# Wattstax
**Wattstax** is a 1973 American documentary film directed by Mel Stuart that records the Wattstax benefit concert, a daylong event staged by Memphis-based Stax Records at the [Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum](https://www.edgepedia.org/los-angeles-memorial-coliseum) on August 20, 1972, to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 [Watts riots](https://www.edgepedia.org/watts-riots). The film combines concert footage with street interviews in Watts and monologues by comedian [Richard Pryor](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-pryor), and it is widely known as the "Black Woodstock."
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Concert date and place | August 20, 1972, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, closing event of the seventh annual Watts Summer Festival[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX?cxt=filmography) |
| Attendance | Over 100,000 people; the Stax Museum account puts the figure at more than 112,000, with tickets priced at one dollar[2](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/wattstax_special_edition-wattstax_special) • [3](https://staxmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Sounds_of_Change_Stax_Museum_American_Soul_Music1.pdf) |
| Performers | Stax artists including Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, The Emotions, The Dramatics, The Bar-Kays, Albert King, and Luther Ingram[4](https://www.afi.com/news/wattstax-afi-catalog-spotlight/) |
| Film release | World premiere in Los Angeles on February 4, 1973; distributed by Columbia Pictures; rated R[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX?cxt=filmography) |
| Honors | Golden Globe nomination for Best Documentary (1974); selected for the National Film Registry in 2020[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-08-22/wattstax-50th-anniversary-documentary-isaac-hayes-jesse-jackson-staple-singers) |
| Critical standing | 90% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 40 reviews[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wattstax) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Los Angeles, August 20, 1972. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum fills with 100,000 people, and the Rev. [Jesse Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jesse-jackson) opens the day with a call-and-response that becomes the film's thesis. "I am somebody," he leads, and the stadium answers him back, line after line, before a note of soul has been played. The crowd is dressed in its best, families on blankets, vendors working the aisles, and the film keeps returning to them, because the audience is as much the subject as the stage. A speaker's recollection of the 1965 Watts riots and aerial footage of the [Watts Towers](https://www.edgepedia.org/watts-towers), the spires of concrete, glass, and tile that a single man built by hand over decades, frame the day's beginning.[18](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX)
The concert unspools as a parade of Stax acts, and the film treats each one as a small event with its own texture. Eddie Floyd rolls out "Knock on Wood." [Albert King](https://www.edgepedia.org/albert-king) sits down and plays "I'll Play the Blues for You" with unhurried command. [Carla Thomas](https://www.edgepedia.org/carla-thomas), the self-crowned Queen of Stax, holds the stage with the poise of someone who grew up on it. [The Emotions](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-emotions) sing in a Watts chapel in one of the staged interludes director Mel Stuart built away from the Coliseum, and Johnnie Taylor performs in a packed Crenshaw dive.[19](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-05-wk-movies5-story.html) The Dramatics deliver "What You See Is What You Get" as the film cuts back to the towers and the streets that surround them.[18](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX)
Between the music come the interviews, and they are the film's secret engine. Stuart sent twelve four-man crews into Watts to record working Black residents in barbershops, beauty parlors, living rooms, and on the street, asking how they felt about themselves and the society around them.[19](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-05-wk-movies5-story.html) One sequence asks interviewees when they first knew they were Black, played under Kim Weston's rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."[20](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/15/1155959851/50-years-later-the-celebrations-and-contradictions-of-wattstax-still-resonate) People talk about rent, about cops, about love and money, and dignity, in plain language that rhymes with the message songs on stage, and the film never underlines the rhyme with narration.
Richard Pryor, then a Stax recording artist, appears in interludes that function as the film's comic and moral chorus. His monologues about everyday hassling, of being regularly rousted by the cops, are spun out in street jargon with a kind of furious cool.[21](https://time.com/archive/6840791/cinema-sounds-of-pride/) In his most quoted bit he asks why there are laws for pedestrians but not for when cops "'accidentally' shoot people."[20](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/15/1155959851/50-years-later-the-celebrations-and-contradictions-of-wattstax-still-resonate) The jokes sting because they are true, and they keep the film's uplift from curdling into ceremony.
