Remember how a couple years ago, every time you turned on the TV during prime time, it seemed like there was an iPod commercial on? Yeah, well back in the late 80s and early 90s, it was like that with the Michael Jordan / Spike Lee “Mars Blackmon” commercials. They played so often they spawned catch-phrases in popular culture (“It’s gotta be the shoes”) and helped solidify Jordan as a household name, and I’m willing to bet a lot more people saw Mars on the commercials than ever saw him in his original film role.

MARS BLACKMON

Spike Lee is tied to Jordan Brand in several ways, with the Mars commercials likely being the most famous, but perhaps the most infamous tie-in comes from the movie “Do The Right Thing” when Buggin Out busts out the toothbrush to clean his Jordan 4s immediately after they get scuffed. In fact, that tie-in is likey why this 2006 Air Jordan Retro 4 sneaker pays tribute to Spike Lee.

Except for one little problem: Mars Blackmon wasn’t in “Do The Right Thing.”

But I guess since The Jordan 4 is so tied to Spike Lee, and Spike Lee is so tied to Jordans via Mars Blackmon, that maybe that’s why the shit gets twisted. I dunno. But for the record, Mars Blackmon was a character in Spike Lee’s very first full-length feature film, “She’s Gotta Have It” released in 1986, four years before the Jordan 4 released.

Odds are you haven’t seen it. It was a big success as far as independent films go, but it wasn’t exactly a blockbuster. It took in about 8 million dollars (which is great since it only cost $170,000 to make) but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to a big hollywood hit. It’s never been as popular as his later, more refined films. Other than VHS, the only way you were likely to catch it was on the Independent Film channel because the movie didn’t get released on DVD until about 2 years ago. There’s a whole generation of folks out there, including a bunch of young sneakerheads, who probably haven’t actually seen the film.

“She’s Gotta Have It” is a documentary style comedy/drama set in Brooklyn, NY about a very sexually active girl named Nola Darling who juggles three dudes in the bedroom: the nice-but-possesive Jamie Overstreet; the self-centered-male-model Greer Childs; and the motormouth-bike-messenger-funny-guy Mars Blackmon. She likes certain elements of each--even though they all exhibit some serious character flaws--but she can’t commit to any single one of them. It’s cool at first since they’re all just casual relationships, but as each becomes more and more serious, the fact that she’s fucking three dudes at the same time puts a serious strain on everyone. Well, except for Nola who is perfectly content having three semi-serious sexual partners.

The “It” in “She’s Gotta Have It” is a direct reference to sex. There’s a lot of sex in this movie. A whole lot. And you also see Nola’s titties a lot. Like, you know how in the Eddie Murphy / Dan Aykroyd movie “Trading Places” Jamie Lee Curtis takes her top off about every 10 minutes? Yeah it’s kinda like that, except that Jamie Lee Curtis was just showing off while getting undressed. In “She’s Gotta Have It” you see Nola’s tittes because of all the sex scenes. There’s even a long, slow close up of Mars sucking her gigantic nipple. But then Nola takes it a little too far when she messes around with Mars’ Jordans, which he naturally leaves on during sex (everyone does that, right?).

Mars is a great character in the film, and unlike the Jordan TV commercials he gets enough continuous screen time to really let his crazy assed personality shine. Mars' triple phrase repeating in the commercials--"Do you know? Do you know? Do you know?"--feels more authentic in the context of a regular conversation. When he says, "Please baby, please baby, please baby-baby-baby, please?" begging Nola to let him come over one night, you genuinely believe that's how a horny Brooklyn bike messenger jokester would talk. His comedic outbursts make sense, his demeanor a stark contrast to the other two male leads, particularly in the group Thanksgiving dinner scene. In the film he's a wholy fleshed out character, whereas in the commercials it seems he's a mere caricature of that character.

The film is basically a character study, as well as a commentary on society and dating stereotypes, but the only character that doesn’t come off in a negative light is Mars Blackmon. He remains likable throughout the film. Even when Nola dumps him, he’s likable. And someone at Nike must have liked him a whole lot, because after the film released, they offered Spike Lee the chance to star in and direct the series of high profile Air Jordan “Mars Blackmon” commercials. And now his face is lasered on Air Jordan 4s and he even got his own line of Jordan Spiz’ike sneakers.

In the end, Mars doesn't win the battle for the girl, but it seems he won the war.

- dsicle

P.S. - the music in this movie, scored by Spike Lee's father Bill Lee, is absolutely superb. 

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