{{Infobox film | name = Drop Squad | image = Drop Squad FilmPoster.jpeg | alt = | caption = | director = David C. Johnson | producer = Butch Robinson<br />Shelby Stone | screenplay = David C. Johnson<br />Butch Robinson | story = David Taylor<br />David C. Johnson<br />Butch Robinson | starring = {{Plainlist| * Eriq La Salle * Vondie Curtis-Hall * Ving Rhames * Kasi Lemmons * Leonard Thomas * Eric A. Payne}} | music = Mike Bearden | cinematography = Ken Kelsch | editing = Kevin Lee | studio = 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks | distributor = Gramercy Pictures | released = {{Film date|1994|10|28}} | runtime = 86 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $2 million | gross = $700 thousand (United States/Canada) }} '''''Drop Squad''''' (sometimes spelled as '''''DROP Squad''''' or '''''D.R.O.P. Squad''''') is a 1994 American drama film directed by David C. Johnson and executive produced by Spike Lee via his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks.<ref name="ebert">{{cite news |title=Drop Squad |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19941028/REVIEWS/410280303/1023 |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=1994-10-28 |access-date=9 January 2011 |archive-date=2012-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011180512/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19941028/REVIEWS/410280303/1023 |url-status=live }}</ref> The plot depicts a team of African Americans who kidnap fellow black people who they feel have betrayed their community and seek to "deprogram" them so that they will change their ways.<ref name="hinson">{{cite news |title= Drop Squad |first=Hal |last=Hinson |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/dropsquadrhinson_b00989.htm |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1994-10-28 |access-date=8 January 2011}}</ref> The acronym DROP stands for "Deprogramming and Restoration of Pride".<ref name="keith">{{cite news |title=Come Back Brother |first=Yvonne R. |last=Keith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dq44E0M8CoIC&q=%22drop+squad%22&pg=PA37 |newspaper=Black Professional |date=Fall 1994 |page=37 |access-date=8 January 2011}}</ref> The film has been described as "[p]art thriller, part social satire".<ref>{{cite news |title=Spike Lee's 'Drop Squad' Falls Short |first=Leonard |last=Klady |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YuhgAAAAIBAJ&pg=3309,490003&dq=satirical+drama+drop-squad&hl=en |newspaper=The Rochester Sentinel |location=Rochester, Ind. |agency=Variety |date=1995-01-11 |page=6, Compass section |access-date=9 January 2011}}</ref>

The film was based in part on ''The Session'', a 45-minute film Johnson produced in 1988 on a $20,000 budget,<ref name="vibe">{{cite news |title=Making Movies |author=Eugene Holley Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dCwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22drop+squad%22&pg=PA111 |newspaper=Vibe |date=November 1994 |page=111 |access-date=8 January 2011}}</ref> and ultimately derived from a short story by David C. Taylor titled "The Deprogrammer".<ref name="peters">{{cite news |title=What does Spike Lee's 'Drop Squad' mask? |first=Ida |last=Peters |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ysIlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1212,4439112&dq=drop-squad+movie+%7C+film&hl=en |newspaper=The Baltimore Afro-American |date=1994-10-29 |page=B6 |access-date=8 January 2011}}</ref> Johnson described the differences between the two films as follows: "The short film was basically satire, an absurdist piece .... ''D.R.O.P. Squad'', on the other hand, is realism. The characters have more at stake."<ref name="vibe"/>

==Plot== The film portrays an advertising executive, Bruford Jamison Jr. who is in charge of the "minority development division" for an advertising agency.<ref name="hinson"/><ref name="peters"/> Among the ad campaigns he is involved with is one for a malt liquor called "Mumblin' Jack", whose billboard depicts a woman in a skimpy bikini straddling a bottle, with the slogan "It Gits Ya Crazy!"<ref name="hinson"/><ref name="peters"/> Another ad campaign depicted in the film is a commercial filled with racial stereotypes (in which Spike Lee has a cameo) for a fried chicken restaurant's Gospel-Pak, which offers a Bible verse printed on every napkin.<ref name="ebert"/><ref name="maslin">{{cite news |title=Film Review; A Satirical Look at Black Yuppies |first=Janet |last=Maslin |author-link=Janet Maslin |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9507E7D6133FF93BA15753C1A962958260 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1994-10-28 |access-date=9 January 2011}}</ref> Bruford's sister Lenora (Nicole Powell) calls in the Drop Squad to deprogram him.<ref name="peters"/> Bruford winds up being subjected to three weeks of psychological and physical brutality.<ref name="ebert"/> Among the other persons who are shown being subjected to the deprogramming are a corrupt politician and a drug dealer.<ref name="peters"/>

The film also depicts a conflict among the members of the Drop Squad as to the tactics they should use. Rocky, the squad's leader, believes in using only nonviolent tactics,<ref name="hinson"/> such as "subjecting them to a barrage of slides, posters, slogans and family photographs in hopes of restoring their sense of community",<ref name="maslin"/> while Garvey believes that harsher methods have become necessary.<ref name="keith"/>

==Cast== * Eriq La Salle as Bruford Jamison, Jr. * Vondie Curtis-Hall as Rocky Seavers * Ving Rhames as Garvey * Kasi Lemmons as June Vanderpool * Leonard Thomas as XB * Nicole Powell as Lenora Jamison * Eric A. Payne as Stokely * Crystal Fox as Zora * Vanessa Estelle Williams as Mali

==Response== The film opened on 163 screens in the United States and Canada and grossed $348,192 in its opening weekend and a total of $734,693. The movie was dropped from the theaters it played when the movie ''Drop Zone'' was released weeks later.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dropsquad.htm |title=Drop Squad |work=Box Office Mojo |access-date=8 January 2011 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305095821/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dropsquad.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

''Drop Squad'' has been suggested as a possible influence on Spike Lee's 2000 film ''Bamboozled''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films |last=Bogle |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Bogle |edition=4th |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/tomscoonsmulatto0004bogl/page/361 361]–362 |url=https://archive.org/details/tomscoonsmulatto0004bogl |url-access=registration |quote=bamboozled drop squad. |access-date=2011-01-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More! |last=Pratt |first=Douglas |year=2004 |publisher=Harbor Electronic Publishing |location=New York |isbn=1-932916-00-8 |volume=1 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTUw1SDQECoC&q=bamboozled+%22drop+squad%22&pg=PA109 |access-date=2011-01-09}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0109675|title=Drop Squad}} *{{Rotten Tomatoes|drop_squad}}

Category:1994 English-language films Category:1994 films Category:Gramercy Pictures films