Friday, February 17, 2012
The cable channel Turner Classic Movies is showing five dramatic movies today (Friday, February 17, 2012) starring famous Black actors and actresses – Sounder, The Defiant Ones, In the Heat of the Night. Glory and Gone With the Wind.
Sounder
Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield star in this 1972 classic about a Black sharecropper and his family. Sounder is a dramatically-moving story about a strong Black family that manages to stick together and overcome many hard setbacks in life. Both Tyson and Winfield were nominated for Best Acting Academy Awards for their performances in this movie.
The Defiant Ones
Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis star in this 1950s drama as two escaped convicts who are chained together and must depend on each other in order to prevent being captured. Curtis is a bigoted southerner who hates being handcuffed to a Black man, but eventually learns to respect him. Sidney Poitier received his very first Academy Award nomination for his role as Noah Cullen in this movie.
In the Heat of the Night
This southern-based drama won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1968. Sidney Poitier stars as Virgil Tibbs, a police detective who gets dragged into investigating a murder case in the racist community of Sparta, Mississippi. Rod Steiger plays police chief Gillespie who is not happy about having to rely on a Black man to help him solve a murder. This movie was the inspiration for the television show, In the Heat of the Night, that aired from 1988-1994.
Glory
It is a little known fact that Denzel Washington won his first Academy Award for his role in Glory. (He won Best Supporting Actor for playing Private Tripp.) Denzel Washington also won the Best Actor NAACP Image Award for his performance in this movie. Glory is based on a true story about a heroic all-Black regiment who fought during the Civil War. The outstanding cast includes other notable African-American actors like Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher.
Gone With the Wind
If you are an avid classic movie fan, then you already know about “Gone With the Wind.” This movie is historically important to Black movie fans because Hattie McDaniel won an Academy Award for her role as Mammy in this film, making her the first Black person to ever win an Academy Award. Hattie McDaniel got a lot of criticism for playing servant roles in movies, but when you watch her in this movie, you realize that she brought her own style and sass to the role.
Rare Opportunity
This is a rare opportunity to watch five outstanding movies starring famous Black actors and actresses. Please check your local guide for air times on Turner Classic Movies. Or, visit the Turner Classic Movies website schedule by clicking here.
Add to Your Collection
If you want to add these movies to your collection, below is purchase information.
Sounder
The Defiant Ones
In The Heat of the Night
Glory
Gone With the Wind
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