 Beloved 1998  R, 174 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jonathan Demme
Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Albert Hall, Irma P. Hall, Dorothy Love Coates, Carol Jean Lewis
Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) was a slave before the Civil War, but she now lives in Cincinnati in a house that is haunted. Paul (Danny Glover) appears on the scene to visit his friend Sethe, who he has not seen since plantation days. His visit seems to bring out more antics of the ghost who now calls herself "Beloved" and seems to have within her all the ghosts of Sethe's past life.
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 The Biscuit Eater 1972  G, 90 min.
Genre: Family
Director: Vincent McEveety
Cast: Earl Holliman, Pat Crowley, Lew Ayres, Godfrey Cambridge, Beah Richards, Clifton James, Johnny Whitaker, George Spell, John Nettleton, Maria Rohm
This Disney remake of the 1940 version is not as good at the former film but is still worthwhile family entertainment. Two Georgia boys are friends despite their different race. They take in a wild dog and train it to become a fence-jumping champion.
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A Christmas Without Snow 1980  TV, 95 min.
Genre: Drama / Musical
Director: John Korty
Cast: Michael Learned, John Houseman, Ramon Bieri, Ruth Nelson, Valerie Curtin, James Cromwell, David Knell, Calvin Levels, Beah Richards, Barbara Tarbuck, William Swetland, Ed Bogas, Daisietta Kim, Joy Carlin, Anne Lawder
After her divorce, Zoe Jensen (Michael Learned) relocates to San Francisco to start a new life. She joins the church choir but has conflicts with tough, old choirmaster Ephraim Adams (John Houseman). Pressures rise as the choir practices for the big Christmas show, and the problems of other choir members– including Ephraim–are revealed.
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Gone Are the Days 1963 N/R, 99 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
aka: Purlie Victorious
The Man from C.O.T.T.O.N.
Director: Nicholas Webster
Cast: Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Sorrell Booke, Godfrey Cambridge, Hilda Haynes, Alan Alda, Beah Richards, Charles Welch, Ralph Roberts
A self-ordained minister, the Reverend Purlie Victorious Judson (Ossie Davis), returns home to rural Georgia with his wife, Lutiebelle (Ruby Dee). The Reverend wants to purchase an old barn and turn it into a church. With help from the liberal son, Charlie (Alan Alda), of the racially intolerant plantation owner, Ol'Cap' Stonewall Jackson Cotchipee (Sorrell Booke), the barn is purchased and turned into a church. This film captures the theme of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
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 The Great White Hope 1970  PG-13, 102 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Martin Ritt
Cast: James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Lou Gilbert, Joel Fluellen, Chester Morris, Robert Webber, R.G. Armstrong, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards, Moses Gunn
This film provides an insightful look at Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones), the first black Heavyweight Champion of the World, and the racial prejudice he found surrounding his position. Both Jones and Jane Alexander received Oscar nominations.
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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1967  N/R, 108 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Isabel Sanford, Roy Glenn, Virginia Christine, Tom Heaton, Alexandra Hay, Barbara Randolph, D'Urville Martin, Skip Martin
When Joey's (Katharine Houghton) parents (Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) discover their daughter is going to marry a Black man (Sidney Poitier), they express their concerns and disapproval. For 1967, this movie dealt with racism in a mature manner. Hepburn won the Best Actress Oscar for her role. The film also won an Academy Award for Best Writing and was nominated for eight more, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Cecil Kellaway), and Supporting Actress (Beah Richards). 2 User Reviews
| User Reviews |
| | Relevant Social Film | AvidMovieFan 09/22/2007 | | This film in all its glory was groundbreaking in revealing the human spirit in what and how race matters in America. I loved this film because it captures the true feelings in each of us and challenges the status quo to "marry someone of your own race". Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy offer stellar performances along with Sir Sydney Poitier and Katherine Houghton. The film is set in beautiful San Francisco and offers a sense of hope to all who view the world as colorblind. The year this film was made Jim Crow was still active in this country and challenges us to look inside ourselves and question self-prejudice. Excellent film for all, especially for people who are in and interracial relationship. The line at the end, "you'll just have to hold on to each other tight" and don't give a DAMN what anybody thinks is priceless! |
| | Should a rich white girl marry a black nobel prize winner? | 1fatts 03/26/2007 | I really wanted to like this film.
It was Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy . . . in fact, Tracy's last film. Stanley Kramer directed. And in 1967 to dislike anything Sidney Poitier was in was seen, pretty much in itself, as an act of racism.
But the film -- its comedy and its "importance" -- turned, ultimately, on the conflict caused by the white woman and the black man wanting to marry. And it was all a straw man. The girl (Katherin Houghton), aside from playing about as vivid as a cardboard cutout of a Bryn Mawr recruitment ad, faced no sacrifice of money, position, parental angst, or anything else. The boy was a PhD, brilliant, a guaranteed financial and professional success and spoke the Queen's English with an ease and sophistication that John Gilgood could have envied.
In short: no conflict, no tension, no comedy, no "significance".
"In the Heat of the Night" it wasn't. Maybe "in the cool of the cocktail hour." |
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 In the Heat of the Night 1967 N/R, 109 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Quentin Dean, James Patterson, William Schallert, Scott Wilson, Matt Clark, Anthony James, Larry Gates, Beah Richards
Black Philadelphia homicide detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) visits a backwater Mississippi town. While there, he is mistakenly arrested for murder. When the confusion is resolved, bigoted Police Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) and Tibbs join forces to investigate a murder. Tibbs teaches Gillespie about crime solving methods and about prejudice. This film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Actor (Steiger) and was nominated for two others, including Best Director.
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Mahogany 1975  PG, 109 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Berry Gordy
Cast: Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Perkins, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Beah Richards, Nina Foch, Marisa Mell, Lenard Norris, Ira Rogers, Marvin Corman
Tracy (Diana Ross) is a poor secretary from a Chicago ghetto who struggles to reach the top of the fashion world. Ross is good in an otherwise weak film.
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The Miracle Worker 1962  N/R, 107 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Arthur Penn
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine, Beah Richards, Kathleen Comegys, Jack Hollander, Grant Code, Michael Darden, Dale Ellen Bethea, Alan Howard, Peggy Burke, Mindy Sherwood
This is the story of a miraculous rise from adversity. Anne Bancroft won the Oscar for Best Actress in her role as Annie Sullivan, teacher extraordinaire of deaf, mute, and blind Helen Keller. In addition, Patty Duke won the Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Helen Keller. The film received three other nominations, including Best Director.
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Take a Giant Step 1959 N/R, 99 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Philip Leacock
Cast: Johnny Nash, Estelle Hemsley, Ruby Dee, Frederick O'Neal, Beah Richards, Frances Foster, Ellen Holly, Royce Wallace, Pauline Meyer, Dee Pollock
A young African-American, Spencer Scott (Johnny Nash) finds that the world is filled with intolerance in this insightful story about a boy becoming a man.
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| 1. Beloved (1998)
2. The Biscuit Eater (1972)
3. A Christmas Without Snow (1980)
4. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
5. Gone Are the Days (1963)
aka: Purlie Victorious
aka: The Man from C.O.T.T.O.N.
6. The Great White Hope (1970)
7. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
8. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
9. Inside Out (1987)
10. Mahogany (1975)
11. The Miracle Worker (1962)
12. Take a Giant Step (1959)
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