Yes! It was a low budget film and it was my very first. Although I did not know who "Sun Ra" was at the time - I did enjoy working with him. I will always remember his very words to me during the filming of the nightclub scene (in which I had a small speaking role). We were taking a lunch break and I had decided to sit at the piano and hit some piano keys, just for fun. Ra came walking by and glancing over to me he said, "Don't play what you know - Play what you don't know"! I am not a professional musician, but always remember these words when playing an instrument. I was very happy to see that this film made it to DVD a few years ago.

I was credited as 2nd unit director on this film. Ra was a calm, sort of surreal Buddha through the whole thing, even one time when the script called for him to be tied-up in a chair and menaced by gangsters. During the many hours it took to get this scene on film, Ra just quietly sat tied-up in that chair, so quietly that a couple of times I went over to make sure he was still breathing. He said he was fine, just relaxing on "another plain". Near the end of the shoot, we had a nightclub scene with about 70 extras and a chorus of girls on stage. They were supposed to dance to a tune that Ra insisted on playing live on camera with his band. I had been bugging him unsuccessfully for days as to what he was going to play so that the girls could rehearse.On the day scheduled to shoot this scene, I nervously reminded Ra again about the music. Ra smiled, casually produced some old vinyl albums done by other bands and a portable record player, and suggested that I play them for the chorus to see what they liked. I did, and they caught fire with one of the tunes. Ra said "Fine. You got any music manuscript paper?" I was ready for him. I did.And so, during lunch break, Ra listened to the record, transposed the instrumental lead sheets to paper for his band with a few of his own alterations, and we choreographed and shot it after lunch.For my money, Ra was a fine musician...extremely cool and really "there".

I'll tell you what, Sun Ra was a gift we didn't love enough. He gave us fifty years of his time to "get it," but no one bothered. He's sitting on his home planet right now, entertaining his minions on Saturn. Sun Ra made one movie, that's all he needed to preach his philosophy. It is a brilliant statement on race relations in the early 1970's. An interesting story, engaging characters, and some out there music. One fault: this was not his best period in music. His records from the 50's and 60's were astounding, good enough to make this film even more of a classic. Space Is The Place is essential viewing for those who care about jazz or Africana cinema.

This movie was certainly made on a low budget, but I don't hold that against it-- many low budget flicks have turned out to both entertaining and successful. The main problem with this movie is that it stretches what amounts to a 20 minute plot into a "full lenth?!" picture. Also, the musical interludes are painful at best. The message is here, and the God Sun Ra (Who I might add is played by a fellow who actually thinks he is Sun Ra) makes for an interesting character. Lack of plot and depth of writing are what do this movie in. But hey, at least it's short!