CR CAPERS INTRODUCES “THE VANGUARD COLLECTION:” THE MOST CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT FILMS OF THIS GENERATION
The Harlem Film House is proud to launch “THE VANGUARD COLLECTION,” a collection of films in the forefront of shifting the paradigm and bringing about a “revolution of the mind.”
This list was created and is narrated by CR Capers, founder of the Harlem Film House, in response to the diversity-challenged lists (like The Criterion Collection) that do not take into account the African-American movie experience and how it shaped and shifted the culture, norms and stereotypes globally. This list is comprised of the most culturally significant films of our generation.
10. Hollywood Shuffle
Significance: I could never understand why my mom never let me watch TV unless a person of color appeared in a role that portrayed them as an entrepreneur or a white collar worker. This movie answered all those questions while also introducing me to the intricacies of comedic writing, timing and the Wayans Brothers.
Film Synopsis: Hollywood Shuffle is a 1987 American satirical comedy film about the racial stereotypes of African Americans in film and television. The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed vignettes and fantasies. Produced, directed and co-written by Robert Townsend, the film is semi-autobiographical, reflecting Townsend’s experiences as a black actor when he was told he was not “black enough” for certain roles.
9. Get Out
Significance: The Sunken Place is defined by the writer as “being conscious, but powerless.” Despite the in-your-face digs at interracial relationships (whole towns have burned, Black necks broken on tree limbs and economies pillaged because of the status/fetish relationship between Black men and Caucasian women), we understand that every Black person in the United States of American is in the sunken place (some more than others). Enter Jordan Peele, who took every thought I had and plastered it on the screen for the world to see. The catharsis this film gave to Black people is undeniable. We truly understand “the sunken place” is a real thing… seriously.
Film Synopsis: Chris Washington (Kaluuya) is a young African-American man who uncovers a disturbing secret when he meets the family of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Williams).
8. Hell Up In Harlem/Black Caesar
Significance: Before Shaft, there was Black Caesar. I remember sneaking around to watch this when it finally landed in my mom’s video collection. I was in love. He was everything I saw in my Granddad and Dad, except he was on the screen and was kicking ass! He fought the man and loved his woman. And above everything else, he was Harlem’s hero, and embodied everything that I needed everyone to know about my home and the type of folks it produced. It put a battery in back when it came time to march, protest and standing up against police brutality.
Film Synopsis: Having survived the assassination attempt at the end of Black Caesar, Tommy Gibbs takes on corrupt New York District Attorney DiAngelo, who had sought to jail Gibbs and his father, Papa Gibbs, in order to monopolize the illicit drug trade. Gibbs decides to eliminate drug pushing from the streets of Harlem.
7. What’s Love Got To Do With It
Significance: Knowing the difference between a good or bad relationship is the cornerstone of a young woman’s life. Having the strength to walk away from a bad situation is something that everyone should see… man or woman. Love has nothing to do with it. Literally.
Film Synopsis: Born and raised in Nutbush, Tennessee, Anna Mae Bullock grows up in an unhappy family with her parents abandoning her at a young age. Anna Mae pursues a chance to be a professional singer after seeing charismatic bandleader Ike Turner perform one night. Shortly afterwards, they marry and begin having musical success together as Ike & Tina Turner.
The marriage quickly turns violent when Ike starts physically dominating Tina, leaving her no chance to escape. In public, Tina rises from local St. Louis phenomenon into an R&B superstar, with Ike growing increasingly jealous of the attention given to her. Ike turns to drugs as his behavior worsens while Tina seeks to find solace in her chaotic life. Tina grows increasingly confident after turning to Buddhism and, in a final fight with Ike, finally musters the courage to defend herself; eventually leaving Ike after they arrive at a hotel. Winning the right to retain her stage name after their divorce, she realizes her dreams of rock stardom. Despite Ike’s attempts to win her back, Tina eventually prevails and finds solo success, accomplishing her dreams without Ike.
