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.
An actor limited to stereotypical roles because of his ethnicity, dreams of making it big as a highly respected performer. As he makes his rounds, the film takes a satiric look at African American actors in Hollywood.
Director:
Robert Townsend
Stars:
Robert Townsend,
Craigus R. Johnson,
Helen Martin
As Carl Black gets the opportunity to move his family out of Chicago in hope of a better life, their arrival in Beverly Hills is timed with that city's annual purge, where all crime is legal for twelve hours.
Chinese kid Julian, who was adopted by the black family of Joe and Annabelle Lee and Asian exchange student May-Ling, who is housed with a black family, are trying to adapt to their mostly ... See full summary »
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Brian Hooks plays a character who is just released from jail. And the state adopts a "3 strikes" rule for felons that involves serious penalties. Hooks has 2 strikes, and wants to change ... See full summary »
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.
Although no specific year is revealed at any point in the movie, the events in the movie were most likely intended to take place in the spring and summer of 1973 for the following concrete reasons: 1.) The eldest son Clinton, who was a New York Knicks fan, chose to attend the final game of the NBA Finals instead of his father's concert. He half-heartedly told his family afterward that the Knicks won, and the only years the Knicks won in the 1970s were 1970 and 1973, but . . . 2.) "Soul Train", the TV show to which the kids were seen dancing towards the end of the film, made its national television debut in 1971, thereby eliminating the possibility that Clinton attended the 1970 NBA Finals. See more »
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. See more »
Quotes
Clinton:
Yeah! My main man: Walt Clyde Frazier! You better win tonight.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The closing credits play over old footage of several episodes of "Soul Train". See more »
I thought this was a very personal, heartwarming and funny movie that also touched on very real social issues. It deals with the complications involved in family life like love, break up, sibling rivalry and making ends meet while also trying to lead a happy fulfilling life. It deals with the pains of loss and of struggle, the issues facing urban communities....self-perceptions and growing. Spike does all of this while giving a light and loving perspective to some hard issues. It is comical and endearing as you see all of these situations played out through the eyes of a young girl, trying to grow up. The odd struggle and perceptions of reality that we all face coming up...the embarrassment of a family, the neighborhood bully, etc....all gets played out in this summer classic.
--Not to mention the cinematography is wonderful and interesting.
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I thought this was a very personal, heartwarming and funny movie that also touched on very real social issues. It deals with the complications involved in family life like love, break up, sibling rivalry and making ends meet while also trying to lead a happy fulfilling life. It deals with the pains of loss and of struggle, the issues facing urban communities....self-perceptions and growing. Spike does all of this while giving a light and loving perspective to some hard issues. It is comical and endearing as you see all of these situations played out through the eyes of a young girl, trying to grow up. The odd struggle and perceptions of reality that we all face coming up...the embarrassment of a family, the neighborhood bully, etc....all gets played out in this summer classic.
--Not to mention the cinematography is wonderful and interesting.