Crooklyn (1994)

Spike Lee's vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school teacher, her stubborn jazz musician husband and their five kids living in Brooklyn in 1973.

Director:

Spike Lee

Writers:

Joie Lee (story) (as Joie Susannah Lee), Joie Lee (screenplay) (as Joie Susannah Lee)

Stars:

Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, David Patrick Kelly

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alfre Woodard	...	Carolyn
Delroy Lindo	...	Woody
David Patrick Kelly	...	Tony Eyes / Jim
Zelda Harris	...	Troy
Carlton Williams	...	Clinton
Sharif Rashed	...	Wendell
Tse-Mach Washington	...	Joseph
Christopher Knowings	...	Nate
José Zúñiga	...	Tommy La La (as José Zuniga)
Isaiah Washington	...	Vic
Ivelka Reyes	...	Jessica
Spike Lee	...	Snuffy
N. Jeremi Duru	...	Right Hand Man
Frances Foster	...	Aunt Song
Norman Matlock	...	Clem

Storyline

Spike Lee's vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school teacher, her stubborn jazz musician husband and their five kids living in Brooklyn in 1973.

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Plot Keywords:

semi autobiographical | bully | argument | birthday | visit | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Crooklyn: Uma Família de Pernas pro Ar

Filming Locations:

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$13,640,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures,40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks,Child Hood Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bokeem Woodbine's film debut.

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Goofs

In the beginning of the movie, Troy is playing stick ball wearing moccasin shoes, in the next scene, she is still wearing the moccasin shoes.

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Quotes

Carolyn Carmichael: Damn it, Woody, you bounced another check.
Woody Carmichael: I thought we had it covered. I'll get some money.
Carolyn Carmichael: When?
Woody Carmichael: When? What do you think I'm doing right here? Gem, Let me just finish this music.
Carolyn Carmichael: That's what I've always done. The problem is your music's not bringing anything into the house but music.
Woody Carmichael: Gem, the money will come.
Carolyn Carmichael: I'm waiting. I'm back teaching school again, and I am waiting, Woody.
Woody Carmichael: Just keep doing what you're doing, Gem. Now you know it wasn't always like this. I made money before. I'll make ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits play over old footage of several episodes of "Soul Train".

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Connections

Referenced in Spike Lee's '25th Hour': The Evolution of an American Filmmaker (2003)

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Soundtracks

Soul Power
Written and Performed by James Brown

User Reviews

The film was just ... too clean

I've seen this movie described as vibrant .. I guess it was in a way. But I really don't know if that was a good thing for this film. I started watching this film knowing nothing about it. The kid on the bed did remind me of Spike Lee, and I thought to myself "yeah this is a Spike Lee kinda thing" but not something he'd do. I'm surprised to see it is a Spike Lee film.

It's too clean, too fairytale, too ... contrived.

That needs explaining. All the poor, rough kids stealing candy and beating

each other up in the street .. including the glue-heads and the gangsters ... they are all wearing shiny brand new clothes, they're clean shaved, their makeup is immaculate, teeths sparking white (what is that fixation about!).... All of them!!!

The paint on the railing is new .. all of it!, even the garbage and the dirty building frontage is immaculately clean ... it looks designed, not natural.

That's all I saw through the entire film. In fact the props, costumes, and sets we're so unnatural, that several times I found I had been distracted from the story ... I lost the plot so to speak ...

The filming was great ... beautiful shots ... nicely cut .... technically great. But everything got in the way of the story, so it failed in the single thing you make a movie to do.