Charles Burnett Movies
Along with Spike Lee, Charles Burnett was among the most crucial African-American cinematic voices to emerge during the final decades of the 20th century; unlike Lee, however, Burnett earned little mainstream recognition for his work and has remained largely a non-entity even within the bounds of the black filmgoing community. Motivated to action by years of one-dimensional black stereotypes and story lines in Hollywood features, Burnett has endeavored to bring to the screen a deeply personal, realistic portrayal of contemporary African-American existence, drawing his inspiration from the work of the Italian neorealist movement. Unfortunately, consistent victimization at the hands of studios and distributors has repeatedly conspired to silence his unique voice, and while younger and less accomplished black filmmakers rose to commercial success in his wake, Burnett himself has remained at best a highly regarded cult figure throughout his career.Born in Mississippi in 1943, Burnett was raised in Los Angeles, where in the late '60s and early '70s he attended U.C.L.A.'s graduate film program alongside fellow African-American movie innovators Larry Clark, Julie Dash, Haile Gerima, and Billy Woodberry. After serving as the cinematographer on 1976's Bush Mama, Burnett made his feature debut in 1977 with the acclaimed Killer of Sheep. The victim of poor distribution, the picture never gained the widespread notice it deserved, but in 1981 it won honors at the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as what later evolved into the Sundance Film Festival, and it was also among the first works chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress' Historic Film Registry. After winning a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1980, Burnett began work on his sophomore feature, 1983's My Brother's Wedding, but he again faced insurmountable distribution difficulties resulting in an abortive release.
Upon receiving a 1988 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship grant, Burnett began work on his masterpiece, 1990's To Sleep With Anger. Though it starred box-office favorite Danny Glover, the film was screened in only 18 theaters nationally, with an advertising budget of less than 400,000 dollars. Burned again by the Hollywood system, Burnett next turned to television, where in 1991 he filmed a documentary about U.S. immigration titled America Becoming. Returning to feature films, he began reworking The Glass Shield, a long-dormant screenplay about police corruption. When American financing fell through, he received backing from the French production company CIBY 2000, but the company later forced Burnett to relinquish the final cut, and the film was also edited by American distributor Miramax prior to its 1994 release. Nightjohn, an adaptation of a Gary Paulsen novel, premiered to great acclaim on the Disney Channel in 1996. After directing two more made-for-TV features, Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding (1998) and Selma Lord Selma (1999), Burnett returned to the screen as the director of a quirky romance, The Annihilation of Fish, starring James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Charles Burnett's Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation tells the rise to power of Samuel Nujoma (Carl Lumbly), a prominent leader in Namibia's struggle for independence from South Africa, and that country's first president. Opening when Nujoma was 16 years old and the country is under constant oppression from South Africa, the young man learns that he is the direct descendant of royalty. He sets off as a young man to live with an aunt, and befriends a religious man (Danny Glover) who has maintained a low profile after legal troubles stemming from a suspicious car accident. Eventually Nujoma, in the face of severe racism, forms the SWAPO political movement that, with the assistance of some foreign governments, eventually earns Namibia its independence. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Lumbly, Danny Glover, (more)
- 2007
Filmmaker Charles Burnett takes the helm for this sobering documentary short concerning a former New Orleans family who has been relocated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and enters into a seriocomic discussion concerning their possible evening plans. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2003
- Add The Blues: Warming by the Devil's Fire to QueueAdd The Blues: Warming by the Devil's Fire to top of Queue