**The film's most explosive highlight is Rufus Thomas's "Do the Funky Chicken," and no description quite does justice to what happens to the Coliseum during it.** Thomas takes the stage splendidly attired in a shocking-pink cape with matching shirt, Bermuda shorts, and white vinyl boots, a ram's-head medallion at his neck.[21](https://time.com/archive/6840791/cinema-sounds-of-pride/) He struts, he teases, he works the crowd with a showman's total ease, and the audience answers by piling over the fences of the L.A. Coliseum and dancing on the field.[22](https://thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=7197) It is the moment the film's whole argument comes true: a stadium of people who came to watch decide, all at once, to be part of the show. TIME's critic called Thomas the only performer who really made things work that day, and on film it is hard to argue.[21](https://time.com/archive/6840791/cinema-sounds-of-pride/)
The other set piece everyone remembers belongs to [The Staple Singers](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-staple-singers), who bring gospel conviction to "Respect Yourself," a song that could serve as the film's title card. Pops Staples' tremolo guitar and the family's harmonies turn a message song into a sermon the whole stadium is willing to hear, and the film cuts it against the faces of the crowd so the message and the audience become the same image.
Then comes the closing act, staged as a coronation. [Isaac Hayes](https://www.edgepedia.org/isaac-hayes), who earlier that year had become the first African American to win a non-acting Academy Award, for the theme from Shaft (1971), is chauffeured into the Coliseum in a lime-green station wagon.[4](https://www.afi.com/news/wattstax-afi-catalog-spotlight/) • [23](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/wattstax-move/) Jesse Jackson introduces him with a build the crowd rides all the way up: "Do we want to see Isaac Hayes? Brothers and sisters, we are about to bring forth a bad, bad ..." and then, with perfect preacher timing, "I'm a preacher, I can't say it!"[23](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/wattstax-move/) Hayes, in gold chains, lets his regal cape drop, an image contemporaries and later writers read as a statement of Black freedom and aspiration in itself.[23](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/wattstax-move/) His set closes the film with ceremonial weight, the day's pride given a face and a voice, and the film ends not on a montage of everything that came before but on Hayes alone, letting the emotion concentrate instead of dissipate.
One behind-the-scenes wrinkle shaped what viewers saw. Because of a music rights dispute, a disappointed Hayes had to re-record "Rolling Down A Mountainside" and re-create that performance on a soundstage; his live "Theme From Shaft" was cut from the original release and restored only in the 2003 thirtieth-anniversary edition.[24](https://www.avclub.com/sounds-of-blaxploitation-wattstax-save-the-children-jesse-jackson)
### Characters
The film has no cast in the dramatic sense, but several figures carry it. Isaac Hayes is the headliner and the ending, the gold-chain-era emperor of Stax whose set closes the day. Rufus Thomas is its comic heart, the veteran DJ and dancer whose pink-clad "Funky Chicken" turns a stadium into a dance floor. The Staple Singers are its conscience, delivering "Respect Yourself" with gospel weight. Richard Pryor (as himself) is its chorus, his interludes tracking from everyday indignity toward harder anger as the film goes on. Jesse Jackson is its opening voice, and the unnamed residents of Watts interviewed in barbershops and living rooms are its true protagonists.
## The concert
[Stax Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/stax-records) chairman Al Bell arranged with producer David L. Wolper to film the August 20, 1972 benefit concert, which featured the label's recording artists and closed the seventh annual Watts Summer Festival[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX?cxt=filmography). The event ran about seven hours and drew an audience of over 100,000, most of them local residents[7](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/wattstax-1973). The Stax Museum's history counts more than 112,000 attendees and calls it the second largest gathering of African-Americans in the United States at the time, after the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Equality[3](https://staxmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Sounds_of_Change_Stax_Museum_American_Soul_Music1.pdf). Tickets cost one dollar[2](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/wattstax_special_edition-wattstax_special).
