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Great Movies To Recognize Black History Month

GREAT MOVIES TO RECOGNIZE BLACK HISTORY MONTH


With the month of February comes Black History month, when we recognize and pay tribute to the black community’s long struggle for equal rights in this country. Even for those of us who think we know the story well, it’s one that always bears repeating, for ourselves and our children, and an assortment of solid, relevant titles on DVD can help.

Prior to the 1960’s, the portrayal of black characters in movies was confined to servants, porters, and other similar stereotypes. Only with the advent of the Civil Rights movement did the film industry dare address the authentic black experience. At this point, Sidney Poitier emerged as the first black movie star, whose roles advanced a new image of the African-American male, one reflecting intelligence, pride, and dignity.

Daniel Petrie’s “A Raisin In The Sun” (1961) provided an ideal vehicle for Poitier’s explosive talent. Sidney portrays Walter Lee Younger, an ambitious, tightly coiled young man counting on his mother’s small nest-egg to invest in a business which could lift his family out of their dead-end existence. Walter projects barely suppressed rage as he pleads with resolute mother Lena (Claudia McNeil), who wants to use the money to buy a new home. Walter’s raw desperation is palpable as he sees his one chance to better himself slipping away. Watch this moving piece for Poitier’s intense performance, and McNeil’s equally arresting turn as the family matriarch.

Three years later, director Michael Roemer would release an independent film called “Nothing But A Man”, addressing the challenge of black men sustaining loving relationships when discrimination and feelings of futility consume them with anger. Duff (Ivan Dixon), a black railroad worker, meets Josie (Abbey Lincoln), a shy preacher’s daughter. They fall in love, but soon Duff’s frustration with his prospects boils over, threatening the relationship. With grace and feeling, this lean, unadorned film details how the couple navigates these choppy waters to find a measure of happiness. The talented Julius Harris stands out playing Duff’s failed, drunken father.

In the 1970s, television would actually do more than feature films to advance understanding of black history in this country. Perhaps best remembered is the wildly successful, landmark adaptation of Alex Haley’s novel “Roots” into a six-part, ten hour mini-series in 1977, which took viewers back to the dawn of the slave trade that first brought blacks to our shores in bondage. Regrettably, this series is not widely available on DVD.

Another superior television production you can watch in one sitting is 1974’s “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”, which traces the life of one stalwart black woman from a childhood in slavery all the way through to the Civil Rights movement. In Jane’s eventful story lies an invaluable history lesson, one of endurance through suffering and upheaval, and culminating in Jane’s becoming a witness to positive change. The gifted Cicely Tyson is a marvel in the title role, as over the course of the film she ages from a young girl to a spry old lady of 110. She deservedly won an Emmy Award for her work, and the film itself won eight more.

Four years later, Tyson would team with actor Paul Winfield for another top-notch mini-series, “King”, aired in three 90 minute installments. Written and directed by the talented Abby Mann, “King” is a meticulous recreation of Dr. Martin Luther King’s mystical odyssey from spirited young Baptist preacher to anointed spokesman for the vast non-militant wing of the Civil Rights movement. The revelation here is the extent to which King did not choose his thorny path, but was chosen, both by his own people and a higher power. Winfield and Tyson (who’d starred together in the fabulous “Sounder” six years prior) are both first-rate as Martin and Coretta, and along with Mann’s incisive script and a stellar supporting cast, they make “King” a powerful and enlightening experience.

To form the ideal double feature for Martin Luther King’s birthday, also catch “Citizen King” (2004), a riveting PBS “American Experience” entry. I found watching this particularly intriguing after first screening “King”, noting not just Abby Mann’s fidelity to real events, but also the subtle differences between Winfield’s portrayal and the real man, who seemed smaller, more serious, and infinitely sadder than the actor, but whose soaring oratory still sounds like noone I’ve ever heard.

As the 1980’s progressed, so did the careers of two figures whose work would further the cause of black awareness: actor Denzel Washington and director Spike Lee. In 1989, Washington would attain stardom after winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as a defiant soldier in Edward Zwick’s “Glory”, which recounts the true story of the the Civil War’s first black fighting regiment. That same year, Lee boosted his own visibility with “Do The Right Thing”, a contemporary drama about underlying racial tensions in Brooklyn that need only a chance incident on a sweltering day to ignite.