Part of The Blues documentary film series on PBS, Warming by the Devil's Fire is written and directed by Charles Burnett and narrated by Carl Lumbly. This installment explores the tension between the gospel and the blues through the semi-autobiographic tale of a young boy (played by Nathaniel Lee Jr.) who is kidnapped by his blues-loving Uncle Buddy (Tommy Hicks) right before he's about to be saved. Burnett investigates some of the blues women who defied the church by singing racy songs, like Lucille Bogan, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith. Includes archival performances by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Reverend Gary Davis, blues performers who managed to work within the church's jurisdiction. Burnett also discusses his fascination with W.C. Handy and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Warming by the Devil's Fire was originally broadcast by PBS on October 1, 2003. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Redmond Hicks, Nathaniel Lee, (more)
A boy discovers that his coach may be more than just a nice old man who likes baseball in this family-oriented drama. Jason, a kid who loves baseball, is not doing very well with his Little League team, and he is bumped from the regular line-up to an "expansion team" of kids who aren't making the grade. Determined to make good, Jason recruits a couple of friends who are strong players, and he discovers that his school's janitor, Mack Henry, knows the game backwards and forwards and is willing to serve as coach. With Mack's help, the team starts to show promise, but a visit to a baseball card collector's shop sparks a question in Jason's mind -- could Mr. Henry be Buck McHenry, the legendary star of baseball's Negro League? Finding Buck McHenry is based on the popular young people's book by Alfred Slote, and stars Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Schiffman, Ossie Davis, (more)
Noted African-American independent filmmaker Charles Burnett directed this made-for-TV movie, based on the memoirs of Sheyann Webb-Christburg and Rachel West Nelson, in which 12-year-olds Sheyann (Jurnee Smollett and Rachel (Stephanie Zandra Peyton), with fellow volunteer Jonathan (Mackenzie Astin), a white seminary student, join Martin Luther King's march from Selma to Montgomery. Selma Lord Selma was originally aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on Jan. 17, 1999, one day prior to the national holiday commemorating Dr. King's birthday; the broadcast featured an introduction by Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- MacKenzie Astin, Clifton Powell, (more)
- 1999
- NR
Dai Sil Kim-Gibson combines historical footage, interviews, and dramatic reenactments to tell the true story of Korean women forced to work as prostitutes for the Japanese Army during World War II in the film Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women. The Imperial Army lured more than 200,000 Korean women into forced sexual labor, often by claiming they were hiring teenage girls for high-paying factory jobs; the women who responded were taken without consent and put to work against their will as "Comfort Women." Little evidence of this scandal existed until recently, as the Japanese government destroyed nearly all documentation pertaining to it. (To this day, Japan officially denies this ever occurred.) But, in 1991, several aging "comfort women" came forward to tell their side of the story and present whatever documentation they possessed. The first part of this film features interviews with several survivors of this tragedy, while the second half is a dramatic reenactment of the stories of three of these women being forced into prostitution. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Han Seung Yun, Lee Kwang Sun, (more)
- 1999
- R
Charles Burnett directed this offbeat comic romance about a pair of aging eccentrics whose imaginary companions sometimes interfere with their "real" lives. Fish (James Earl Jones) is an elderly Jamaican expatriate who has spend much of his adult life in a mental institution in New York. One of the clearest manifestations of Fish's madness is Hank, an imaginary nemesis whom Fish must often beat until he obeys. After he's released, Fish heads to Los Angeles, where he takes a room in a boarding house run by Mrs. Muldroone (Margot Kidder). Living across the hall from Fish is Poinsetta (Lynn Redgrave), an older woman who may be crazier than Fish: she drinks a great deal, loves to listen to Puccini, and is convinced that the long-dead composer is following her around (and is in love with her). In time, Fish and Poinsetta become friends and then lovers, but when she accidentally "kills" Hank, Fish is suddenly robbed of one of the only constants in his life. The Annihilation of Fish was screened in the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynn Redgrave, James Earl Jones, (more)
- 1998
This two-part TV miniseries, adapted from Dorothy West's novel The Wedding, takes a look at mid-century issues of race and class in well-to-do black society. On Martha's Vineyard in 1953, debutante Shelby Coles (Halle Berry) stirs discord in her social-climbing family when she chooses to marry impoverished white musician Meade Howell (Eric Thal). At the Shelby family estate, weeks prior to the wedding, Meade informs her parents, Corinne and Clark Coles (Lynn Whitfield, Michael Warren), that his family won't be attending the wedding, and the irony of upper-crust blacks being rejected by poor whites hangs heavy. In a later plot twist, the single black father (Carl Lumbly) of three mixed-race daughters takes a very strong interest in Shelby that quickly turns into an overly persistent pursuit. Filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, the miniseries premiered February 22-23, 1998 on ABC. Also known as Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Halle Berry, Eric Thal, (more)
