Not all of the movies Hollywood produces are blockbusters. Some, barelybreak even while others go straight to video. Although most of the movieslisted here fit these two categories, it isn’t the money they made, but theimpact on the watcher that is so important.
Glory: Made in 1989, this Civil War piece gave actor DenzelWashington his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Set during the Civil War, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, playedby Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Stepford Wives) volunteers to lead an all black regime of former slaves for theFederal Army.
Though Shaw is an enlightened liberal from the east, he has a hard timeconnecting with his fresh-off-the-plantation counterparts. True to Hollywoodglamour, Shaw and his men come together in the final scenes where they areinvolved in a suicide assault against Confederate forces at Fort Wagner.
Private Tip, played by Denzel Washington (Man on Fire, TheManchurian Candidate), gives adynamic performance. In a scenewhere he is beaten, Denzel stands motionless, letting only one tear drop fromhis eyes as everyone looks on.
Rated R for language, violence, and graphic war scenes, Glory makessure the audience knows that without these brave men during the Civil War,blacks today might not have had a chance to be in the armed services.
Roots: Written by one ofthe most celebrated writers of the Twenty Century, Alex Haley (Malcolm X,Queen) gives us a touching drama that looks into the lives ofthree generations. Kunta Kinte,the main character of the movie, is shown as a young boy who has just completedhis man-hood training.
While in the fields looking for materials to make his younger brother adrum, Kunta is captured and taken to America where he becomes a slave to Dr.William Reynolds, played by Robert Reed (The Brady Bunch).
As time passes, Kunta, now known as Toby, marries and has a daughter,Kizzy. Soon she is sold and has achild of her own, George “Chicken” Moore, a light hearted cock fighter who isable to buy his family freedom. This tale, which semi-parallels Alex Haley’s heritage, is one to stirthe emotions of anyone who watches it. Although it couldn’t be nominated for an Oscar, it did win a GoldenGlobe for Best Television Series in a Dramatic category.
The Tuskegee Airmen: A catalyst for many black actors in1995, the HBO movie told the true-life tales of the first black men everintegrated into the United States Army Air Corps. Unknown to fliers Hannibal Lee (Laurence Fishburne — TheColor Purple, The Matrix), WalterPeoples (Allen Payne — The Cosby Show, New Jack City) and Leroy Cappy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner — The Cosby Show), Senator Conyers, played by John Lithgow (Shrek) concocts a plot to prove that black men are not competent enough tofly an airplane. They look forreasons to show that their cowardly behavior would prohibit them inparticipating in combat by using false facts from other scientist who did notwant blacks in the Air Force. From beginning to end this movie shows thecourage and strength these brave men had during World War Two. Stacked againstnegative odds, the Tuskegee Airmen showed the world and themselves that theyhad staying power.
Do the Right Thing: Released in 1989 by one of the mosttalented, but yet one of the most neglected directors to date, Spike Lee, inhis fourth film, depicts one day in the town called Brooklyn. Nominated forwriting and acting in a supporting role (Danny Aiello), in the movie, racialtension is sparked among all who live there. The story opens with a powerful dance scene given by RosiePerez. True to Lee’s directingform, he quickly gets into the thick of the story…racial tensions on thecitizen’s face on one of the hottest days of the summer.
Radio Rahim strolls into Sal’s Pizzeria with his radio blasting whilehe orders food.
Sal, a nice man who has grown hard over the years and developed a shorttemper orders Radio to turn the music off. Not wanting to back down, Radio refuses his request, butlater on in the movie Radio wonders, couldn’t he have at least said”please?”
The movie goes back and forth as the blacks of the town demand that Salput pictures of famous blacks in his store instead of all famousItalian-Americans. Sal, who cannotunderstand why his black customers feel so hostile about the pictures,refuses.
The black people then state that since they are his main source ofincome, they should also be represented in the pizzeria. As usual, Spike Lee gives noanswers. Not even during the lastclips when one of the characters experience a side of racial tension that manycannot understand. Lee wants hisaudience to think for themselves, to make their own choices so that whensomething like this occurs to them, they will be able to ‘do the right thing’.
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge: ‘She was everythingAmerica wanted a movie star to be…except white’, the tag line for the movietells the audience everything about the movie. Halle Berry, who possesses a striking resemblance to thelate Dandridge, won a Golden Globe in the best actress in a mini-seriescategory. More of an emotionaljourney than a biography of her acting career, the movie depicts the strugglesa ‘negro’ or ‘colored’ actress would have in the 1950’s.
While performing in Las Vegas, Dandridge is denied access to the pool,bathroom, and conversing with the white guest at the hotel she is residingat. Daring to be different,Dandridge places her foot in the pool water, causing the manager to drain andscrub the pool once she was gone. Though her life seemed glamorous, it was not.
After a failed marriage to dancer Harold Nicholas that led to the birthof her mentally retarded daughter, Lynn, Dandridge then began her downwardspiral; dating men who ultimately led her to her obsession with prescriptiondrugs. In the end, no one knowsfor sure if Dandridge’s death was an accident or suicide.
She will always be known as the first black female to be nominated foran Oscar in 1954 for ‘Carmen Jones’.
Other movies that are sure to ignite feelings of pride in all are, Malcolm X (1994) staring Denzel Washington and directed by Spike Lee; MissJane Pittman (1974) staring Cicely Tyson andwritten by Ernest Gaines; and The Josephine Baker story (1991) staring Baton Rouge native Lynn Whitfield.