6. Love Jones
Significance: This movie was released when Black people weren’t allowed to be in a simple love story in Hollywood. This movie defined the lives of every 20 something in the 90s and how we lived our lives… poetry jams, Newport cigarettes, house sitting, trifling friends we love, petty shenanigans, the dopest soundtrack since New Jack City and Boomerang, hopeless love and breakfast. This film single handedly reminded the masses that Black Love is in… and was always fly.
Film Synopsis: A modern film about African-American life that did not use violence and recreational drugs as elements in the story. Set in Chicago, Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) is a poet who is giving a reading at the Sanctuary, an upscale nightclub presenting jazz and poetry to a bohemian clientele. Shortly before his set, he meets Nina Mosley (Nia Long), a gifted photographer. Nina has just gotten out of a relationship and isn’t sure if she still cares for her old boyfriend. Darius isn’t sure whether or not to admit that he really cares for Nina.
5. Claudine
Significance: I was raised in a middle class West Indian-Southern-African-American household (aka uppity Black folk). We owned our apartment, went to private school, charm school, had piano lessons, singing lessons, churched with the best of them, topped off with a debutante cotillion (what is a “sweet 16” party”???), followed by university, etc. I didn’t understand income bias until I saw this movie. My young mind never imagined that my friends, who just lived several blocks away didn’t have the same schedule or lessons. I honestly thought everyone in Harlem was well off. I didn’t understand why their fathers, obviously still in love with the mom, couldn’t live with them. Claudine made everything clear. I also remember it as the first time I became angry at the system, and began a deep dive into the books that lined my mother’s shelves for answers. The first book I stumbled upon? The Autobiography of Malcom X.
Film Synopsis: The film tells the story of Claudine Price (Diahann Carroll), a single Black Harlem mother, living on welfare with six children, who finds love with a garbage collector, Rupert “Roop” Marshall (James Earl Jones). The pair’s relationship is complicated by their poverty, the restrictions of the welfare system and the hostility of her children, particularly eldest son Charles (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), who believes that Roop will leave their mother just like her previous husbands had. If Claudine has a job or dates anyone and receives gifts from her boyfriend, the social worker has to deduct any money or gifts from her benefits, forcing Claudine to lie.
4. Higher Learning
Significance: I thought college would be like A Different World or Spike Lee’s School Daze… my years of film training and tv watching did not prepare me for what I experienced going to an all white college. My skills and aptitude landed me in a great communications program atSUNY in Plattsburgh, NY (at the time, they had the best program for Broadcast Journalism anywhere), on full scholarship. So a future at an HBCU like my Mom (who went to Florida A&M, and was a majorette), was out the window. I couldn’t explain to anyone what that war was like… only the friends I made there understand (Black and White), and we remain friends to this day as veterans in a war we were made to fight but did not start. We told everyone about white boys shooting up schools long before it hit the public radar. This movie, directed by John Singleton, is the preparation every child needs (of any race) before attending a school where they are a minority.
Film Synopsis: The film follows the changing lives of three incoming freshmen at the fictional Columbus University: Malik Williams (Omar Epps), a black track star who struggles with academics; Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson), a shy and naive girl; and Remy (Michael Rapaport), a lonely and confused man seemingly out of place in his new environment.
3. Blazing Saddles
Significance: “The Sheriff’s a N*gger!!!” … this phrase would make my mom and Grandpa cackle with delight. It took me over 10 years and research in the the psychology of racism to understand why that simple phrase didn’t offend my sensitive Mom — nor did it anger my astute Grandfather or Black Panther Dad. In the context of this movie, it meant something bigger, it led to cheers, tears and pride. It happened again when someone shouted in disbelief “The President is a N*gger!!?!?” — only this time is was me laughing as Obama won the Presidency. Side note: It also allowed me the courage to explore interracial friendships (which was completely shunned in my household), and to embark on getting to know people as humans instead of skin colors.
Film Synopsis: Blazing Saddles is a 1974 American satirical Western black comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Alan Uger, and was based on Bergman’s story and draft.The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and is ranked № 6 on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Laughs list. The film satirizes the racism obscured by myth-making Hollywood accounts of the American West, with the hero being a Black sheriff in an all-white town. The film is full of deliberate anachronisms, from the Count Basie Orchestra playing “April in Paris” in the Wild West, to Slim Pickens referring to the Wide World of Sports.
