Called the “Putney Swope” of jazz films, cult classic “Space is the Place,” starring Sun Ra, will get a 30th Anniversary Director’s Cut DVD release on October 28th. With over 20 minutes of added footage, the film has been restored to its original theatrical length, reintroducing several subplots heretofore omitted in the previous video version.
After having traveled through space in a yellow spaceship propelled by music, Sun Ra finds a planet he believes could serve as a new home for the black race. Returning to earth, he lands in Oakland, California circa 1972 and has to fight The Overseer, played by Ray Johnson (from 1971’s DIRTY HARRY), a supernatural villain who pimps out the black race. Sun Ra offers those who would follow him into space an “alter-destiny,” but the Overseer, the FBI, and NASA–who are after Ra’s Black Space Program–ultimately force him to return to space before the destruction of Earth.