Lee and Washington would join up three years later to make the searing, epic-scale “Malcolm X”. This three and a half hour feature carries us from Malcolm Little’s unpromising beginnings as a Harlem gang-member through his religious conversion in prison, marriage to Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett), and eventual ascension to chief spokesman for the nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman, Jr.) Like his contemporary Dr. King, Malcolm faced constant danger and opposition from whites and blacks alike; unlike King, he did not believe non-violence alone would advance the cause of his people. A transformative pilgrimage to Mecca ultimately puts Malcolm at odds with his leader, which helps seal his own fate. The Oscar-nominated Washington delivers a towering portrayal of the militant leader, and bears an almost uncanny resemblance to Malcolm, while Lee’s inspired direction creates an electric impact and immediacy that bring us closer to this tumultuous chapter in our history.

In his devastating documentary “4 Little Girls” (1997), director Lee goes on to profile a horrific true incident from 1963, when a Baptist Church in Birmingham was blown up, killing four young girls attending Sunday School. This heart-rending episode is recalled via reminiscences of the girls’ families and friends, while others comment on the event’s broader significance in reinvigorating the movement at a critical juncture, and accelerating the passage of vital civil rights legislation. This haunting and revealing testament is not be missed.

Lest we forget, before the rise of Dr. King and Malcolm X, there was Thurgood Marshall. Before becoming the nation’s first black Supreme Court Justice, Marshall was an overworked, underpaid lawyer for the NAACP. In the early 50s, he took an isolated case from rural South Carolina all the way to the Supreme Court, resulting in the historic 1954 “Brown vs. Board of Education” decision, which ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional. In “Separate But Equal” (1991), a three hour TV movie first aired in two parts, Sidney Poitier plays Mr. Marshall, and predictably, does him proud. This outstanding film is also notable for featuring Burt Lancaster in his final role as John Davis, the veteran lawyer who opposes Marshall in our country’s highest court. Also look for the late Richard Kiley in a measured, dignified turn as Chief Justice Earl Warren.


John Farr

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Winter Sports Movies

DVD DETECTIVE: WINTER SPORTS MOVIES

In my recent research on sports movies, I’ve been keeping a rough mental tally of which athletic endeavors adapt most readily and successfully to feature films.

Topping the list is boxing, no big surprise since the sport embodies the inherent primal drama of two people knocking each other silly, a theme that speaks volumes about us and the society we’ve shaped. Baseball comes in a close second, evoking a heroic, nostalgic sense of our American character like no other sport. Ranking at number three, the punishing, macho world of football is also fairly well-represented on celluloid.

For whatever reason, winter sports movies receive fairly short shrift in the cinematic realm. Maybe people don’t like to feel cold watching a movie. Still, my scouring of DVD titles centering on basketball and hockey yield five films I can recommend.

We begin with basketball, and the exciting, atmospheric “Hoosiers” (1988). Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) has a checkered coaching past, largely due to a volcanic temper. His days in college ball over, Norman takes a job coaching a disorganized, demotivated high-school team in rural Indiana. He proceeds to whip the team into shape, but not before ruffling some influential feathers. Will Norman keep his job long enough to see how far his team can go? Intense and involving on and off-court, this movie benefits from a bravura Hackman performance as a flawed man who confronts his demons and marshals his strengths to redeem himself. Another standout is Dennis Hopper in an Oscar-nominated turn as Shooter, a former player who loves the game, but is also the town drunk, that is until Norman jolts him back to help the team. This is a feel-great movie for the whole family (though best for older children).

Next comes the summit in sports documentaries: the ambitious and insightful “Hoop Dreams” (1994). This enthralling, nearly three hour film chronicles the fortunes of two Chicago inner-city youths who look to basketball as their ticket out of a dead-end existence. The story begins when William Gates and Arthur Agee win basketball scholarships to St. Joseph’s, the prestigious high school that turned out legend Isaiah Thomas. Tracking William and Arthur’s progress over a five year period, the film-makers capture the twists and turns of each individual’s odyssey. This highly personal film, years in the making, lets us get to know both young men: their families, friends, and how each reacts to a whole new world of pressure at St. Joe’s. We think we see where it’s all going early on, but of course we’re wrong, a subtle reminder that life has a way of surprising us, and that everyone develops at their own rates of speed.