2. Five on the Black Hand Side
Significance: This movie opened my eyes to what happens when a woman “finds her voice,” and how that voice can change the circumstances of not only her family, but of an entire community.
Film Synopsis : During the weekend of her daughter’s wedding, Mrs. Gladys Ann Brooks, a meek wife (played by Clarice Taylor) and her three children — Gideon Brooks (Glynn Turman), Booker T. Washington-Brooks (D’Urville Martin), and Gail Brooks (Bonnie Banfield) — finally decide to stand up to their overbearing husband and father Mr. John Henry Brooks Jr. (Leonard Jackson) who displays retrogressive behavior. Mrs. Brooks is tired of everybody treating her “like an old couch” and decides to leave her husband if he does not change his abusive behavior. Mr. Brooks controls every moment of his wife’s life. Unlike his children, he considers himself “American” not “African.” He does not agree with the fact that his daughter Gail is having an African themed wedding. His younger son Gideon does not talk to him and refuses to stay in the same room with his father. Gideon camps on the roof, instead, where he practices martial arts (by that time an important element of the Black Power movement). Mrs. Brooks joins her son on the roof in a civil rights movement after invading her husband’s barbershop, where women are not allowed, where she hands Mr. Brooks a list of demands.
- Black Panther
Significance: I saw on the screen everything I felt in my very DNA. I saw the scales fall from the eyes of Black people, White people, Asian people… all those who were blinded by the images/stereotypes they grew up with (my mom truly understood the power of media), and begin to treat Black people as humans. I saw multitudes of Black people begin to look up to OURSELVES. Little boys running around on Halloween as T’Challa instead of Jason Meyers… think about that. I know it sounds exaggerated, but it is not. I then began my work in Africa, and realized that Wakanda is REAL, though the name is fictional. I saw it myself and will not rest until I move back. In the end, this one movie changed the perception of the global think tank toward Black lives, Black economy and Black film... the power of that is undeniable.
Film Synopsis: Directed by Ryan Coogler, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole, it stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther alongside Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis. In Black Panther, T’Challa is crowned king of Wakanda following his father’s death, but he is challenged by Killmonger who plans to abandon the country’s isolationist policies and begin a global revolution.
** Note: This list was made previous to the announcement of Chadwick Boseman’s death. May the King rest in peace.
While this list is by no means exhaustive, it will be updated as the Harlem Film House continues to provide an option for people who wish to see narratives from other perspectives.
ADDITIONS
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
Significance: Growing up, the film landscape held many movies, plays and narratives about singing groups.. Dreamgirls, The Five Heartbeats, Jersey Boys, A Star Is Born.. but here is the first ever narrative that happened in my lifetime that spoke to ME directly. It is one thing to be represented on the screen, and another to see the events you lived through in full focus. Straight Outta Compton is the coming of age story that helped the world understand that Hip Hop culture is not rap, it is the fight to maintain our power in a f*cked up system meant to strip us of our voice.
Film Synopsis:In Compton, California in 1986, Eazy-E is a drug dealer and a Kelly Park Crip gang member, Dr. Dre is an aspiring disc jockey, and Ice Cube is a young rapper. Intrigued by Ice Cube’s “reality raps” reflecting on the crime, gang violence, and police harassment that they and other African Americans encounter daily, Dr. Dre convinces Eazy-E to fund a startup record label, Ruthless Records, with Dr. Dre as record producer. When their song “Boyz-n-the-Hood” is rejected by a New York rap group, Dr. Dre convinces Eazy-E to perform it instead. It becomes a local hit, and Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and MC Ren form the group N.W.A (“Niggaz Wit Attitudes”). Straight Outta Compton is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by F. Gary Gray
CROOKLYN
Significance : They say Love can heal, but BLACK LOVE? That is a revolutionary act. This film did not get the attention and praise it deserved, and we in the community know why.. it centered on a patriarchal Black family with a strong father, doting and good kids. But Sadly, it was not how the world wanted to see the Black family. This was a dent in the Black poverty porn that emitted from screens around the nation, and for that it makes VANGAURD status. Plus.. DeRoy Lindo… nuff said.
