Black and White (I) (1999)

A group of white high school teens become involved with Harlem's black hip-hop crowd.

Director:

James Toback

Writer:

James Toback

Stars:

Scott Caan, Allan Houston, Claudia Schiffer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Scott Caan	...	Scotty
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Terry Donager
Stacy Edwards	...	Sheila King
Allan Houston	...	Dean Carter
Gaby Hoffmann	...	Raven
Kidada Jones	...	Jesse
Jared Leto	...	Casey
Marla Maples	...	Muffy
Joe Pantoliano	...	Bill King
Bijou Phillips	...	Charlie
Oliver 'Power' Grant	...	Rich Bower (as Power)
Raekwon	...	Cigar
Claudia Schiffer	...	Greta
William Lee Scott	...	Will King
Brooke Shields	...	Sam Donager

Storyline

Set in New York City, Black and White features several losely related stories centering on a pair of documentary filmmakers, Sam and her husband Terry, in following a group of caucasian teens, Raven, Charlie, Will, Marty, Wren and others who try to fit in with Harlem's black hip-hop crowd who include gangster rapper Rich Bower and his music partner Cigar in landing a recording gig, as well as college basketball player Dean who is conflicted on taking a fall on a game for shady gambler Mark Clear who has hidden agenda for Dean and Rich.

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Plot Keywords:

hip hop | new york city | gangster | sex | basketball player | 

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Taglines:

What if they mixed it up?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality, graphic language, some violence and drug use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 April 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Aspro kai mavro

Filming Locations:

Columbia University - Broadway & 116th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$2,212,535 (USA) (7 April 2000)

Gross:

$5,241,315 (USA) (28 April 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bigel / Mailer Films, Palm Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brooke Shields had her nose pierced for the nose ring she wears in the film.

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Goofs

Dean is described repeatedly as a "star point guard." Actually, like the actor (a star basketball player in real life), Dean is a shooting guard who sometimes also plays small forward.

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Quotes

Kim: Sometimes you just don't wanna be what your race is supposed to be.

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Connections

Edited into The N Word (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Heavyweight Champ"
Performed by Chip Banks

User Reviews

Don't buy the hype!

Black & White: a documentary director and her husband follows several upper middle class high school kids to try and comprehend why they have chosen to emulate black inner city hip-hop rappers.

What is intended to be an avante-garde-in-your-face mockumentary addressing serious sociological issues is a weak series of loosely interconnecting stories with poorly developed and uninteresting characters. The credits tout many big names - Robert Downey Jr., Ben Stiller, Brooke Shields among them - but the performances are lackluster at best: while Downey's stereotypical fey gay character borders on offensive, he can't compare with Mike Tyson's ludicrous attempts at philosophizing.

At least there are no shades of grey here - it is all bad.