My third basketball pick is a movie few people know, about a player few remember: Earl “The Goat” Manigault. The film, originally aired on HBO, is “Rebound” (1996), a gritty true story of a prodigiously talented black player in Harlem who takes a disastrous turn towards drug addiction, blowing his NBA prospects, only to come back and find his life’s meaning by helping young athletes avoid his mistakes. Earl Manigault (Don Cheadle) rose with the likes of Lew Alcindor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Earl Monroe on the cement courts of Harlem in the late fifties, and matched their ability and promise. Though Earl’s basketball skills take him to college, strained relations with a hard-headed coach (Clarence Williams, III) combine with a single tragic event to send him off the rails. Directed by actor Eriq LaSalle, the film boasts a top-flight supporting cast, including James Earl Jones as Earl’s college mentor, and Forest Whitaker as an early role model who spots and nurtures Earl’s gift. Cheadle makes a magnetic Earl, as you’d expect. “Rebound”, which features rampant drug use, is decidedly not for kids.

The same holds for the first of my two hockey-themed titles, “Slap Shot” (1977), a savage black comedy re-teaming director George Roy Hill and Paul Newman, who’d done “Butch Cassidy” and “The Sting” together. “Slap Shot” tells of aging, cynical Reggie Dunlop (Newman), player/coach of the Chiefs, a losing minor league team on the brink of losing its franchise. The team’s fortunes revive only when Dunlop resolves to play dirty and give the fans what they want: blood. The arrival of the Hanson Brothers, a trio of infantile Neanderthals from up north, helps propel this new strategy, to hilarious effect. But soon Reggie suffers a crisis of conscience: is this really the way to play hockey? This wildly profane film is consistently funny, and often side-splitting. And Newman’s Reggie adds poignancy; he’s a perennial rogue with plenty of charm, but hardly a responsible adult, evidenced by his failed marriage to Francine (Jennifer Warren), for whom he still carries a torch. Veteran character actor Strother Martin makes the perfect weasel as smarmy team manager Joe McGrath, and Andrew Duncan is memorable as a radio announcer with the worst toupee on the planet.

My second hockey entry, “Miracle” (2004), transcends a familiar underdog team formula to vividly recreate a triumphant moment in Olympic history: the 1980 USA team’s upset victory over the more seasoned USSR squad, who’d won the Gold Medal handily in the last four Olympic Games. Under the leadership of no-nonsense Midwest coach Herb Brooks (an assured Kurt Russell), a rag-tag group of talented young players coalesce into an unbeatable machine. Despite our knowing the outcome, “Miracle” keeps us riveted right up to the final buzzer. Russell is ably supported by Patricia Clarkson as Herb’s wise, supportive wife Patty, Noah Emmerich as assistant coach Craig Patrick, and Eddie Cahill as team leader and goalie Jim Craig. Full of humanity and fun period detail (just check out Kurt’s haircut and wardrobe!), “Miracle” scores as a first-rate family film. Sadly, the real-life Brooks was killed in a car accident shortly after filming was completed, and never saw the final product. No doubt he’d have been pleased with the outcome.


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Activist Movies

THE SPIRIT OF ACTIVISM IN FILM

Those of us alarmed by this administration’s recurring mis-steps can take some comfort in our fundamental right to expose and challenge injustice, corruption and bad policy. The importance of that freedom-and our responsibility to exercise it- is engrained in all of us. And it’s not just about free speech, but concerted action to accomplish positive change. Not surprisingly, many outstanding films have shown just what this spirit of activism can achieve.

Great activist movies portray the ongoing struggle between the welfare of working people and the interests of big business, which, as Mr. Abramoff reminds us, are often closely tied to government. These films make inspiring David and Goliath stories, where average citizens take on the fat cats via the press, the courts, or the labor unions.

Case in point: the landmark “Salt Of The Earth” (1954). Filmed independently on a shoestring by blacklisted director Herbert Biberman, it too was blacklisted on release, the only movie in our country’s history to earn that distinction. Using mainly non-actors, “Earth” portrays the indigent lives of workers at a zinc mine in New Mexico, focusing on Ramon and Esperanza Quintero (Juan Chacon and Rosaura Revueltas). When Ramon, backed by the Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, leads a walk-out against the Empire Zinc Company, reprisals follow. The company eventually produces an injunction forcing the men off the picket line, so their wives step in and take over for them. Shot with a documentary-style immediacy, this historic effort still makes for stark, powerful cinema. ( Note: black-listed actor Will Geer, later Grandpa in “The Waltons”, plays the sheriff).