Film Synopsis:
Crooklyn is a 1994 American semi-autobiographical film produced and directed by Spike Lee and co-written with his siblings Joie and Cinqué Lee. The film takes place in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, during the summer of 1973.[2] Its primary focus is a young girl, Troy (played by Zelda Harris), and her family. Throughout the film, Troy learns life lessons through her four rowdy brothers, her loving but strict mother (Alfre Woodard), and her naive, struggling father (Delroy Lindo).
BUSTIN LOOSE
SIGNIFICANCE: In my house Richard Pryor was a god next to Jesus himself. While my mother hid his records from us (ha! nice try Mom), every space he occupied in film and TV she made sure watched and understood how involved he was in front of the camera AND behind. As the writer AND producer, he could cast our Harlem princess Cicely Tyson (a dark-skinned woman) in the LEAD romantic role and have the soundtrack done by Luther Vandross and Roberta Flack. He changed the narrative. This film strengthened my love of cinema and the power it wields to employ a whole community. BUSTIN LOOSE’s ingenuity was not only in the plot, but in the background story of overcoming the Hollywood machine. Note: Let’s not forget this was a true movie made specifically for Black children to enjoy with their families.
Film Synopsis: Bustin’ Loose is a 1981 American comedy-drama film written by Lonne Elder III, Richard Pryor and Roger L. Simon. The film stars Pryor,[2] Cicely Tyson,[3] Robert Christian,[2][4] and George Coe.[5] Bustin’ Loose was produced by Pryor. The director of a foster home is forced to move her kids from Philadelphia to Seattle in a broken-down bus driven by a fast-talking parolee assigned to the task. A hilarious road trip adventure.
DO THE RIGHT THING
Significance: Of course Spike Lee himself is the G.O.A.T., but when it comes to the VANGAURD collection, DO THE RIGHT THING is inducted in to the list. It proved once and for all that Spike is the KINGMAKER when it comes to putting new talent on the map and providing us decades of chest pumping. No other director has come close to what he has done when it comes to making careers.
On another note, the themes in this this movie spoke to my sensibilities as a young activist. It put a clear lens on the issues of not having ownership in our neighborhoods and the loooong lasting effects of Jim Crow in a way that everyone could understand.. even white people (with a bit of explaining and after getting them to actually watch it). It was the first movie I saw that said “representation matters!”. No… I don’t want to eat anywhere that takes my money but erases me as an individual because I am Black. I MATTER. Spike helped me form the words, his films gave me the courage to speak.
Film Synopsis : a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson, and is the feature film debut of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood’s simmering racial tension, which culminates in tragedy and violence on a hot summer day.
DOLEMITE
Significance : “Dolemite is my name.. rappin and tappin is my game”. Growing up in the culture of Hip Hop, I knew very early on who were the originators of rap. FYI : Rap is the music genre of Hip Hop culture. It began in the bee-bop days, but it’s FIRST occurrence on wax was the THE LAST POETS (the first rap group ever). The first appearnace on the big screen? DOLEMITE the alter ego of Rudy Ray Moore.
While the plot was slapstick, this movie is added to the VANGAURD COLLECTION because of Rudy Ray Moore himself. The feats this man went through to write produce and “quiet-as-its-kept” direct his films (and his movies thereafter) is a lesson in true independent films that do not need a Hollywood studio to be successful. It was also the beginning of independent Black media buying power. It showed Hollywood that communities of color where NOT sheep and WE can choose what we support. Powerful.
Film Synopsis : After he is released from jail, a pimp takes on the criminals and corrupt police officers who framed him in the first place. It is a 1975 American blaxploitation crime comedy film and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack. Moore, who started his career as a stand-up comedian in the late 1960s, heard a rhymed toast about an urban hero named Dolemite from a regular at the record store where he worked, and decided to adopt the persona as an alter ego in his act.
