RIP The Mack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ViWTpPHlxI

Max Julien died on New Years' Day. He was a theater actor for most of his life, but most of us know him for his sublime portrayal of "Goldie" in The Mack. As with Ron O'Neal's "Priest" in Superfly, Julien made a real person out of someone who in the hands of a lesser actor would have been a pastiche or parody. It's also worth noting that Julien's input was critical to a rewritten script that moved The Mack from raw "blaxploitation" to an authentically moral film.

In Goldie's honor, I'm republishing my December 10, 2011 TTAC story in which he plays a central part. A note to the reader: it's been over a decade since the events recounted here occurred, and I hope we have all grown as human beings since then. I've removed a broken link and cleaned up a sentence or two for clarity. I've also added a paragraph at the end to catch the reader up on what's happened to everyone in the story since then.