THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409020096
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
``FRESH'' TAKES its place among a very limited group of films that take a soul-searching look at the African-American experience.
The black exploitation films of the '70s (things like ``Blacula,'' ``Superfly'' and even the mildly respectable ``Shaft'') made a big splash at the box office, but quickly disappeared. They served a function, though; for the first time, black actors worked steadily and black audience saw them in mainstream films. ``Shaft'' may have been an absurdly drawn hero, but no more than James Bond. The so-called ``black exploitation'' films of the '70s provided a presence, even if it was a tawdry and often vulgar one.
Long before the exploitation splurge, Hattie McDaniel won the first Oscar to be given to an African-American actress, but it was for playing the subservient Mammy, the household staple of the O'Hara plantation in 1939's ``Gone With the Wind.''
It was 24 years before another African-American would win an Oscar - Sidney Poitier taking best actor for ``Lilies of the Field.'' He remains the only black actor to take an award in the top acting category.
But we're looking for films that made serious efforts to understand and dramatize the African-American experience. The list is a selective rather than a complete one. Our own choices would be:
``Pinky'' - Darryl F. Zanuck, who had won an Oscar the year before for attacking anti-Semitism in ``Gentleman's Agreement'' didn't get the same raves for this unusual film about racial prejudice. Jeanne Crain, though, did win a best actress Oscar nomination for playing the title character, a light-skinned woman who went North and ``passed for white.'' Oscar nominations also went to Ethel Waters, who played her trusting and loyal granny, and Ethel Barrymore, who played the crusty landowner. The film is still notable for its sincerity and caring - especially when you consider it was released in 1947.
``Intruder in the Dust'' - This 1949 film starred Juan Hernandez as an elderly black man charged with murder. Filmed in Oxford, Miss., its most chilling scene features people gleefully assembling for an expected lynching. Hernandez heralded a new day when he stood up to the charges with dignity and pride.
``Carmen Jones'' - Dorothy Dandridge was the first African American nominated for the best actress Oscar for this 1954 version of the ``Carmen'' drama, with Bizet's music merged with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Pearl Bailey sings about how she can't sit down. Harry Belafonte and Dandridge are both dubbed vocally. This hardly qualifies as a meaningful social statement, but it was an artistic breakthrough.
``Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' - This 1967 comedy dealt with interracial romance when Katharine Houghton brought brilliant research physician Sidney Poitier home for dinner. Her parents, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, turn out to be soul-searching but supportive. Hepburn won an Oscar for the role but, although a big thing in its day, the film seems quite coy and bland today. Still, it was a breakthrough.
``Sounder'' - Set in 1930s Louisiana, this heart-wrenching family film has Cicely Tyson playing one of the first truly heroic black women in films. She and her sharecropper husband (Paul Winfield) try to raise their three children and dog, Sounder, against terrible odds. She takes in washing, and he farms and hunts but the poverty of the Depression threatens all. Both actors were nominated for the Oscar and the film itself received a nomination for best film. Tyson lost to Liza Minnelli in ``Cabaret'' (Diana Ross was also nominated that year, for ``Lady Sings the Blues.'') It remains one of the more honest depictions of African-American family life in the South during the Depression.
``Do the Right Thing'' - This 1989 Spike Lee film has been hailed both as an irresponsible melodrama and as one of the most insightful views of race relations ever produced in Hollywood. Set in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, it takes place at Sal's Pizzeria, owned and managed by Danny Aiello, an Italian-American. When a boycott is threatened because he doesn't have black faces on his ``Wall of Fame,'' it leads to a violent ending. The ending seems too sudden and contrived, but the film itself is important because it has no real villains - and because it searches for answers.
``Crooklyn'' - The most recent film directed by Spike Lee was a breakthrough, depicting an African-American family with humor and insight, but no particular bitterness or anger. The ``softening'' of Lee is a step forward; he can now get financing for a story that doesn't sell anger or hate.
``Malcolm X'' - Regarded as the epic film of an African-American figure, this is probably the most expensive production devoted to the subject. Directed by Spike Lee, the film is overly long and ambiguous - it avoids taking sides on Malcolm X's militarism or lack of same. The film's big budget perhaps dictated carefulness in avoiding controversy, but it also lacks a point of view.
``Boyz N The Hood'' - John Singleton became the youngest director ever nominated for an Oscar for this 1991 film set in South Central Los Angeles. The plot revolves around a 10-year-old boy who is confronted with the violence of everyday life on the street. This is a powerful and unpretentious drama, which ends with the words ``Increase the Peace.'' Few Hollywood films have been so honestly caring about life in a modern ghetto.
``The Inkwell'' - This 1994 comedy is one of the few films to depict upper middle-class black families. Kenny, a former Black Panther (Joe Morton) and Brenda (Suzanne Douglas), visit her well-to-do family at a summer retreat on Martha's Vineyard. The rich family is led by a rarity, a black Republican with pictures of Richard Nixon on the wall. It's a comedy and one of the few in film history to deal with differing economic factors. It was largely ignored when released.
The list is notably short. There were biographies like ``The Jackie Robinson Story,'' ``The Jessie Owens Story'' and ``The Joe Louis Story.'' A comedy like ``School Daze'' certainly applies as a surprising look at racial prejudice WITHIN the race. ``Hollywood Shuffle'' had hilarious things to say about Hollywood stereotyping. ``Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.'' took a refreshing look at a young African-American woman (since most movies have dealt with coming-of-age dramas for males).
You might include ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' or ``The Defiant Ones.'' by CNB