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African-American Cinema DVDs

A Raisin in the Sun

Sales Rank:4256
List Price: $24.95
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MPAA Rating: Unrated

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Anamorphic
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Director(s):

Actor(s):

Sidney Poitier
Claudia McNeil
Ruby Dee
Diana Sands
Ivan Dixon

Lorraine Hansberry's play is given sensitive treatment by filmmaker Daniel Petrie (The Bay Boy). Sidney Poitier heads a fine cast in the story of an African American family in Chicago who are struggling with mixed aspirations, not enough money, conflicts over religion, and institutional racism. The film is pretty much set-bound (as plays adapted for the screen sometimes are), but the drama is intense and moving. --Tom Keogh

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The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till

Sales Rank:7341
List Price: $7.99
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

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Simple yet riveting, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till articulates the madness of racism in the South of the 1950s. Combining archival photos and footage with deeply felt interviews, this documentary tells the harrowing story of what happened when a mischievous 14 year old black boy from Chicago, visiting his relatives in Mississippi, whistled at a white woman in the street. The lynching that followed was so gruesome that a media circus surrounded the trial--and what stunned the nation was not only the crime, but the blithe unconcern the citizens of a small Mississippi town felt toward the brutal murder of a black teenager. The interviews suspensefully unveil the story, moving from the viewpoint of Till's mother to the perspective of his Southern cousins to actual film of Till's uncle, who had the astonishing courage to accuse the two killers in court. Till's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, addressed the entire country in news footage, begging that something be done so that her son did not die in vain. The awkward, un-media-savvy quality of the 1950s interviews may seem to come from another world, but the harsh truth of what happened sprang all too clearly from America's still unresolved racial conflicts. A passionate, compelling documentary. --Bret Fetzer

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Philadelphia

Sales Rank:6017
List Price: $14.95
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
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NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Tom Hanks
Denzel Washington
Roberta Maxwell
Buzz Kilman
Karen Finley

Philadelphia wasn't the first movie about AIDS (it followed such worthy independent films as Parting Glances and Longtime Companion), but it was the first Hollywood studio picture to take AIDS as its primary subject. In that sense, Philadelphia is a historically important film. As such, it's worth remembering that director Jonathan Demme (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild, The Silence of the Lambs) wasn't interested in preaching to the converted; he set out to make a film that would connect with a mainstream audience. And he succeeded. Philadelphia was not only a hit, it also won Oscars for Bruce Springsteen's haunting "The Streets of Philadelphia," and for Tom Hanks as the gay lawyer Andrew Beckett who is unjustly fired by his firm because he has AIDS. Denzel Washington is another lawyer (functioning as the mainstream-audience surrogate) who reluctantly takes Beckett's case and learns to overcome his misconceptions about the disease, about those who contract it, and about gay people in general. The combined warmth and humanism of Hanks and Demme were absolutely essential to making this picture a success. The cast also features Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas (as Beckett's lover), Joanne Woodward, and Robert Ridgely, and, of course, those Demme regulars Charles Napier, Tracey Walter, and Roger Corman. --Jim Emerson

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The Weather Underground

Sales Rank:9250
List Price: $24.95
Lowest New Price: $12.02
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MPAA Rating: Unrated

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
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Full Screen
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Director(s):

Sam Green (II)
Bill Siegel

Actor(s):

Tse-tung Mao
Walter Mondale
Brian Flanagan (II)
Timothy Leary
Richard Nixon

The key players in the radical movement known as the Weather Underground are skillfully brought to life in this Oscar-nominated documentary. The Weathermen were born of sixties protest, but took their scheme to overthrow the U.S. government to especially violent extremes. Never a well-populated movement, the Underground petered out as its leaders aged during the seventies; by decade's end, weary of hiding, most of them had turned themselves over to the authorities. That journey, by which a fire-breathing revolutionary such as Bernadine Dohrn became a (still fiery) gray-haired wife and mother, is an intriguing one. This film, rich in period footage (and some unnecessary sensationalism) captures the era somewhat broadly. But the present-day interviews with the participants, contrasted with their radical selves, provides an exceptionally detailed look inside the organization itself. It's not a nostalgic look back, and the overall mood is sobering rather than celebratory. Lili Taylor provides the narration. --Robert Horton

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Stomp the Yard (Widescreen Edition)

Sales Rank:7045
List Price: $14.94
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

AC-3
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Columbus Short
Meagan Good
Ne-Yo
Darrin Dewitt Henson
Brian J. White

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Pootie Tang

Sales Rank:7121
List Price: $9.98
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Reg E. Cathey
Lance Crouther
Chris Rock
Robert Vaughn
Jennifer Coolidge