Sarny (Allison Jones) is born into slavery and separated from her mother at an early age. She's raised by Dealey (Lorraine Toussaint), who promises early on that "nuthin' too bad" will happen to her young charge. Clel Waller (Beau Bridges), who owns the plantation, is a cruel man, who sees the slaves only in terms of their monetary value. Life on the plantation changes when Clel buys Nightjohn (Carl Lumbly), a hulk of a man, with scars across his back from the whip. Branded as a troublemaker, Nightjohn has trouble earning the trust of the other slaves. But one night when their work is done, he offers to make a trade with Sarny to get some tobacco. In exchange, he begins to teach her the alphabet. Sarny is fascinated and takes to learning with passion, but when the other slaves find out, they are afraid. Old Man (Bill Cobbs) shows Nightjohn how he's been punished for his own literacy; his thumb and forefinger have been chopped off. But Nightjohn explains that he gave up a chance to escape to the North so that he could teach. "Words are freedom, Old Man," he explains. "That's all slavery is: words." Sarny reads the love letters that she delivers from Clel's wife (Kathleen York) to an educated doctor who lives nearby, and she reads Clel's ledger, in which he lists the monetary value of all the slaves. She soon learns that knowledge, for all its dangers, brings a certain power. Nightjohn was directed by venerated independent filmmaker Charles Burnett (To Sleep With Anger) for the Disney Channel. It's based on the young adult novel by Gary Paulsen. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Lumbly, Beau Bridges, (more)
- 1995
The thoughts and feelings of eight elderly women who regularly meet for a penny-ante card game in Los Angeles provide the backbone of this upbeat docu-drama, billed as a "nonfiction feature" by its director Don Campbell. During the game, the women are outspoken on a number of topics ranging from their acceptance of death to reincarnation to sex. Among the card players is the 90-year old Ida who once won first place on the Gong Show for singing "Second Hand Rose;" Freda, who thinks of herself as an opera singer and psychic; the introverted Ray who has just found romance; and the keen-witted Gert whose sex drive remains in overdrive. In addition to scenes from their games, the story also takes the ladies to the Glen Ivy Hot Springs, where they swim and continue their conversations while they are pampered in mud baths. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Filmmaker Charles Burnett directs this short form parable on the value of community set in 1960s-era Watts, and following a concerned mother who is struggling to raise enough money so that she and her children won't be evicted. As the day wears on and the weary mother runs into a series of eccentric characters, her monetary quest grows increasingly comical. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In this crime drama, an honest lawman has to decide where his loyalties lie in a corrupt system. All his life, J.J. (Michael Boatman) has dreamed of being a cop, and after graduating from the Police Academy, he gets his wish, becoming the first African-American policeman based out of Los Angeles' Edgemar station. However, J.J. discovers that his race makes him an outsider among his fellow officers. His presence is not welcomed by his superior, Massey (Richard Anderson), and the only colleague who is truly hospitable to him is Deborah (Lori Petty), the only female cop at Edgemar and the target of as much abuse as J.J. Hoping to somehow fit in, J.J. digs into his work and tries to be "just one of the guys," ignoring the racism and corruption around him. However, one night J.J.'s fellow officer Bono (Don Harvey) pulls over Teddy Woods (Ice Cube), an arrogant and uncommunicative young black man, and in the midst of an illegal search of his car, he finds a gun; even though he knows that Bono acted improperly, J.J. put his loyalty behind the force and lies to support Bono's story. The gun's serial number matches that of a weapon used to murder the wife of Mr. Greenspan (Elliott Gould), a prominent Jewish businessman, and Woods is charged with the killing. However, J.J. discovers that the number of the gun had been altered, and he has to decide what to do when he realizes that Teddy could be sentenced to death without having committed a serious crime. The Glass Shield also features Bernie Casey, Sy Richardson, and M. Emmet Walsh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Boatman, Lori Petty, (more)
