Welcome back to another Movie Night Friday. It’s obvious you guys don’t like the movies I like but nonetheless lol, here’s another EC Fav: Cooley High.
Cooley High is a classic! First, its set in my home town of Chicago and I have a cousin whose name is on the bathroom wall in one of the scenes. In fact, everyone from Chicago probably has a relative who was in this movie. That’s because while the starring actors were pros, the extras were recruited right from the projects. Yup, many of these kids lived right over there in the Cabrini Green Projects.
Now, what is the movie about anyway?
Richard “Cochise” Morris (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs), a local basketball hero, and Leroy “Preach” Jackson (Glynn Turman), who dreams of a career in writing, are likable Chicago high school students in 1960s Chicago. They’re into hanging out with friends, pretty girls and the Motown sounds so popular during the era. Each wants to make it big in his own way, but not everybody they meet is looking out for them, as they learn when a seemingly harmless outing goes awry.- Google
A simple film, Cooley High captured our hearts because of its realness. Though I wasn’t born in 1975 when it released, I too once lived in the projects on the city streets of the Chi. I too can remember growing up poor with a single mom. Movies like this are relatable and showcase the realness and often the struggle of inner city youth. The history behind the movie is also interesting:
The story behind “Cooley High” is even more dramatic than the comedy-drama that unspooled on the screen. It’s the story of Kenneth Williams, who, like protagonist Preach, left Chicago’s Cabrini-Green projects with dreams of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter. Having dropped out of high school, he hitchhiked from the Windy City to Hollywood with $5 in his pocket and no connections, and for a while he supported himself selling drugs. But the aspiring writer, who renamed himself Eric Monte, also befriended actor Mike Evans, who’d been cast as neighbor Lionel Jefferson on the groundbreaking sitcom “All in the Family.” Through Evans, Monte pitched the show’s producer, Norman Lear, a script introducing the characters of Lionel’s parents, George and Louise Jefferson. Lear bought the script and eventually spun off George, Weezy, and Lionel into their own hit sitcom, “The Jeffersons,” but Monte was neither hired as a staff writer nor given credit or residuals for “The Jeffersons,” which ran from 1975 to 1985.
Monte and Evans would go on to produce the sitcom hit Good Times.
Movie Trailer:
Since the movie is 41 years old, it was hard to find a Trailer that was clear enough and also interesting enough (Didn’t want to show scenes that made it look like a boring movie! It definitely is not). The one I found isn’t a trailer but just an excerpt from the movie. The only other option was from the old VHS and I didn’t enjoy that trailer. It wasn’t showing any interesting parts.
This is not my absolute favorite movie (It’s not say, Lean On Me or Malcolm X) but its one of those I can watch over and over again nonetheless. Not to mention the sound track is off the chain.
I love movies that have a little bit of everything in it: Action, Drama, and Romance (well, kinda). I could be partial to this one since my husband is, after all, a veteran. But, I will say it sheds some light on how Veterans are treated in this country. You go over there to fight for a country that won’t fight for you. So anyway, yall know on the streets they call money “Dead Presidents” or at least they used to back in the day. So this movie is obviously about some people after that bread, but that’s not why I like it. I like this movie because although it’s a sad one, its also very real. The struggle is real. “America, this be some kinda hard place for brown colored skin in the springtime.” And that hard time can make people do some crazy things. Here’s what the movie is about:
In the spring of 1969, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) is about to graduate from high school, and decides to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps rather than go to college. He is sent to Vietnam, leaving behind his middle-class family, his pregnant girlfriend Juanita (Rose Jackson), and small time crook Kirby (Keith David), who is like a second father. Anthony’s close friend, Skip (Chris Tucker), later joins Curtis’ squad after flunking out of college, and his other friend, Jose (Freddy Rodriguez), is drafted into the Army. Once in the Marines, Curtis and his squad lose several fellow marines during combat, and commit several atrocities of their own, such as executing enemy prisoners and beheading corpses for war trophies.
When Anthony returns to the Bronx in 1973, after four years of service, he finds returning to “normal” life is impossible. He finds Skip is now a heroin addict, Jose is a pyromaniac, and Cleon (Bokeem Woodbine), a religious yet deadly staff sergeant that was in his squad, is now a devoted minister. After being laid off from his job at a butcher shop, Anthony finds himself unable to support Juanita (who had an affair while he was on duty) or his daughter. After an argument with Juanita, Anthony meets his girlfriend’s sister, Delilah (N’Bushe Wright), who is now a member of the “Nat Turner Cadre”, a revolutionary militant group. Anthony, Kirby, Skip, Jose, Delilah, and Cleon devise a plan to rob an armored car making a stop at the Noble Street Federal Reserve Bank of the Bronx.
