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IMDb > Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored (1995)

Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored (1995) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   263 votes
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Director:
Tim Reid
Writers (WGA):
Clifton L. Taulbert (book)
Paul W. Cooper (screenplay)
Release Date:
26 January 1996 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance more
Plot:
A narrator tells the story of his childhood years in a tightly knit Afro-American community in the deep south under racial segregation. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
2 wins & 2 nominations more
User Comments:
Neither the KKK or Hallmark Card Company more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Al Freeman Jr. ... Poppa
Phylicia Rashad ... Ma Ponk
Leon ... Uncle Melvin
Paula Kelly ... Ma Pearl
Salli Richardson-Whitfield ... Miss Alice (as Salli Richardson)

Anna Maria Horsford ... Miss Annie
Bernie Casey ... Mr. Walter

Isaac Hayes ... Preacher Hurn
Willis Norwood Jr. ... Cliff (12 Yrs.)
Karen Malina White ... Mary
Damon Hines ... Cliff at 16
Iona Morris ... Nila Fontaine

Phill Lewis ... Sammy (19 Yrs.) / Narrator
Taj Mahal ... Mr. Will
Polly Bergen ... Miss Maybry
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated PG for thematic elements including mild violence, language, and sensuality.
Runtime:
115 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Stereo
Certification:
Australia:PG | USA:PG
Company:
BET Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Preacher Hurn: If you call Jesus, his line is never busy. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Phat Girlz (2006) more
Soundtrack:
Maybe Tomorrow more

FAQ

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful:-
Neither the KKK or Hallmark Card Company, 8 May 2006
Author: (futures@exis.net) from Ronn Ives/FUTURES Antiques, Norfolk, VA.

"Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored" (1996): Set in the deep American South, over the years 1946-1962, and told as biography, this is the story of one boy's memories of being raised in the Cotton & Bible Belt. He's poor, his family is in pieces, he's Black, he's surrounded by the KKK…and yet, this is a soft, even soft-focus look back at the people who DID provide community family, did not dwell on their poverty nor make their race the focal point of a normal day. We are so accustomed to angry, relentlessly violent films about the racial divides, this film could easily be taken as a Hallmark Card presentation…but SOMETHING about it tells me otherwise. Yes, problems are depicted, and yes, the times they were a-changin', but not as fast or dramatically as we've come to accept from the quick flip of a few pages in history class. I LIKE the pace of this film. It's slow, warm, often funny, occasionally sugary, sometimes sad or maddening, but for the most part it's a nostalgic look back at the GOOD parts of black author's childhood.

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