Pulp Fiction (1994), Se7en (1995), Back to the Future (1985), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Django Unchained (2012), The Way I See It (2020), Alien (1979), Taxi Driver (1976) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Black American movies.
Storyline: Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall...—Greg Bruno <burlynerd@usa.net>
Plot Keywords: african american, poverty, chicago illinois, based on play, dysfunctional family, segregation, gay slur ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: It's 1974, Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the Heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a backer in Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set. A musical festival, featuring the America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King, is also planned.—Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu>
Plot Keywords: africa, 1970s, boxer, year 1974, sweat, hit in the face, boxing ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The life and career of Muhammad Ali (1942- ) as seen chronologically in archival footage: Ali as a fighter, a personality, a political lightening rod, and a man. Boxers who fought him describe what led up to major fights and the matches themselves; they also offer personal revelations about their own lives: George Chuvalo's family losses, George Foreman's conversion, Ken Norton's gratitude, Ron Lyle's teaching, Earnie Shaver's encounter with the Klan, and Joe Frazier's good humor pack their own punch. The fighters talk about Ali's quickness, cunning, and recuperative powers - and how fighting him changed their lives.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: death of son, boxing match, boxing ring, training, poverty, ex convict, prison ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: This film looks at life in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn on a hot summer Sunday. As he does everyday, Sal Fragione opens the pizza parlor he's owned for 25 years. The neighborhood has changed considerably in the time he's been there and is now composed primarily of African-Americans and Hispanics. His son Pino hates it there and would like nothing better than to relocate the eatery to their own neighborhood. For Sal however, the restaurant represents something that is part of his life and sees it as a part of the community. What begins as a simple complaint by one of his customers, Buggin Out - who wonders why he has only pictures of famous Italian-Americans on the wall when most of his customers are black - eventually disintegrates into violence as frustration seemingly brings out the worst in everyone.
Plot Keywords: pizzeria, riot, police brutality, race relations, boom box, italian restaurant, pizza delivery ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: After the release of Jake Blues from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit "The Penguin", the last of the nuns who raised them in a boarding school. They learn the Archdiocese will stop supporting the school and will sell the place to the Education Authority. The only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The Blues Brothers want to help, and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the money by staging a big gig. As they set off on their "mission from God" they seem to make more enemies along the way. Will they manage to come up with the money in time?
Plot Keywords: 1980s, chicago illinois, flamethrower, reckless driving, police chase, parolee, building collapse ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: George Milton and Lennie Small are migrant workers in the 1930s Depression. Lennie is mentally disabled and George looks after him. While working as hands on a Western ranch, they dream of owning their own ranch and the opportunity may be available. Their current ranch is owned by a sadistic man who has a flirtatious wife.—dstern1
Plot Keywords: rabbit, migrant worker, mercy killing, friendship, name calling, paper bag, song ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Based on the story "Mob Rule" by Norman Krasna. Joe Wilson and Katherine Grant are in love, but he doesn't have enough money for them to get married. So Katherine moves across the country to make money. But things go disastrously wrong for Joe when he stops in a small town and is mistaken for a wanted kidnapper. Through the course of the movie, Fritz Lang shows us how a decent and once civilized man can become a ruthless and bitter man.—Andre'a M. Thompson <athompso@ziggy.st.hmc.edu>
Plot Keywords: mob, lynch mob, xenophobia, social injustice, memento, miscarriage of justice, black american ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Shaw was an officer in the Federal Army during the American Civil War who volunteered to lead the first company of black soldiers. Shaw was forced to deal with the prejudices of both the enemy (who had orders to kill commanding officers of blacks), and of his own fellow officers.
Plot Keywords: 19th century, american civil war, military uniform, war hero, slavery, whipping, whip ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: This film follows the life of Celie, a young black girl growing up in the early 1900's. The first time we see Celie, she is 14 - and pregnant - by her father. We stay with her for the next 30 years of her tough life...
Plot Keywords: racial discrimination, african american protagonist, lesbian kiss, letter, piano, mailbox, loss of father ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Two professional killers invade a small town and kill a gas station attendant, "the Swede," who's expecting them. Insurance investigator Reardon pursues the case against the orders of his boss, who considers it trivial. Weaving together threads of the Swede's life, Reardon uncovers a complex tale of treachery and crime, all linked with gorgeous, mysterious Kitty Collins.
Plot Keywords: hitman, cell mate, childhood friend, diner, jewel thief, maid, morgue ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: 1934. Young adults Bonnie Parker, a waitress, and Clyde Barrow, a criminal just released from prison, are immediately attracted to what the other represents for their life when they meet by chance in West Dallas, Texas. Bonnie is fascinated with Clyde's criminal past, and his matter-of-factness and bravado in talking about it. Clyde sees in Bonnie someone sympatico to his goals in life. Although attracted to each other physically, a sexual relationship between the two has a few obstacles to happen. Regardless, they decide to join forces to embark on a life of crime, holding up whatever establishments, primarily banks, to make money and to have fun. They don't plan on hurting anyone physically or killing anyone despite wielding loaded guns. They amass a small gang of willing accomplices, including C.W. Moss, a mechanic to fix whatever cars they steal which is important especially for their getaways, and Buck Barrow, one of Clyde's older brothers. The only reluctant tag-along is Buck's ...
Plot Keywords: bank robber, 1930s, gang, on the run, doomed love, gangster, shot repeatedly ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. As a result, his product is superior to what is currently available on the street and his prices are lower. His alliance with the New York Mafia ensures his position. It is also the story of a dedicated and honest policeman, Richie Roberts, who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Based on a true story.
Plot Keywords: drug trafficking, ghetto, nipples, mobster, mob boss, gangster, criminal syndicate ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Over a thirty-six hour period in Los Angeles, a handful of disparate people's lives intertwine as they deal with the tense race relations that belie life in the city. Among the players are: the Caucasian district attorney, who uses race as a political card; his Caucasian wife, who, having recently been carjacked by two black men, believes that her stereotypical views of non-whites is justified and cannot be considered racism; the two black carjackers who use their race both to their advantage and as an excuse; partnered Caucasian police constables, one who is a racist and uses his authority to harass non-whites, and the other who hates his partner because of those racist views, but who may have the same underlying values in his subconscious; a black film director and his black wife, who believes her husband doesn't support their black background enough, especially in light of an incident with the racist white cop; partnered police detectives and sometimes lovers, one Hispanic female ...
Plot Keywords: racist, carjacking, class differences, racial tension, sexual harassment, social injustice, stereotype ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Two Irish brothers accidentally kill mafia thugs. They turn themselves in and are released as heroes. They then see it as a calling by God and start knocking off mafia gang members one by one. Willem Dafoe plays the detective trying to figure out the killings, but the closer he comes to catching the Irish brothers, the more he thinks the brothers are doing the right thing.
Plot Keywords: gay slur, cauterizing a wound, gay, nose ring, nonlinear timeline, lord's prayer, latex gloves ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The Bronx, New York, 1960. 9-year-old Calogero grows up admiring and fascinated by the local mob boss, Sonny. Calogero's father, Lorenzo, wants to have nothing to do with the mob and does his best to keep his son away from Sonny and mob business. However, it may prove a losing battle.
Plot Keywords: father son relationship, gangster, money, bus, bar, brutality, morality ...
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