What a plot! Whew. Although it is my thought that everybody and their mamas should have seen this movie already, I’m sure many of you have not. You have got to see this movie! What are you waiting on? Time to upgrade. (Meanwhile, I’m going to see the new Xman 🙂 ).
Guess whoose bizzaack! That’s right, Movie Night Friday! I’ve been thinking it over for awhile and I think this will be a fun re-edition to this blog. For a little PBS Blog History, a year ago I started Movie Night Friday. I did this because I wanted you all to get to know me better through the movies I watch. One thing I am always seeking to do is build better relationships with my readers. I also wanted to show that this blog is about more than writing, but provides a variety of subject matter. However, Movie Night Friday did not do very well and in an attempt to ensure growth, I moved it to its own page. In this way, anyone who is interested can go back and take a look-see. If you’d like to check out some of my favorite movies, Click Here.
I have decided to revamp MNF and to try and keep it going. To celebrate, I am introducing a new badge:
Isn’t he cute!? I love doggies and (aside from waiting until we move back into the country so I can get one!), I thought this would be an excellent re-boost to this feature. This little guy will be joining us every Friday and he is so ready to watch movies. That said, let’s get on into it, shall we?
In addition to the movies I’ve already talked about, another movie I really enjoy is Antwone Fisher. Being from the south side of Chicago and growing up in Robert Taylor I am no stranger to struggle, both economically and psychologically. I know how it feels to feel abandoned and in a desperate need to find oneself. I can even relate to him being in a foster home. So this movie really pulls at my heart strings. It has all of the elements that I think makes for a good film, emotional intensity, action, drama, and of course, a little romance. Antwone Fisher is also a true story which makes it even better. It’s not just a fictional tale but factual accounts of what really happened to someone. Here’s a snippet of what the movie is about:
“The touching story of a sailor (Derek Luke) who, prone to violent outbursts, is sent to a naval psychiatrist (Denzel Washington) for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood. Through the guidance of his new doctor, he confronts his painful past and begins a quest to find the family he never knew.”
Yea that’s right, Denzel is in this one so you already know its on point. Antwone Fisher, the man, is also….wait for it…a poet. Among other things. I am proud to say that I have a collection of his poetry on my shelf, “Who Will Cry For The Little Boy?” (Don’t ask me why it looks like that! I’ve had it awhile obviously and yes, before the movie lol…< He recites his poem by this name in the movie). He also has a memoir entitled: Finding Fish, which I do believe started it all, and his most recent work (2010) “A Boy Should Know How to Tie a Tie”. Below is a snippet from Wikipedia on the man behind the movie:
“Fisher was born in prison to a single mother. His father Eddie Elkins had been shot dead by a jealous girlfriend two months earlier. Antwone was placed in a foster home weeks after he was born and remained in foster care through most of his childhood. After living with a foster mother for two years, Fisher was taken away from her. He was then planed into another foster home with a family named the Picketts. He spent 14 years of his childhood with the Picketts and was abused physically, verbally, and sexually. He was then moved from the Pickett home after having a fight with hi foster mother. Antwone was sent to George Junior Republic School, a discipline school for boys, from which he graduated prior to joining the United States Navy.
After three years with the Bureau of Prisons, he began to work as a security guard for Sony Pictures. It was there Fisher decided to find his true family members. He contacted Annette Elkins, who turned out to be his aunt. Within months of this contact, Fisher met all of his family, including his mother Eva Mae. He learned that she had given birth to four other children who were taken away as wards of the state. Fisher said after their meeting, “In the place inside me where hurt of abandonment had been, now only compassion lived.”
Most of this is portrayed in the movie (except the mention of his brothers and sisters) and the director did a great job, who is by the way, Denzel Washington. Luke is also a very good actor and very handsome. Denzel better watch out now, the ladies love Luke. LOL. Below is the Trailer to the movie and as always, thank you for stopping by!
Movie Trailer:
Did you see this movie? What do you like about it? Don’t be shy, comment below!
Welcome back to another segment of Movie Night Friday, where I present some of my favorite movies and why I love them, now coming to you every other week.
Today, I would like to discuss the movie Hancock. There are actually a number of Will Smith movies that have profound symbolism but I will start with this one.
Hancock is a movie about a Superhero named Hancock (Will Smith) who everyone hates because of his lack of self-control. Though he is helping the city of Los Angeles, he is also destroying it, leaving damage everywhere that he goes. Hancock’s problem is not how people feel about him, Hancock’s problem is that he doesn’t care, or at least he acts like it. After saving the life of a PR executive (Jason Bateman) and meeting the man’s beautiful wife (Charlize Theron), he realizes that he may have a sensitive side after all. It is then up to the executive to train him to embrace his sensibilities and use his Super Hero status in a way that is helpful, and not harmful, to mankind.
