THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY YOLANDA ROBINSON COLES, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
THERE ONCE was a time when going to the movies meant walking just a few blocks. Neighborhood theaters provided inexpensive, convenient entertainment. For young Nelson George, growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the images on the silver screen formulated his opinions and fantasies.
Until Sidney Poitier appeared in ``Lilies of the Field,'' however, George hadn't seriously questioned the screen images he had experienced. It was not until then that he realized he hadn't seen any images that mirrored him or his lifestyle.
George's ``Blackface: Reflections on African Americans and the Movies'' (HarperCollins, $22) chronicles the images of African Americans in movies from 1963, when Poitier broke through, to the present. In memoir-style, journalist-author-screenwriter-director-producer George describes the effect of early black characterizations in movies - foolish, ignorant or savage people - on his own coming-of-age process.
The emergence of Poitier on the screen represented an awakening for George and other blacks, and he begins his eclectic book - partly a ``subjective guide'' to black films and partly a confession of his behind-the-camera experience on ``CB4'' and ``Strictly Business'' - with appreciative essays evaluating the early films of Poitier and Richard Pryor and the meaning of ``Acting Cool.''
``Blackface'' contains a detailed chronology of movies with black actors. George's gossipy notated commentary is quite entertaining and becomes expansive when he delves into blaxploitation films of the 1970s and the independent filmmakers of the '80s. By the '90s, some of those independents, including Spike Lee (``the first African-American auteur to really matter''), were getting development deals all over Hollywood.
During the wave of blaxploitation films the heroes were a private eye named John Shaft and a pimp named Superfly. Although neither Richard Roundtree nor Ron O'Neal, respectively, ever received a comparable salary to James Bond's Sean Connery, each actor was a No. 1 box office star. Until the success of their movies, African-American audiences were not a factor in movie marketing, George notes. Black roles were slim and mostly subservient. Who can forget Mammy in ``Gone With the Wind''?
George, a former film critic for the Amsterdam News and black music editor for Billboard, has roots in Newport News through his parents; many in his family have worked at Newport News Shipbuilding. His experience with the working class, with the print media and with Hollywood clearly reflects an East Coast perspective.
While ``Blackface'' focuses on just one ethnic group, it serves as a reminder for all filmmakers about the glitter of Hollywood. All isn't gold. by CNB