Pootie Tang pushes blaxploitation to the point of surrealism. The title character--who first appeared on The Chris Rock Show--speaks a kind of slang on steroids, an incomprehensible stream of nonsense syllables that nonetheless makes him irresistible to women and a threat to evildoers everywhere. Pootie is part movie star, part superhero, righting wrongs with the slap of his daddy's belt. But when an evil corporation uses a super-ho named Ireenie (Jennifer Coolidge from Best in Show and Legally Blonde) to steal this magic belt, Pootie must find himself again. In the title role, Lance Crouther glides through the movie like Isaac Hayes's skinny younger brother, while Chris Rock lends his trademark bark to multiple roles, including Pootie's father. Crazed editing and a great soundtrack give Pootie Tang a little extra oomph. A bizarre comedy, likely to develop a cult following. Cameos by Missy Elliot and Bob Costas. --Bret Fetzer

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Boyz 'N the Hood

Sales Rank:7147
List Price: $14.94
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Anamorphic
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Director(s):

Actor(s):

Hudhail Al-Amir
Lloyd Avery II
Angela Bassett
Mia Bell
Lexie Bigham

John Singleton, at the age of 23, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his debut film, Boyz N the Hood. The film stars Laurence Fishburne, Angela Basset, Ice Cube, and Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in his first starring role in a feature film. Gooding plays Tre Styles, a teenager growing up in South Central Los Angeles. His father, Furious (Fishburne), is divorced and living away from Tre and his mother (Basset), but he's still involved in Tre's upbringing, teaching him the values of right and wrong and responsibility. Meanwhile, Tre's childhood buddies Ricky (Morris Chestnut) and Doughboy (Ice Cube) are living their lives in terms of the epidemic of violence and poverty that has plagued their neighborhood. Ricky, a talented football player, strives to get a full athletic scholarship to college. If only his SAT scores were higher. Doughboy lives a life full of crime but still remains true to his friends. The obstacles that these three young men come across result in dire consequences, devastatingly avoidable and inevitable at the same time. Boyz N the Hood is a landmark film beyond its commercial success, presenting a portrait of South Central in the late '80s and early '90s as painted by Singleton (who grew up in that neighborhood), achieving accuracy and dramatic resonance in this story of at-risk youth. --Shannon Gee

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Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have a Dream

Sales Rank:8675
List Price: $19.98
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

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One of the greatest and most memorable moments in the civil rights movement occurred when 200,000 people marched on Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. Not only was the gathering of so many united people extraordinary, but that day Martin Luther King Jr. stood before the marchers and delivered his most eloquent and inspiring speech. This video offers the "I Have a Dream" speech in its entirety, as well as footage of the opposition the protesters faced, such as the fire hoses the police in Alabama used to disperse the crowds. The narrator explains that the hoses shot 700 pounds of pressure, enough to strip the bark off a tree. However, the grimness of this era is not the only focus in this video. Dr. King had so much hope and faith in the success of the civil rights movement, and the greatest demonstration of this is in the famous speech. He uses modern metaphors and poetry to get his message out clearly, as when he describes the capitol as having given blacks a check marked "insufficient funds," but he reminds us that they will refuse to believe the bank of justice is bankrupt, that they will cash their check for riches of freedom and security of justice. Throughout the speech he emphasizes his mission: nonviolence as a method of overcoming ("Soul force against militant force") and the importance of walking together as a unified group, and never walking alone. Although the video ends with his death, it still leaves the viewer feeling uplifted with Robert Kennedy's memorial address, pleading with Americans to hold on to Dr. King's views and adopt them as their own. A concise video with one of the greatest speeches of our time. --Samantha Allen Storey

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Claudine (1974)

Sales Rank:5002
List Price: $9.98
Lowest New Price: $4.11
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
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Director(s):

Actor(s):

Diahann Carroll
James Earl Jones
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
Tamu Blackwell
David Kruger

It's easy to get hooked by Claudine, a lean, funny, Nixon-era movie about a romance nearly undone by a patronizing welfare system. Diahann Carroll stars as Claudine, single mother of six children in Harlem and a maid working for under-the-table wages. Forever worried that her white caseworker will discover her meager, outside income (thus eliminating meager government benefits), Claudine further complicates her domestic situation by falling in love with Roop (James Earl Jones). An affable Romeo and absent but financially supportive father of several kids, Roop by his presence jeopardizes Claudine's official status as a mom without means. The couple's decision to go forward results in welfare backlash, personal humiliation, family strain, and corrosive behavior. A sharp script layers the personal story within a socially conscious treatment, while Jones and Carroll's special chemistry turns the characters into fully rounded people. John Berry (From This Day Forward), an interesting if forgotten director, brings a clipped vitality to this urban affair. --Tom Keogh

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Def Comedy Jam: All 11 Episodes

Sales Rank:6244
List Price: $19.98
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MPAA Rating: Unrated

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It's the show that launched superstars Dave Chappelle, Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac, Chris Tucker, Cedric the Entertainer and Martin Lawrence, and after a ten year hiatus, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam is back! The hilarious episodes break ground with an all-star lineup from the fresh to the familiar, and are hosted by hot comic/actor Mike Epps (The Honeymooners and Inappropriate Behavior).

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