Now that we got that out the way, let’s look at some key points here because the movie is funny but it reveals so much more. I try not to get so caught up in watching movies and TV shows exclusively for its entertainment factor because there is so many lies told through television (tell a lie through a vision) but there is also a lot of truth in these movies as well, especially by way of comedy. You see we must stop letting people define the way that we think. Stop calling everything a conspiracy just because your pastor or your society says its not truth.
One of the obvious things is that Hancock is a Super Hero. In today’s society, we have come to accept them as normal human beings with supernatural abilities. In one scene, Charlize’s character states something interesting:
“Superheroes, Gods, Angels.. different cultures call us by different names.”
There’s some truth to this. The Superhero movies have a duality to them.
#1: Fallen Angels
The first side to them is that they are the story of The Gods or Fallen Angels.
When movies have plots where the Superhero’s intermingle with humans and have children, known as Demi-Gods, it is a movie / TV show telling you the story of the Nephillim or Giants. Nephillim means from heaven to earth they came, to signify the Giants origins as they are the children of the Gods. While many deem the Nephillim to be Fallen Angels, this is not so. The Nephillim are not the Fallen Angels. The Nephillim are the offspring of the Fallen Angels by way of angelic and human relations. You saw this in Hancock being that Hancock is a God (or Fallen Angel).
One of the first scenes in the movie shows a young lady and her friends checking out Hancock as he is getting drunk at a bar. The woman follows him home and joins him in his trailer. The young lady is excited to lay with him because she knows that he is a Super Hero. This is not far-fetched. Women have been known to flock to the bed of the Gods. The bible tells us:
Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, Gen 6:2 That the sons of Yah saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Gen 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of Yah came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
The Sons of the Most High are the angels
The Daughters of Men are the human women
They Took Them Wives -The Gods or Fallen Angels married the Human women (Wedding ceremonies today are mimicked from the ceremonies of the Gods marriage to human women)
Went in Unto Them – Had Sex with Them
And Produced Children – Gave birth to Giants
Hancock takes place in the city of Los Angeles. (The Angels)
The Giants were a combination of flesh and spirit: Spirit from their fathers the Gods and flesh from the human women they took as Gods. There is evidence of Giants in the history of man.
“There were Giants in the earth in those days…”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days…”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days…”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days..and also after that.”
“There were Giants in the earth in those days..and also after that.”
Let’s move on.
This is only one aspect of the Superhero movies. The next side may be considered controversial but it is what it is.
#2: His-Story
Another aspect is that of the African American. A lot of these Super Hero movies are incorporating pieces of his story. They are embedding messages that indicate that we are a people of power. If you think this is a stretch, let’s just let the movies speak for themselves. Let us take a look at some things in Heroes Reborn that are worth noting. Heroes Reborn is an excellent TV show picking up from its 2006 original Heroes.
The show is about humans with powers and there are quite a few African American themes. The Evo’s as they are called (Evolved Humans) are being persecuted and have to flee for safety. They are hunted down by dogs and other forms of torture. The most striking resemblance to our history however is the Underground Railroad. Not only is this system being used as a place of escape and safety for the Evo’s, but they are fleeing North to Canada. And the woman who is shown being led to the Underground Railroad in the Season Premier just happens to be a black woman and her black son. If you are not familiar with how The Underground Railroad was used or that blacks fled slavery north to Canada, I highly recommend you Google it and catch up to 2015. Or is this just a coincidence?
In the first X-Man, the woman who turns blue is ashamed of her color and the way that she looks. The saying she adopts is “Mutant and Proud”. But I suppose I’m stretching again huh? And that just happens to be strikingly familiar to “I’m Black and I’m Proud”.
There aren’t many black faces, but many of these shows are the stories of black people. That’s just the truth.
Anywho, that’s it for this weeks segment of Movie Night Friday.
Hancock is a funny movie, an educational one too. Check it out.
Welcome back to another segment of Movie Night Friday, where I discuss some of my favorite movies (now coming to you bi-weekly) and why I love them.
MAAFA is a Swahili term which means “tragedy or disaster” and is used to describe the centuries of global oppression of blacks during slavery, both before and after emancipation. While the number “21” refers to the continual oppression of blacks in the 21st century (though beginning in the 19th), which the film says is the disproportionately high rate of abortion among African Americans.
Released on June 15, 2009, this is a movie that I have grown out of a bit, but that remains a great research piece far as black history goes. My most favorite reason for watching it (on occasion, though still one of my favs) is for its history on Planned Parenthood, Abortion, and the medical experimentation of blacks in general. The film highlights figures that indicate that abortion is the primary source of black depopulation, ranking higher than AIDS and Cancer combined. It discusses some of Planned Parenthood’s origins (formerly known as “The Negro Project” and “The American Birth Control League”), attributing to it a “150-year-old goal of exterminating the black population.” It traces Planned Parenthood’s roots back to Margaret Sanger, and further to include many famous birth control advocates, as racist eugenicists.
