She's Gotta Have It (1986)

Story of a woman and her three lovers.

Director:

Spike Lee

Writer:

Spike Lee

Stars:

Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tracy Camilla Johns	...	Nola Darling
Tommy Redmond Hicks	...	Jamie Overstreet
John Canada Terrell	...	Greer Childs (as John Terrell)
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 D. Singleton	...	Toby (as Cheryl Singleton)
Monty Ross	...	Dog 1
Tiziano Cortini	...	Dog 2 (as Lewis Jordan)

Storyline

The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner.

---

Plot Keywords:

male model | sex | lesbian kiss | rite of passage | female nudity | 

---

Taglines:

A Seriously Sexy Comedy

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 August 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

She's Gotta Have It

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$175,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$28,473, 10 August 1986, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$7,137,502

Company Credits

Production Co:

40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min 88 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was shot in 12 days. Because the budget was so tight, there were no retakes.

---

Quotes

Mars Blackmon: [begging Nola not to dump him] Please baby, pleasebaby, please baby, baby baby please!

---

Crazy Credits

"There are no jericurls and no drugs in this movie!"

---

Alternate Versions

The Director's Cut of the film on the Criterion Collection Laser Disc, features 4 minutes of additional footage.

---

Connections

Featured in The 1987 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards (1987)

---

Soundtracks

Strafe's Groove
Words and Music by Strafe
Courtesy of S.T.D Music

User Reviews

Where it all began for Spike Lee

So I finally got around to seeing the debut from auteur Spike Lee. I felt as though I knew the film before seeing it after reading an interesting history about it in John Pierson's "Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes". If you're a fan of independent cinema, you should check out both the book and film.

Spike's familiar style and approach is evident in this early indication of a talented filmmaker. Whatever shortcomings that revealed themselves were largely unavoidable in such a low budget outing, and usually quickly forgivable.

The film's testimony approach often gave characters some depth and clearly gave the film a more intimate relationship with the audience, but at times hurt the film with some unfortunate bad acting from names you never heard before and probably never will again. Again, not Spike's fault. It does include one of my buddy's favourite pick-up lines, "Baby, I'd drink a whole tub of your bath water." I'm sure most women would appreciate that sentiment as the way to their heart.

Spike's sister and father have small roles which must say something about the man's admirable family pride. Of course, with many of his films, it seems Spike can't resist the allure of the space in front of the camera while controlling all that's behind it. Not many directors divide their energy in such a manner, but some of the most notorious directors of our time do. Whether this divides their focus in a negative aspect or not is difficult to say. But if it's a distraction or handicap, Spike seems to be managing fine

But even now I haven't stated either way if it's a good, recommendable film or not. It's largely in black and white, which is a turn off for non-film lovers. I once overheard some one say of "Schindler's List", "It's a really good film, even though it's black and white." I'm sure with some films the inclusion of colour can enhance the enjoyment of the film, but some things are not meant to be in colour, some things are better without it. Films like this one are only possible in black and white due to budget restraints. Whenever I see the efforts of some colourization nightmare, it makes my stomach turn, but I digress.

What can I say, I am a film lover, and I enjoyed it. If you fall in the same category, you probably will too.