Released in June under the title My Main Man from Stony Island, this fine first feature failed to gain much attention in its doomed attempt to make it as a commercial “blacksploitation” picture. However, the San Francisco Chronicle's perceptive critic Judy Stone noted in her review:
“Chicago, that tough old ‘hog butcher to the world,' has its own peculiar way of inspiring poets and dreamers, ward heelers and artists, sociologists and singers. Now its crazy vibes - jazz and blues, folk and funk - come alive with a gritty and, yes, sweet authenticity in My Main Man from Stony Island.
“It's the story of the birth of a band, young kids - black and white - coming together to make music on the South Side, which has had more than its share of musicians and misery. One of Stony Island's own, Andrew Davis - who directed, coproduced and cowrote the script - hones in on the building of the group with the kind of single-minded concentration that Don Siegel gave to the escape plot in Alcatraz.
“With a minimal budget of $400,000, Davis has come up with a movie that puts the $30-million The Wiz to shame with a swinging score and infectious energy. Chicago has never looked more exciting than in Tak Fujimoto's cinematography, winging in on the twilight blues of the elevated lines and the insistent jangling lights of the downtown streets....
“Although there are weaknesses in the script (cowritten by Tamar Hoffs, who coproduced), the performers' fresh and appealing qualities compensate for them.”
In November, Stony Island opened as what it is - an independent art film - in Los Angeles where it was received with wide critical acclaim. Arthur Knight noted in the Hollywood Reporter: “this unpretentious, innovative movie captures the jazz soul of Chicago like no other film I have ever seen.”