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![]() Spike Lee found a true American tale worthy of his talents in the exploits of detective Ron Stallworth, the black officer who led a successful takedown of the KKK in late Seventies America. It’s crazy funny. Stallworth is a true American hero, straight up, the only one unblemished in Lee’s ted…
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Real Ron Stallworth, American Hero
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![]() “Jesse Owens, American Hero” are four words that were imprinted in my mind from an early age. Jackie Robinson stands with him as an icon of African-American greatness, and therefore of American greatness, but Jesse Owens came first, by a lot. Plus he won not just one but four Gold Medals and did …
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1936 Olympics with Hitler & Jesse Owens
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![]() Motown rocks ‘cause of the Funk Brothers: snare rhythms, funky bass, tasty guitar, everything percussive, all from the band behind Smokey and Marvin and Diana and Stevie. Need I say more? Didn’t think so. Let’s get it on. The movie informs us right up front that the Funk Brothers "played on …
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More hits than the Beatles, Stones & ...
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![]() Cadillac Records features truly great music, sexy antics and charismatic portrayals of legendary performers, yet it somehow leaves you blue. Unlike listening to the blues, watching its performers indulge in the proto rockstar life is vicariously wild yet unsatisfying to the soul. I suppose th…
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Muddy & The Stones - "Baby Please Don...
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![]() A gem, worthy of its Best Picture Oscar. Charming, tart, meaningful, and powered by tour de force acting, Driving Miss Daisy relates the gentle friendship between two elderly survivors of poverty and discrimination. Both a road and a buddy movie, it brings to life a long gone – but not that l…
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Try not to get a lump in your throat.
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![]() Affecting, engaging movie about the happenstance meeting of two once-in-a-lifetime talents: a legendary white novelist and a teenage black hoopster … who is also a singular literary talent. Only in Hollywood, as the saying goes. Still, with Sean Connery heading up a first-rate cast, a smart … |
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![]() A fine basketball movie, elevated to true inspiration given that it is about a transcendent moment in American race relations: the first all black team to compete for – and win – the NCAA championship. |
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![]() Spike Lee’s He Got Game serves as an elegy for basketball in America – its cultural transcendence, but also the avariciousness at the upper reaches of the hoops industry. The movie trawls through agents, leeches, homeboys and groupies on the make, each hoping to ride a prime-time player to Eas…
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Reel Hoop Stars in Real Life
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![]() A time capsule of 70s stereotypes, Foxy Brown represents a high-water mark for Blaxploitation movies. It’s certainly exploitative, with lots of black thrown in. Well, black as Hollywood often caricatured it during that freewheeling time. “Dyn-o-mite” gets said unironically, for instance. "S…
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Foxy Brown statue: Super Bad!
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![]() Devil In A Blue Dress is a twofer: a damn good neo-noir movie and an excellent 1940s L.A. period piece, from an African-American POV. Throw in a prime Denzel Washington performance and you’ve got a great movie, one that stands the test of time. Pity they never made a sequel. Taken from Walte…
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Denzel on Devil In A Blue Dress
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