around. His plan to get them to his planet? "We'll bring them here through either isotopes, teleportation, transmolecolization... or better still, teleport the whole planet here through... music!"

But before he can do this, for reasons unexplained, Sun Ra has to beat the all-powerful Overseer in a mystical card game. Think Devil Went Down to Georgia meets Pokemon, and you've got some idea of what's going on. Except not really. Throughout the movie, Ra & Overseer play different cards against each other, with each card allegedly causing different reactions on Earth. But the thing is, none of the cards really seem to have that much impact on anything that's happening on Earth. Further confusing the matter is that Ra & Overseer also have physical manifestations on Earth that try to thwart each other and recruit soldiers to their side.


No, I don't have any 8's. Go Fish.

In order to further his cause, Sun Ra teleports into a rec hall filled with a bunch of black kids playing pool. You'd think the sudden appearance of a man dressed like a futuristic pharaoh would have some sort of impact on the kids, but they are definately underwhelmed.

Sun Ra: Greetings black youth of Planet Earth. I am Sun Ra, Ambassador of the Intergalactic Regions of the Counsel of Outer Space.
Afro Kid: Why're you're shoes so big?


Afro Kid raises a valid question.

He warns the kids that the black race is just a myth. If it wasn't, it would have status among the nations and wouldn't have to seek civil rights. He tells them that he's going to hang around Earth long enough to find certain black people to take back with him, and if they won't go voluntarily, he'll take them forcibly in chains like they used to do in Africa. He also drops pearls of wisdom such as "You're all instruments. Everyone is supposed to be playing their parts. In this great Arkestra of the Intergalactic Casmos." Some of the kids start to warm up to Ra's message, which starts to get the Overseer a little worried.


I see your New Age Nonsense and I raise you Two Naked Ladies.

Sun Ra then decides to open up an Intergalactic Employment Agency to see if he can find anyone qualified to take back with him. Three applicants come in, and all are rejected. The first (a highly qualified NASA engineer) because he's white, the second (a homeless black crackhead) because he demands money, and the third (a drugged out hippie) because "Space isn't just about high... it's also about low... it's a bottomless pit." Get the moral? Neither did I, but not to worry, Sun Ra's got other problems to deal with, namely, the shadowy government agents who have the Intergalactic Employment Agency under observation.

Ra and Overseer decide their game has been a draw so far, and that the entire thing should be decided over a concert in a high school gym. Ra spends the next four days composing the perfect music with the power to transport the black population off Earth. He thinks he's got it, but the day of the concert, the government agents snatch Ra off the street and demand he reveal what he knows about the African Space Program. (One of them asks the question we've all been wondering: Please Mr. Ra... just tell us how transmolecolization works!) When he refuses to talk, they strap headphones on his head Clockwork Orage-style, and make him listen to a repeating loop of I Wish I Were in Dixie(!).


Sun Ra HATES ragtime music.

Luckily, Ra manages to esacpe their grasp and make it to the gymnasium just in time to present his History Report on historical figures, thus saving himself from being sent to military camp. No wait... my bad. He gets there just in time to perform the concert to end all concerts. Wyld Stallyns Rule! Crap, why do I keep doing that. Ra performs his opus, picks a few people he deems worth of intergalactic travel, and they all take off on his giant eyeball spaceship. Everyone is happy, except for the people left behind on Earth. But even they aren't unhappy for too long, because Earth explodes just after Ra turns on his warp drive.


I'm pretty sure they just painted a contact lens case, but I'm not sure why.

Space is the Place is blacksploitation at it's purest. It's a movie made by blacks, for blacks, and about blacks, with no thought at all towards getting money from a white audience. Even the movie's villain (which would normally be played by an evil caucasian) is a black guy. In fact, only one or two whites even get speaking roles in the movie. One's a whore who works for the Overseer, and the other is a NASA scientist (who's working on the Put a Coon on the Moon by June program) who can't get a boner and gets mocked by a black chick. And that's about it for the fair skinned folks.

However, I'd be surprised to find that this movie gained any kind of a following, even amoung the black community. Hell, 1974 was the year of some of the all time best blacksploitation movies. Movies like Truck Turner, Black Belt Jones, and The Black Godfather all came out in 1974. When the average moviegoer has a choice between watching brothas kickin' ass and blowin' stuff up versus dudes playing gin rummy and spouting largely incomprehensible philosophy, what do you suppose he'll choose 99 times out of 100?

To be fair, Sun Ra probably wasn't trying to make a movie that would compete with the above mentioned films. He (and the other actors in the film) seem to be sincere in wanting to get their message out. That's what makes this such a hard movie for me to rate. At the end of the movie I had no idea what Ra was trying to say. (Then again, I'm white.) However, I did recognize that I had just seen something very unusual, and I always appreciate a filmmaker's attempt to do things differently. It's not something I'll probably ever watch again, but I'm real glad I saw it once. If you can track it down, I would advise checking it out, if only for the awesome sets and costumes. Plus, the whole thing is barely over an hour, so it's not like you're committing to watch Roots.

In wrapping up this review, I thought I'd end with a scene from the movie that I felt perfectly summed up the entire experience. When asked why the black man is on the bottom of the social totem pole, Sun Ra answers "Because they are in an inverted position. They are supposed to be on the top." That of course explains nothing. But, when he says it, he's being interviewed in the back of a convertable, driving down a crowded street, and is flanked by two golden Egyptian creatures. When something like that is on the screen, does it really matter whats being said?


I bet the people in that blue truck are still telling their friends the story of this day.


- Micah