Richie-67-485852 A movie that commanded a ten is upon you. Acting, story, directing and the points made all find their target into the pit of your stomach and then your heart. What is it that can reach out and then grab someone to this depth and purpose? Injustice for one. No man with a conscience can stand to see a wrong go unpunished or unaddressed and remain disturbed while standing by and doing nothing. Here we see the hopelessness of playing by all the known rules only to find out that the rules don't work when you need them the most. The factor? Human Betrayal. Eternal Truth doesn't come and go but personal truths fall short and that point is delivered here up front, close and personal...right in your face. As far as portraying accurately the theme of prejudice, this movie excels. To be black was not a pleasant experience in America at times and have you noticed that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution only work if we all agree that it should. One redeeming point however comes through in this movie and that is to do what is fair, honest and right and I don't care what color you are, those quality make you shine. Failure to do this and those same very dynamics accuse you too. I enjoyed some pizza slices followed by some fruit and then some popcorn with a tasty drink. No cell phones. Pay attention and let your soul be moved and fed

jmorris236 Of all the dozens of excellent films I have in my collection on VHS, this remains the film I would most like to see transferred to DVD. What a gem! When I originally purchased it without knowing a thing about it, I was slightly intrigued by the fact that the synopsis on the video box makes the film sound like a gritty suspense thriller, one of my favorite genres. The plot sounded interesting – a young black student is accused of murdering a while teen in NYC during the 1950's. OK, sounds like an intriguing piece of drama, I'll take it. So I took it home and was utterly blown away. One plot twist after another, fantastic acting, and a surprise theme about homophobia (which turns out to be the main point of the film) kept me riveted to my seat for the entire film. The story was believable, the drama intense, and the ending heartbreaking. I kept thinking about this film for days after I'd seen it, and since then I have lent my VHS to a half dozen friends, all of who were as emotionally effected by its sincerity as I was. This minor masterpiece, which sadly seems to be quite obscure, is a piece of drama that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone. If you can manage to find it anywhere, rent it, purchase it, copy it, or steal it. You won't be sorry.

jkay-3 I think this film could teach all people, including Black, White & Gayfolk.... what hate is about and what it can cause society as well asfamily.... I would love to see this film brought back and put intotheaters...I had the privilege of working on the Canadian Casting. Even afterreading the script, I knew right away that it would make a greatfilm. I was blown away and brought to tears when I actually saw iton the big screen.I was so disappointed when it disappeared after only a short time. I tell people about this film all the time. It's a shame that it hasn'tbeen advertised more.To date, this is my favorite film.Juli Ann Kay, CSA / CDC Juli-Ann Kay Casting Toronto, Ontario

Ms. V Yes, this was a film I had always wanted to see, but failed to do so initially. When I finally got my chance to do so, I finally realized all that I had missed.This story, actually set in 1957 New York, revolved around the Williamses, a middle-class African-American family.The eldest brother, Charles (Charles S. Dutton), was an NYPD Officer with aspirations to become New York's first-ever Negro police sergeant. The middle brother, John (Courtney B. Vance), was an attorney from whose vantage point this story is narrated. The youngest brother, Eddie (Kadeem Hardison), is a jazz musician.However, that is where the similarities halt. Charles, married with three children, is a by-the-book, strict father whose actions and interest in his job and overt willingness to belong to the white establishment, at even the cost of his own family, take on the squalid decorum of a white man's black man, overshadowing whatever actual compassion he may have. John is the aptly-placed middle brother who is loyal to Charles, yet somewhat torn by his devotion to Charles and the variances of his younger brother, Eddie, the free-thinking, spirited, open-minded individual who easily sees Charles for who and all he really is in ways John cannot--and actually, at first, refuses to. It is Eddie, coincidentally, who turns the tide for the family's--and the film's--complexion with his revelating disclosure about all that has happened and why.When Charles, Jr. (Garland Whitt, who was also featured alongside Denzel Washington in "The Hurricane") is arrested for a murder he was actually glad to have committed (we learn the reason why as the story unfolds), Charles Sr. becomes more committed to going along with the NYPD conspiracy behind the truth of the murder rather than being more of a father and standing up for his son as a real father would--and should. When no other attorney will take the case of defending Charles Jr., John decides to risk his practice by defending his nephew. Invariably, it is Charles Sr.'s wife, Carol (Lonette McKee, in one of the finest, strongest and courageous performances ever given by an African-American woman on celluloid EVER!!!!) who takes the stronger stand and rises to the occasion to stand up to her selfish, broodish husband to be, as the mother, THE parent to her son that Charles Sr., as a father, is not!!!!!!I can realize why this movie did not get the attention it rightfully deserved: it is a true slice of African-American life that black folks are too afraid to acknowledge about themselves on screen. To me, this movie spoke more loudly of true black family values than Soul Food did (and did well). Even today, Black America is too ashamed, frightened and embarrassed to openly realize and see sexual and gender minorities (of which I am one, as a transgendered black woman) as part of their reality, at times conveniently hiding out behind the guise of religion as an excuse of not having to deal with many issues (besides this one) openly. Although set in the late 1950s, this story is very real and still so very true today even in this new millennium we are now living in. This movie, concurrently, shows us through each of the three brothers, what we at times choose how we would like to be (Dutton), what we would wish to be (Vance) and how great we as people really are and can truly be (Hardison). As for Ms. McKee, she embodies the rock-solid strength of true, unconditional love--a real mother in every sense of the word.I would recommend this film to any one who wants to take a hard, cold yet true concurrent look of how a family should and should not be in a way that embodies yet discourages family dysfunction at the same time. Also of importance is how much conformity and not taking a proper stand when a true stand is needed can cost even our loved ones.