**Purpose and framing.** The concert commemorated the Watts riots of August 1965, six days of conflict triggered by the arrest of a Black motorist in which 34 people died[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-08-22/wattstax-50th-anniversary-documentary-isaac-hayes-jesse-jackson-staple-singers). The Watts Summer Festival itself had been founded in 1966 by community activists who wanted to present a more positive view of their neighborhood than the television coverage of the riots had offered[8](https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/2516/1/18.pdf.pdf). Bar-Kays bassist James Alexander recalled the concert's intent as showing that a large crowd could gather and enjoy itself without incident; he noted that about 100,000 people attended and there were no incidents[9](https://laist.com/news/npr-news/james-alexander-of-the-bar-kays-on-50-years-of-the-concert-documentary-wattstax).
**The stage.** The Reverend Jesse Jackson, then a young community organizer, served as master of ceremonies and delivered his "I Am Somebody" chant with the crowd[10](https://www.grammy.com/news/history-of-watts-summer-festival/). Isaac Hayes, riding the success of his Academy Award-winning "Theme from Shaft," was driven to the stage in a gold station wagon and performed in a vest of gold chains[11](https://library.rockhall.com/greatest_festival_moments/wattstax_1972). The filmed performances include Hayes's "Theme from Shaft" and "Soulsville," [The Dramatics](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-dramatics)' "What You See Is What You Get," Luther Ingram's "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right," The Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself," Rufus Thomas's "Breakdown" and "Funky Chicken," The Emotions' "Peace Be Still," and Albert King's "I'll Sing The Blues For You"[7](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/wattstax-1973). Kim Weston performed "Lift Every Voice and Sing," known as the Black national anthem[12](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/wattstax).
## The film
Stuart, already known for directing *Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory* (1971), intercut the concert footage with interviews of Watts residents on topics including poverty, employment, police brutality, gender relations, religion, and race, along with Pryor's monologues, which Stuart called "the glue" of the film[12](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/wattstax). Stuart said in his DVD commentary that he was the only white person on the creative team and that he considered the context around the concert as important as the music[2](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/wattstax_special_edition-wattstax_special). Because African-Americans had difficulty getting production jobs in 1970s Hollywood, the Stax organization insisted that the majority of the crew be Black[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX?cxt=filmography).
The film premiered in Los Angeles on February 4, 1973, opened in New York on February 15, and opened in Los Angeles generally on February 21[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX?cxt=filmography). It opened the Cannes Film Festival in 1973 and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Documentary in 1974[13](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/00s/2003/Mix-2003-06.pdf).
## Reception and rediscovery
Initial critical response was mixed. The New York Times critic Vincent Canby called it mildly entertaining but more like "a slick souvenir program rather than a motion-picture documentary on the order of Woodstock"[14](https://readthespirit.com/visual-parables/wattstax-1973/). The film disappeared from theaters almost immediately, hurt by disputes over music rights and a weak marketing campaign by [Columbia Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-pictures)[15](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2004/09/05/for-wattstax-a-reprise-that-restores-its-soul/d8a2f84c-97b5-4a5c-bc02-e80af49b9753/).
**Reassessment.** Over the following decades the film circulated as an underground classic on copied videotapes and midnight screenings, and in 2000 it began appearing at film festivals[15](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2004/09/05/for-wattstax-a-reprise-that-restores-its-soul/d8a2f84c-97b5-4a5c-bc02-e80af49b9753/). A restored version was re-released theatrically on June 6, 2003, earning a Metacritic score of 81 based on eight critic reviews[16](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/wattstax/). By the 2020s it held a 90 percent Tomatometer rating[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wattstax), and in 2020 the Library of Congress selected it for the [National Film Registry](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-registry)[5](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-08-22/wattstax-50th-anniversary-documentary-isaac-hayes-jesse-jackson-staple-singers).