It is also interesting that I often get this film and Harriet Washington’s “Medical Apartheid” mixed up. This movie reminds me so much of a film version of this book that I first titled this post “Medical Apartheid” before I noticed I was not recommending a book but a movie! I would highly suggest reading Washington’s book alongside this movie. Not only does it provide more information, but gives greater detail into the meaning and origin of Eugenics and how it became what we know today as the most common forms of Birth Control and also abortion. In short, the book compliments the movie very well.
Welcome back to another segment of Movie Night Friday. Where I present some of my favorite movies and why I love them.
Today I would like to discuss Soul Food, one of my favorite movies.
Soul Food is a movie about one family and their ability to stay a family through their willingness to endure all of the trial and tribulations that befall them. Told from the perspective of 11-year-old Ahmad, the Chicago family creates a bond around the Sunday “Soul Food” dinners they have every Sunday. Documented to have been coined in 1964 when blacks exercised self-awareness concerning themselves and “Soul” and “Black Power” got popular, there are a lot of misconceptions concerning Soul Food. The assumption is that the essential ingredient is pork and that deep-fat frying is its ultimate technique. It is assumed that the food must be dangerously unhealthy (I have to agree with Huey on the Boondocks. How they gonna go back to eating the same food that gave Big Mama diabetes tho) and is even mentioned in the movie that because we didn’t have anything else to eat in slavery we made meals of whatever we were given and that this is soul food. While it is true that blacks during slavery had little to nothing to eat, Soul Food got its name, not necessarily because of slavery, but because of how it brought black families and communities together which predates the institution of chattel slavery. African Americans have always been a communal people and food has always been an art form. Even if it wasn’t called Soul Food specifically, “Soul Food” is a tradition that go back for centuries.
I still remember when I watched this for the first time back in ’97 or ’98 and it was the ideal family I imagined we have all wanted and if we had, something that we have all cherished. However, it is always easy to be there for one another during the good times, but what about when tragedy strikes? Multiple tragedies?
Can the Joseph family endure the ultimate challenge of betrayal, hurt, and Big Mama’s failing health? Does a family, who is knit together seemingly through the strength of one person, have what it takes to stay once that person is gone?
As is obvious, this became my favorite because of the family bond and the unity of love they had for one another. I wouldn’t say that I watch it over and over again or anything, but it is a good throwback classic.
Soul Food was eventually spent off into a TV series.
Trailer:
Is Soul Food among one of your favs? Why do you love it?
For today’s segment of Movie Night Friday, where I present some of my favorite movies and why I love them, I present a special feature in honor of my upcoming book, which deals with the concept of racial passing.
In this 1959 classic, which originally comes from a book of the same name and is a remake of the 1934 version, a struggling young actress with a six-year-old daughter sets up housekeeping with a homeless black widow and her light-skinned eight-year-old daughter who rejects her mother by trying to pass for white.
“Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) dreams of becoming a famous Broadway actress. Losing track of her young daughter Susie at the beach (portrayed as a child by Terry Burnham), she asks a stranger named Steve Archer (John Gavin) to help her find the girl. Susie is found and looked after by Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), a black single mother who also has a daughter, Sarah Jane (portrayed as a child by Karin Dicker), who is about Susie’s age. Sarah Jane inherited her father’s fair skin and can pass for white. She does this with fierce zeal and fervor, taking advantage of her European heritage and features. In return for Annie’s kindness, Lora temporarily takes in Annie and her daughter. Annie persuades Lora to let her stay and look after the household, so that the widow can pursue an acting career.”
– Wikipedia
Though Imitation of Life was the fourth-most successful motion picture of 1959, grossing $6.4 million and Universal-International’s top-grossing film that year, there are mixed feelings among critics as to the social messages of the film in that time. Critic Molly Haskell once described ‘Imitation’s’ double-vision: “The black girl’s agonizing quest for her identity is not seen from her point of view as much as it is mockingly reflected in the fun house mirrors of the culture from which she is hopelessly alienated.”
For me, I am about to watch it again, my first time in a long time, as study material. I am 28 years old in 2015, and as I cozy up on the sofa, pen, pad (and snacks) in hand, it is fascinating to ponder how those who lived in this time, black and white, saw the films message and how they viewed the influence of the film in the Jim Crow Era. What was America’s attempt in showing a movie like this? Was it to expose the practice of Passing as practiced by many African Americans of the time? Was it for a genuine concern of the many Americans of mixed ancestry and their search for identity? Was it, as many deem it, to further degrade the African American community? Or was it to seek change in the current societal perceptions of what it means to be black and what it means to be white in America?
The PBS Blog 