Movies That Matter | Part 2

The Color Purple (1985)
Stars: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey
Plot: Steven Spielberg’s masterful adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of Celie (Goldberg, in her impressive screen debut), a sharecropper's daughter living in rural Georgia. The film opens in 1909, finding a young Celie as a victim of incest, pregnant with her father's child. Ugly and unloved, separated from her children and her sister, Celie's only option is marriage to an abusive, philandering husband, Mister (Glover) who treats her little better than a slave. Her life changes forever when her husband brings his mistress, a beautiful blues singer named Shug (Avery), into the house.
Social Significance: The film brought Walker worldwide attention as well as raising the profile of other prominent Black authors. With 11 nominations, it remains the most nominated film with an African-American cast.
Why It’s On the List: This movie received 11 nominations and ZERO wins for producer Quincy Jones and Spielberg. Made BS (Before Schindler’s List), if this film were released today, it would have surely won several Oscars. This film also introduced the world to billionaire Winfrey and Oscar winner Goldberg.
Little Known Fact: The Color Purple was also the film debut for Oprah Winfrey, who played Celie’s sister-in-law, Sofia. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards (including one each for Goldberg, Avery, and Winfrey) but surprisingly won no Oscars, and although the film was nominated for a Best Picture award, Spielberg was snubbed by the academy and was not nominated for Best Director.


Cooley High (1975)
Stars: Glynn Turman and Laurence Hilton-Jacobs
Plot: Director Michael Schultz (Car Wash) directs this coming-of-age story, focusing on the lives of two 1964 Chicago high school seniors as they prepare for adulthood. Cochise (Hilton-Jacobs) is a basketball star and Preach (Turman) is his scholarly best friend. Together, with their pals Willie, Pooter and Tyrone, the boys spend their days running around the city, pulling off an endless string of harmless scams. But when they agree to go for a joyride in a car that Stone (Sherman Smith) and Robert (Norman Gibson) have stolen, their previously carefree existence takes a turn for the dramatic. This also threatens Preach's relationship with the beautiful Brenda (Cynthia Davis), who he has finally begun to woo. By the time their actions have caught up with them (in the form of the police, as well as Stone and Robert), it might be too late to escape.
Social Significance: In a decade with many classic films, this film continues to standout for Black America. The film examines the teenage high-school experience with tenderness and above all, innocence. Cooley High also featured a standout ensemble performance, including two sparkling performances by Turman and Hilton-Jacobs in the lead roles.
Why It’s On the List: For anyone 40 and over, this film is highly revered for its authentic look at inner-city Black teens navigating peer pressure and maintaining their dreams.
Little Known Fact: Schultz's film, which owes an obvious debt to American Graffiti, also inspired the television series “What’s Happening.” The film also had an unforgettable vintage Motown soundtrack, including the perennial funeral song, “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.”


Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
Stars: Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor
Plot: Lady Sings the Blues captures the essence of Billie Holiday in this semi-biographic sketch of the tragic life of the famous blues singer. The movie received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress-- Ross, Best (Original) Screenplay and Best Song Score.
Social Significance: While it may be commonplace today, the trio of Ross along with Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield all made history becoming the first Black actors to receive Best Actress and Best Actor Oscar nominations in the same year.
Why It’s On the List: Diana Ross gave a tremendous performance in her film debut opposite Billy Dee Williams in this romantic biopic.
Little Known Fact: Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Lola Falana were early contenders for the role of Holiday before Ross demanded to Motown head Berry Gordy that she play the role. Dorothy Dandridge was to star in the role of Billie Holiday in an earlier proposed film version of the singer's autobiography, but died before the film was made.


Boyz ‘N the Hood (1991)
Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding, Nia Long, Ice Cube, Angela Bassett and Morris Chestnut
Plot: From the opening shot--a sign reading "Stop"--to the final message of "Increase the Peace," Director John Singleton's desire to galvanize his audience is clear. The violence destroying South Central Los Angeles is seen through the eyes of Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding Jr.), whose intelligence and common sense would be wasted in the 'hood if not for his father, Furious (Laurence Fishburne), who imparts discipline and responsibility to his son. Tre's friends aren't so lucky, though, especially Doughboy (Ice Cube), who has been in and out of institutions since childhood and now sits on his porch with a forty in his hand and a pistol in his waistband. The film is ambitious enough to tackle a host of problems, from African-American business practices to the bias of the SAT test. The real power of Boyz ‘N the Hood lies in the performances of its principals. Gooding, in his first role, doesn't let Tre come off like a goody two-shoes, while Ice Cube gives a tragic nobility to a young man who knows he's doomed.
Social Significance: Singleton emerged from USC film school with his passionate script already written, and at age 23, he made the film that spawned a score of ghetto dramas (including the impressive Hughes Brothers debut, Menace to Society). In arguably the most dominant year ever for African-American studio films (there were a record 19 films directed by filmmakers of color), Singleton’s debut still rise above the rest. At 24, Singleton also became the youngest director to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar for this film.
Why It’s On the List: Simply for being the one of the first films to feature a rapper transitioning from music to acting (NWA’s Ice Cube; Ice T co-starred in “New Jack City” that same year.). Although many of the young cast members had appeared in smaller roles in forgettable films, Singleton is credited with introducing several fresh faces in this film. This group included Gooding, Chestnut, Long, Regina King and future Best Actress Oscar nominee Bassett. She and Fishburne would reunite, onscreen, later for two other films, What’s Love Got To Do With It and Akeelah and the Bee.
Little Known Fact: In order to maintain a sense of realism (i.e. shots firing unexpectedly), Singleton never gave the actors cues as to when the shots would be fired. As such, their reactions are real. Fishburne who plays Gooding father is only six and a half years older than him in real life.


A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Stars: Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Louis Gossett, Jr., and Claudia McNeil
Plot: Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil), the stalwart matriarch of an impoverished Black family, dreams of owning a nice home in a tidy, integrated suburb. In the meantime, she shares a small apartment on Chicago's South Side with her underemployed adult son, Walter (Sidney Poitier); his emotionally resilient wife, Ruth (Ruby Dee); their child, Travis (Stephen Perry), and her daughter, Beneatha (Diana Sands). Though there's plenty of love in the family, the close quarters breed desperation and discontent. But Lena's prayers are finally answered when she receives a $10,000 insurance policy her husband left behind. The money becomes a symbol for freedom for each member of the Younger family: Lena sees it as a ticket out of the ghetto and into a home of her own, Walter sees it as a chance to regain his dignity and start his own business, while Beneatha dreams of medical school. Their internal struggle threatens to tear the Younger family apart in this moving and claustrophobic vision of life in the bigoted and oppressive environment of a 1950s tenement.
Social Significance: Director Daniel Petrie's highly acclaimed drama is a seminal portrait of African American life in the mid-1950s, based on Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play that achieved critical and commercial success at a time when the viability of a Black audience or a White crossover audience was not considered a possibility.
Why It’s On the List: The film was chosen as the number one Black Film of all time by a group of African-American film critics. Hansberry’s rich story is so engaging that it would work with any ethnic group, not just a black family.
Little Known Fact: Future Best Supporting Actor, Gossett made his debut in this film. The cast reprised their roles from the 1959 Broadway play. The title, A Raisin in the Sun, comes from the Langston Hughes poem, "Harlem (What Happens To A Dream Deferred?)."

This feature also appeared on BET.com