She's Gotta Have It (1986)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Spike Lee

Writer:

Spike Lee (writer)

Release Date:

8 August 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A Seriously Sexy Comedy

Plot:

Story of a woman and her three lovers.

Plot Keywords:

Black Independent Film | Black & White To Color | African American | Infidelity | Human Relationship

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Tracy Camilla Johns	...	Nola Darling
Tommy Redmond Hicks	...	Jamie Overstreet
John Canada Terrell	...	Greer Childs
Spike Lee	...	Mars Blackmon
Raye Dowell	...	Opal Gilstrap
Joie Lee	...	Clorinda Bradford
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Doctor Jamison (as Epatha Merkinson)
Bill Lee	...	Sonny Darling
Cheryl Burr	...	Ava
Aaron Dugger	...	Noble
Stephanie Covington	...	Keva
Renata Cobbs	...	Shawn
Cheryl Singleton	...	Toby
Monty Ross	...	Dog 1
Tiziano Cortini	...	Dog 2 (as Lewis Jordan)

Runtime:

84 min | USA:88 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:16 | USA:R | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Canada:R

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Trivia:

The film originally was going to get an "X" rating due to its sexual content. However, after Lee edited some of the sex scenes it received an "R" rating.

Quotes:

Dog 7: Baby, you're so fine, I'd drink a tub of your bath water.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005)

The Beginning

"She's Gotta Have It" was the beginning of an illustrious career for filmmaker Spike Lee. It starred Tracy Camilla Johns as the sex driven Nola Darling. Her three men were played by Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell and Spike Lee. All the three men had certain traits that stood out. Jamie Street (Hicks) is cool, calm and caring towards Nola. Greer Childs (Terrell) was the obnoxious, stuck up, rude pseudo black man that thought he was better than anyone else. And last but not least was Mars Blackmon (Lee), he was funny and outgoing. Annoying at times but his wit could win you over. This film is full of memorable one liners like "please baby baby baby please" and much more. This film was heavily criticized for it's depiction of women (like all of Spike's films), lesbians (the character Opal) and the reality of it. But nonetheless, "She's Gotta Have It" opened in 1986 to rave reviews and grossed 7 million dollars (not a lot but it is amazing compared to the thousands it took to make it). What made this film a gem is that you don't find characters like these anymore. They all had something about them that was hard to resist. Mars Blackmon became so famous that he was reprised by Lee in Nike Air Jordan commercials with the great Michael Jordan, airing from 1988 to 1995 (the Nola character also appeared in one Air Jordan commercial with Mars Blackmon, the commercial only aired once). "She's Gotta Have It" is a decent start for a young filmmaker and a must see for those that haven't seen it.

She's Gotta Have It- Rated R *** out of ****