Movie Industry Blacks

If the intent of most summer movies is to rouse oohs, aahs and various other sound effects from their audiences, then "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" more than fulfills its mandate. Nothing blows up--not literally, anyway--in this adaptation of Terry McMillan's best-selling novel about a 40-year-old African American stockbroker and single mom (Angela Bassett) who travels to Jamaica on a whim and finds passionate love in the form of a 20-year-old islander, Winston (newcomer Taye Diggs).

While opportunities for African American actors, writers, producers and directors have increased over the past 50 years, some of the stereotypical roles played by black actors have endured. In the last five years, for example, for every uplifting film, such as "Soul Food" or "The Best Man," that portrays blacks in a positive light, there are many more that show them as lazy, lecherous or criminal--and sometimes all three.

With the release of the "Shaft" remake today, there's bound to be another blast of nostalgia for the so-called "blaxploitation" genre of the early '70s. Keenen Ivory Wayans' "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!" (1988) sent it up affectionately, never forgetting its ridiculous limitations. Quentin Tarantino's strangely convoluted "Jackie Brown" (1997)--"Coffy" meets Elmore Leonard--reminded us of it again.

Laurence Fishburne is late for his lunchtime interview because he's spent the morning scrambling to find a house to sublet in the Pacific Palisades.

"The Mack"--the 1973 blaxploitation classic--may be back. If producers Doug McHenry and George Jackson have their way, Goldie the pimp will go before the cameras in '90s garb--perhaps by the end of the year. Eyeing a hip-hop culture heavily influenced by that imagery and tremendous African American want-to-see, the duo--like a host of others in Hollywood's creative community--is drawing inspiration from the genre.

Laurence Fishburne is late for his lunchtime interview because he's spent the morning scrambling to find a house to sublet in the Pacific Palisades.

Whoopi Goldberg got generally good reviews on her hosting duties at the Academy Awards on Monday night. But several observers and cultural organizations inside and outside Hollywood found some of her jokes anything but a laughing matter. Leaders of several organizations, as well as some producers and directors said they were angered and disappointed by Goldberg's remarks about the Rev.

Stacey Snider, head of production at TriStar Pictures, has spent six months working on "M'Lady," an African American version of the Pygmalion tale in which an Oakland schoolgirl is taken under the wing of a Berkeley professor. The project is about to get a green light. The move comes amid the box-office success of "Waiting to Exhale," another movie feeding African Americans' hunger for upscale--or at least positive--imagery. But it's not a clear case, she says, of cause and effect.

Four black film makers and a movie about black Jamaicans working in Florida sugar cane fields came away with awards at the Sundance United States Film Festival, which wound up its 10-day celebration of independent film here Sunday. Wendell B. Harris Jr.

As a 15-year-old boy, Carlos Diegues had an epiphany while watching a play. He sat intently in the darkened theater viewing a handsome black Brazilian named Orfeu fall into a doomed love affair with a beautiful and poor young black woman named Eurydice. They were surrounded by as much poverty and destitution as their joy and passion. "Orfeu de Conceicao," written by beloved poet and diplomat Vinicius de Moraes, was groundbreaking.

As a 15-year-old boy, Carlos Diegues had an epiphany while watching a play. He sat intently in the darkened theater viewing a handsome black Brazilian named Orfeu fall into a doomed love affair with a beautiful and poor young black woman named Eurydice. They were surrounded by as much poverty and destitution as their joy and passion. "Orfeu de Conceicao," written by beloved poet and diplomat Vinicius de Moraes, was groundbreaking.

I actually saw "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" (1971) during its first run. I was a young white teacher in one of Philadelphia's several all-black, or mostly black, high schools; I also had the distinction of teaching one of the few accredited courses on black American history that year. "Sweet Sweetback" was in its third sold-out week at Philadelphia's Milgram Theater, one of its very few remaining downtown movie houses, and several of my students, mostly male, had seen it repeatedly.

With the release of the "Shaft" remake today, there's bound to be another blast of nostalgia for the so-called "blaxploitation" genre of the early '70s. Keenen Ivory Wayans' "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!" (1988) sent it up affectionately, never forgetting its ridiculous limitations. Quentin Tarantino's strangely convoluted "Jackie Brown" (1997)--"Coffy" meets Elmore Leonard--reminded us of it again.

The faded brick warehouse on a dirty and nearly hidden street near downtown Los Angeles looks like the last place in the world for a Hollywood revolution. The building, located just a stone's throw from the Lacy Street Cabaret, with its promise of "LIVE NUDE GIRLS," couldn't look more weathered and bland. The painted brick that reads "Dyer Industrial Textiles" has seen better days. Only the trailers, cable and cars that line the street hint that there is more happening within.

If the intent of most summer movies is to rouse oohs, aahs and various other sound effects from their audiences, then "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" more than fulfills its mandate. Nothing blows up--not literally, anyway--in this adaptation of Terry McMillan's best-selling novel about a 40-year-old African American stockbroker and single mom (Angela Bassett) who travels to Jamaica on a whim and finds passionate love in the form of a 20-year-old islander, Winston (newcomer Taye Diggs).

Stacy Spikes can see it all in front of him, even if hardly anyone else can. But his vision is so fat, vivid and bright that at times it becomes just as distinct to anyone who hears him talk about it. Mostly, however, one wonders if he's kidding or merely deluded. A whole audience for independent black cinema? A discriminating and diverse market large enough to sustain even the quirkiest product of a minority filmmaker's imagination? In street parlance, the brother must be trippin'.

The San Fernando Valley isn't the first place you think of as a base for African American filmmakers, but that's where 24-year-old Anita Cal lives. When the young filmmaker set out to script her first feature, she knew all the stereotypes, and she wanted to avoid them. "People think we all live in the 'hood, that we're all on drugs, that we're all uneducated--and that's not true," Cal said. "Basically, what I wanted to do was to give a more well-rounded picture of what black families are like."

What a non-difference a little more than a year makes. Last year's pre-Academy Awards fever became fueled by controversy when the Rev. Jesse Jackson descended upon Hollywood to protest the almost total absence of black and minority nominees. A number of entertainment unions and community advocacy groups joined forces with the civil rights leader in what Jackson proclaimed was the first step in the fight against "institutional racism" in the entertainment industry.

Businesswoman Inez Brand spent all day Friday in Los Angeles attending a conference, but she was determined to fly back to her Dallas hometown in time to see "How Stella Got Her Groove Back." In Los Angeles, Reyna Gaar had to buy "Stella" tickets several hours in advance on Saturday at the Magic Johnson Theatres, where the show consistently sold out through the weekend despite being shown on seven screens.

When Leigh Savidge ditched his rinky-dink wholesale video operation in 1986 to tap the upstart African American film market, his motive was largely Darwinian: He figured the only way to survive in the increasingly glutted marketplace was to find a niche. And based on industry feedback, black cinema was an untapped segment of the business with enormous potential on video.