JUICE
Significance : One word. HARLEM. Everyone I knew, was in this film or knew someone in it. It was also the coming of age story that my teenage heart needed that reflected communities that represented the experience of myself and my friends. On the other hand this was the rise of TuPac, Khalil Kain (a good friend of mine), Jermaine Hopkins and Omar Epps. Forget New Edition, these guys were the REAL deal, and we showed our love at the box office in droves and elevated this narrative to cult status. Written and directed by a Black man, Black communities around the world took ownership of this story. It was a beautiful time in the neighborhood. We went from bragging about having “juice” to actually seeing a movie hit the screen that respected your slang, language, dress and culture. Yea… THAT is what is means to have JUICE.
Film Synopsis:
Four inner-city teenagers get caught up in the pursuit of power and happiness, which they refer to as “the juice”. A 1992 American crime thriller film directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, and written by Dickerson and Gerard Brown. It stars Omar Epps, Tupac Shakur, Jermaine Hopkins and Khalil Kain.
THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY
Significance : Yes another Spike Lee joint on the VANGAURD list. While this is not the first time our comedic heros were seen on film.. this one hit different. It was directed with our community in mind while showing the sheer massive power and influence of our genre. These four were selling out ARENAS. It created a Black comic revolution. Spike’s camera made sure to show the audience, to show the joy, to show the laughter on massive scale. These were the tried and true Uncles of the Black community and it spawned an era of local and regional comedy shows and festivals that let folks eat in ways never before seen. also… BERNIE MACK and Steve’s sing-a-longs… it was everyone’s summer picnic/family Christmas/Easter/New Years rolled into one movie.
Film Synopsis : The Original Kings of Comedy is a 2000 American stand-up comedy film directed by Spike Lee and featuring the comedy routines of Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac.
SHOTTAS
Significance: Scarface captured the hearts of the American Black & Carribean community, simply because we could relate to the immigrant narrative and experience here in the US. Constantly fighting for our right to succeed in a capitalist society, any film that showed the underdog winning was accepted in our community. Then enters SHOTTAS, starring the crown PRINCE of everything Black …a whole Marley boy-child (that means a descendent of Bob Marley).
The streets went wild for this gangsta flick that was authentic as hell, unapologetically written and directed by a young Black man of Caribbean descent. This ushered in the era of independent young filmmakers like myself, waking up and saying to each other… WE can tell our story too. And we did.
Film Synopsis : Wayne and Biggs grow up together on the tough and dangerous streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Eventually moving to Miami, they begin a ruthless climb to the top of a criminal enterprise as they aggressively take control of the Jamaican mob. SHOTTAS a 2002 Jamaican crime film about two young men who participate in organized crime in Kingston and Miami. It stars Ky-Mani Marley, Spragga Benz, Paul Campbell, Wyclef Jean and Louie Rankin and was written and directed by Cess Silvera.
SWEET SWEET BACK’S BAAD ASSSSS SONG | THE ULTIMATE VANGUARD
Significance: I had NEVER seen Black people f*cking on a movie screen. EVER. So imagine my wide eyed-jaw-dropping surprise when my college African-American studies teacher turned out the lights and pressed play on what he said would “change how you look at the white world forever”. There in living color was a beautiful Black ass grinding in pleasure on the big screen, but what happened next was even more jaw dropping. A serious film about fighting police brutality AND the community was in it? Not a Blackploitation comedy? I was in heaven. Black women considered beautiful on the movie screen??? Pinch me!
We were told to keep mum about watching the film, as it is/was considered propaganda that could incite one of us to be the Black messiah COINTELPRO was afraid of(research it). It was the first time I began to fully understand the power of movies and media. Sweet SweetBack netted over 15Million in box office receipts independently and introduced community economics through film entrepreneurship. It cemented my path. Years later I made the decision to present Melvin Van Peebles with the highest award from my film festival THE VANGUARD. I got to spend time with him at his home, enjoy his family and tell him that his courage inspired my own legacy in this fight for equality. Salute!
Film Synopsis: After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from “the man” with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels. A 1971 American film written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by and starring Melvin Van Peebles. His son Mario Van Peebles also appears in a small role, playing the title character as a young boy.