Fast-forward twenty-five years to Sally Field’s Oscar-winning turn in “Norma Rae”. After hearing New York based union organizer Reuben (Ron Leibman) deliver a speech at the Southern textile mill where she works, Norma Rae (Field) joins the effort to organize workers. Butting heads with management, and alienating husband Sonny (Bridges) with her new activism, Norma Rae evolves from pliant employee to impassioned agitator for workers’ rights. The interplay between Norma Rae and unlikely ally Reuben (Leibman) is interesting to watch, but ultimately it’s the emergence of Norma Rae’s righteous fire that’s most memorable. The diminutive but plucky Field is triumphant in her break-out role.

Director Mike Nichols would bring a chilling true story to life with “Silkwood” (1983), starring the gifted Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood, an employee at a plutonium plant outraged at her management’s blatant disregard for proper safety procedures, and the resulting risk of radioactive contamination. On her way to meet a journalist in November, 1974, Karen disappeared, never to be seen again. Streep’s nuanced portrayal shows an ordinary woman who, through fate, circumstance and a streak of raw defiance, risks her life to attempt something extraordinary. Kurt Russell executes one of his more interesting roles as Karen’s boyfriend Drew, and the talented Cher sheds all her glamour to play Karen’s lesbian friend Dolly. Director Nichols builds a gradual sense of dread, culminating in a nerve-jangling conclusion. Don’t miss this disturbing cautionary tale.

One of the best films of the 1980’s, John Sayles’s brilliant “Matewan” (1987) takes us back to the 1920s, and the primitive, perilous lives of coal miners in West Virginia. United Mine Workers union rep Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) has his hands full organizing this group, as they comprise white, black and Italian factions unaccustomed to interacting outside the pit. Joe’s simple message: there is strength in numbers. Flavorful, meticulous recreation of time and place is enhanced by powerful performances, particularly from Cooper and a majestic James Earl Jones playing a miner called “Few Clothes” Johnson. This may well be Sayles’s finest hour.

Barbara Kopple’s riveting documentary “American Dream”(1989) follows a contentious 1987 meatpackers’ strike at a Hormel plant in Minnesota. In the wake of a proposed pay-cut for doing one of the world’s least pleasant jobs, we witness a torturous, mind-numbing process as organizers struggle to diffuse friction among angry strikers, who differ on what strategy to employ against Hormel. Ultimately the local union rejects the guidance of their national parent and takes on the process themselves, hiring strike “consultant” Ray Rogers to help them. With the director’s fly-on-the-wall approach, we experience all the mounting tension and frustration, as ensuing events seem to call the organizers’ judgment into question. And of course, the price isn’t just wasted resources-there are jobs at stake. Kopple’s unblinking chronicle of this painful, divisive episode reflects documentary-film-making at its very best..

Switching back to feature films, in the fact-based “A Civil Action” (1999) ,John Travolta stars as Jan Schlictmann, a personal injury attorney who pursues a negligence suit against corporate titans W.R Grace and Beatrice Foods. The companies have a joint interest in a leather production facility in Woburn, Massachusetts, whose illegal dumping of toxic waste may have led to the deaths of several local children. Anne Anderson (Kathleen Quinlan), the mother of one victim, decides to sue. Jan immerses himself in this high-stakes battle, wagering everything he has on a positive outcome. Gripping and literate, “Action” features a stellar cast, notably John Lithgow as the trial judge, and Robert Duvall as Jerome Facher, the formidable opposing counsel. This absorbing courtroom drama grabs you by the throat and never lets go.

Finally, don’t miss Ken Loach’s “Bread and Roses” (2000). L.A. organizer Sam Shapiro (Adrien Brody) wants to unionize a local janitorial service, largely comprised of illegal immigrants. Without rights, these workers are regularly abused and mistreated for sub-standard wages. Though Brody excels in the central role, it’s easy to see why he sets his eye on worker Maya (Pilar Padilla), since her radiance jumps off the screen. Maya becomes a key supporter, risking her own position, much to the consternation of sister and fellow employee Rosa (Elpidia Carrillo), who must support a disabled husband and can’t afford to lose her job. The conflict between principle and practical reality is deftly explored by Loach, and we learn again that within such sticky, complex issues lie no easy answers. This intense, authentic depiction of our most vulnerable workers’ struggle for a decent life only underscores the importance of taking a stand, however daunting. As most activists will tell you, accepting the status quo is simply not an option.