Watermelon Man

On Watermelon Man, Columbia Pictures initially wanted a white actor for the lead, considering names like Alan Arkin or Jack Lemmon, which would have meant the character performing in blackface for most of the film. Once director Melvin Van Peebles came aboard, he secured a Black actor instead and flipped the premise: Godfrey Cambridge performed in whiteface for the film's first ten minutes, continuing with his own skin once the character turns Black. The original script had the character wake up white again at the end, realizing it had all been a nightmare; Van Peebles rejected that ending, saying being Black wouldn't be a bad dream, and changed the film. Who it's for: anyone curious about a director who reversed the studio's expected blackface tradition and rejected a white ending to impose his own vision. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a conciliatory ending faithful to the studio's original plan, since the film takes a deliberately radical stance instead.