The film's standing has also grown through its subjects. After Jesse Jackson's death on February 17, 2026, journalists recommended *Wattstax* as one of the few feature films capturing him at his inspirational peak, delivering the "I Am Somebody" speech early in the program[14](https://readthespirit.com/visual-parables/wattstax-1973/).
## Related recordings
A six-hour audio documentary, "Wattstax Revisited," was prepared for radio broadcast in quadraphonic sound and syndicated before Stax issued the soundtrack double LP *Wattstax: The Living World* in 1973[17](https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/pc289p08n.pdf). A CD of Isaac Hayes's complete set and a box set of nearly every song from the seven-hour concert followed the 2003 restoration[13](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/00s/2003/Mix-2003-06.pdf).
## References
1. [Wattstax (1973), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX?cxt=filmography)
2. [Wattstax: The Special Edition, Exclaim!](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/wattstax_special_edition-wattstax_special)
3. [Sounds of Change: Stax Museum / American Soul Music curriculum PDF](https://staxmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Sounds_of_Change_Stax_Museum_American_Soul_Music1.pdf)
4. [WATTSTAX – AFI Catalog Spotlight](https://www.afi.com/news/wattstax-afi-catalog-spotlight/)
5. [50 years ago, the Wattstax concert made, and even changed, L.A. history, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-08-22/wattstax-50th-anniversary-documentary-isaac-hayes-jesse-jackson-staple-singers)
6. [Wattstax, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wattstax)
7. [Wattstax, Movies Anywhere](https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/wattstax-1973)
8. [African-American Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations](https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/2516/1/18.pdf.pdf)
9. [James Alexander of the Bar-Kays on 50 years of 'Wattstax', LAist](https://laist.com/news/npr-news/james-alexander-of-the-bar-kays-on-50-years-of-the-concert-documentary-wattstax)
10. [How The Watts Summer Festival Created Community And Offered Healing, GRAMMY.com](https://www.grammy.com/news/history-of-watts-summer-festival/)
11. [Wattstax 1972, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library](https://library.rockhall.com/greatest_festival_moments/wattstax_1972)
12. [Wattstax, Screen Slate](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/wattstax)
13. [Restoring and Reviving a Classic Concert, Mix Magazine (2003)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/00s/2003/Mix-2003-06.pdf)
14. [Wattstax (1973), Visual Parables / ReadTheSpirit](https://readthespirit.com/visual-parables/wattstax-1973/)
15. [For 'Wattstax,' a Reprise That Restores Its Soul, The Washington Post (2004)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2004/09/05/for-wattstax-a-reprise-that-restores-its-soul/d8a2f84c-97b5-4a5c-bc02-e80af49b9753/)
16. [Wattstax (re-released), Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/wattstax/)
17. [Rockumentary: Style, Performance & Sound in a Documentary Genre, McGill eScholarship](https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/pc289p08n.pdf)
18. [https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55079-WATTSTAX)
19. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-05-wk-movies5-story.html](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-05-wk-movies5-story.html)
20. [https://www.npr.org/2023/02/15/1155959851/50-years-later-the-celebrations-and-contradictions-of-wattstax-still-resonate](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/15/1155959851/50-years-later-the-celebrations-and-contradictions-of-wattstax-still-resonate)
21. [https://time.com/archive/6840791/cinema-sounds-of-pride/](https://time.com/archive/6840791/cinema-sounds-of-pride/)
22. [https://thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=7197](https://thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=7197)
23. [https://ultimateclassicrock.com/wattstax-move/](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/wattstax-move/)
24. [https://www.avclub.com/sounds-of-blaxploitation-wattstax-save-the-children-jesse-jackson](https://www.avclub.com/sounds-of-blaxploitation-wattstax-save-the-children-jesse-jackson)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Documentary films by subject: arts, music, sports, and place*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license