- 1990
- PG
African-American drifter Danny Glover shows up at the LA doorstep of his old pal Paul Butler. In the spirit of auld lang syne, Butler takes Glover in, though his wife (Mary Alice) is not happy with this intrusion. She already has enough on her hands contending with her grown live-in son Richard Brooks and his real-estate agent wife Sheryl Lee Ralph. Glover ingratiates himself by reminding family of their Southern roots; less positively, he drinks a great deal, brings suspicious-looking cronies into the household. When Butler suffers a stroke, Glover assumes charge of the house--whereupon his charm evaporates and disaster follows. But Glover isn't really the villain of To Sleep With Anger: everyone in the film is depicted in all-too-human shades of gray. This effort by African American writer/ director Charles Burnett was the first of his films to attract widespread critical notice, almost 13 years after he created the seminal Killer of Sheep. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Glover, Richard Brooks, (more)
- 1989
A U.S./Netherland co-production, Guests of the Hotel Astoria is set in an Istanbul hotel that functions as a transit point between Iran and the Outside World. Shohren Aghadashloo and Mohsen Marzban play a young married couple hoping to secure exit visas to Cuba. Because the woman (Aghadashloo) has a brief affair with a terrorist at the Hotel Astoria, she is detained by the Turkish police. Both the man and the woman suffer horribly before they finally arrive in New York, but one final ironic blow awaits them. Director Reza Almaehzadeh, himself an Iranian refugee, knows whereof he speaks in the depressingly credible Guests of the Hotel Astoria. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mohsen Marzban, (more)
- 1984
This independently produced domestic drama features a talented cast of unknowns in a story that truly needs to be seen rather than described. Nate Hardman plays a black, unemployed Watts resident. At home most of the day, Hardman gets on the nerves of his wife (Kaycee Moore) and three children. One evening, while getting some fresh air, Hardman makes the acquaintance of a welfare mother. After this, he's not underfoot at home any more; he's found another bed to occupy. Bless Their Little Hearts transcends its nonexistent budget with believable performances and a compelling plotline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kaycee Moore, Angela Burnett, (more)
- 1983
Everett Silas plays a 30-year-old black male who works at the Watts dry cleaning business owned by his family. He is quite comfortable with the debilitated African-American community around him--but not with his brother, who has escaped the ghetto and achieved prosperity as a lawyer. The day of his brother's wedding is the same day as the funeral of his best friend. Silas thus has only twenty-four hours to make a permanent decision: whether to cast his lot with the underprivileged, as represented by his late friend, or with those who aspire for better things, represented by his brother. My Brother's Wedding has the crudity to be expected of an independent production, but also has more honesty and energy than most mainstream films dealing with internal racial divisiveness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Everett Silas, Jessie Holmes, (more)
- 1977
The first feature film from acclaimed independent African American filmmaker Charles Burnett, this intensely emotional drama concerns a man who makes his living at a slaughterhouse as he struggles for economic and emotional survival and tries to patch up his often strained relationship with his family. Shot on weekends over a period of several years and first shown publicly in 1977, Killer of Sheep slowly but surely began to develop a potent reputation among film enthusiasts; in 1981, it won honors at the Berlin International Film Festival and an enthusiastic reception at the Sundance Film Festival. It was added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1990. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Sanders, Kaycee Moore, (more)
- 1976
- R
You'll have to see Bush Mama to learn the significance of the title. For one thing, the film isn't set in Australia or Africa. It takes place in the black ghetto of LA, where a welfare mother struggles to raise her daughter. The mother has a checkered past, as we learn during several unsettling flashback sequences. Throughout Bush Mama, graphic violence rubs shoulders with flights of fantasy; the contrast is fascinating, even when it doesn't quite work dramatically. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
In this student film from Killer of Sheep director Charles Burnett, an African-American family drifts through the streets of South Central Los Angeles with a close-knit group of unemployed friends. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
