Back in the Summer of 1986, my sister had finished her freshman year at Wellesley College and she brought her schoolbooks back with her. One of them being this thick yellow book about the long and storied history of Black cinema. I read that book from cover to cover and I became acquainted with Oscar Michaeux and his pioneering plus I found out about all of the work Melvin Van Peebles had to put in just to become a director in America and where it took him. Then something happened that forever changed my life. Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” came out.

In August 1986, right around my 11th birthday Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” was released. I’d read all about the sudden influx of both indie films and the film revolution later called the Blaxploitation Era that Melvin Van Peebles began in 1971 and I thought that potentially another could start with the making of this film. When I saw Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon introduce Run DMC on “Saturday Night Live” in October 1986 I was SURE of it.

Spike Lee made “She’s Gotta Have It” in 15 days on a budget of $175,000. When the film did get picked up after doing extremely well at Cannes and several other film festivals it was given a promotional budget of $500,000. It’s run in theaters ended in February 1987 after it had grossed over $7 million dollars, more than 10 times it’s total budget. Spike Lee had become a rising star in the span of 18 months after he’d began filming & editing “She’s Gotta Have It” back in July 1985.

One of the most important books I read thirdhand as a 12 year old was Spike Lee’s story about how he funded, scored, wrote, directed, edited & shopped “She’s Gotta Have It” right in his Brooklyn neighborhood. He couldn’t even drive a car so he rode a bike to his meetings all over New York. That really resonated with me even as a kid. I soon found out that I wasn’t alone and that other filmmakers were also inspired by Spike’s work.

In March 1987, My big brother Dave & his friends went to go see a new movie that opened up at the infamous Saks 57 cinema in the South End of Boston called “Hollywood Shuffle”. They wouldn’t stop talking about it, especially the “Sneaking In The Movies” section since they had snuck into the movies themselves. I thought they were making stuff up that happened in the flick just to fuck with me at first but I later discovered that it was all actually in the film.

Robert Townsend made “Hollywood Shuffle” on a shoestring budget of $100,000 with a huge cast, an elaborate script, and a gang of set changes. By the end of it’s theatrical run it had grossed over $5 million dollars and more importantly made several key points about the limited role that Black actors played in Hollywood and their marginalization. Robert Townsend also directed Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” which was his concert film that grossed close to $75 million dollars after it’s theatrical run & it’s rental & VHS sales.

Robert Townsend & many of his friends and associates from “Hollywood Shuffle” got a deal with HBO as “Robert Townsend & His Partners In Crime”. The show ran from 1988-1990 but repeats were aired throughout 1991. Among Robert Townsend’s partners were his friends Keenan Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans. They’d all worked together and struggled in Hollywood doing less than desirable roles in film and television. The popularity of the show ran into Keenan Ivory Wayans’ directorial debut.

In December 1988, Keenan Ivory Wayans used inspiration from his friend Robert Townsend to create the Blaxploitation parody film “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”. The film benefited from the previous successes of “She’s Gotta Have It” and “Hollywood Shuffle”  but also Spike Lee’s recent film “School Daze”.

The film was distributed by United Artists with a $3 million dollar budget and it made more than $13 million dollars at the box office and remained a strong rental until VHS’ were eventually phased out between 1998 and 1999. The mainstream press began to take notice of these young Black maverick filmmakers. Later on, so did Hollywood as a whole. Instead of The Brat Pack, Robert Townsend, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Eddie Murphy & their associates were dubbed The Black Pack. In 1989, Eddie Murphy made his directorial debut, “Harlem Nights”.

“Harlem Nights” was a major studio film with a real budget ($30 million) and a cast that read like a who’s who loaded with legends and young talent. The film was universally panned by critics but loved by moviegoers. Not only was it a box office success domestically but it also took off overseas. The film almost grossed $100 million worldwide before it was even released for sale and rental in early 1990. There was a Black film explosion on the horizon. It was now inevitable, powered partly by the breakaway success of Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” in the summer of 1989.

Reginald Hudlin wrote and directed the film “House Party” that starred Hip Hop duo Kid N’ Play and his brother Warrington produced it and handled logistics. In March 1990, “House Party” was released and it was not only well received by critics and fans alike but it made more than 10 times it’s production budget at the domestic box office alone. It was a popular rental that launched several career and began an influx of Hip Hop themed films in the 90’s. And to think, Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff turned New Line Cinema down when they originally offered the roles to them…

Spike Lee released his 3rd film “Mo’ Better Blues” in August 1990. It was well received by audiences but there were several controversies surrounding the film, including outrage over the depiction of the Jazz club owners and Jazz clubs in general (which many said were never that packed as they were in the film). “Mo’ Better Blues” barely cleared it’s budget of $10 million at the box office but it did establish Denzel Washington as a legitimate leading man and the soundtrack did fairly well.

In 1991, the floodgates opened as there were a great number of influential and seminal Black films and films with Black leads released. Julie Dash’s “Daughters Of The Dust”, Matty Rich’s “Straight Out Of Brooklyn”, Robert Townsend’s “The Five Heartbeats”,  Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever”, John Singleton’s “Boyz N The Hood” and Mario Van Peebles’ “New Jack City” was released 20 years after his father Melvin released “Sweet Sweetback’s Badassssss Song”. Incidentally, “New Jack City” was the highest grossing independent film of 1991 just as his father created the independent film market 20 years ago.

John Singleton’s directorial debut “Boyz N The Hood” was released by Columbia Pictures in July 1991 on the same day as the Keanu Reeves vehicle “Point Break”. It only had a budget of $6.5 million dollars and made close to $60 million at the domestic box office. Not only did “Boyz N The Hood” launch several acting careers but it began the entire “Hood film” genre that permeated throughout the 90’s. “Boyz N The Hood” remains one of the most influential films of the past 20 years.

More Black films were released in 1991, some included were lesser known including “House Party 2”, “Strictly Business”, “True Identity”, “Talkin’ Dirty After Dark”, “Livin’ Large” and “Hangin’ With The Homeboys”. Enough that a controversy rose when individual theaters would sometimes issue tickets for films other than the ones the purchaser paid for, counting against it’s box office gross. This practice was first discovered during theatrical run of “The Five Heartbeats”. The film performed rather disappointingly but 20 years later it’s one of the most beloved films of the decade.

There were between 10 and 12 Black themed films released in 1991 when just 5 years ago Spike Lee decided to make a film on a shoestring budget in his Brooklyn neighborhood. Before the 90’s ended numerous films were shot and based in Brooklyn. This occurrence has inspired me to do the same with Boston and my home of the South End and Roxbury.

Spike Lee associate Ernest Dickerson opened 1992 with the Hip Hop themed film “Juice” which starred Tupac Shakur in the lead role alongside a young Omar Epps. It was well received by critics & filmgoers and did modestly at the box office (although it made 4 times it’s initial budget before it was made available for rental and purchase). The film was extremely influential and elements of it were prevalent in many Black films throughout the 90’s.

On November 18, 1992 Spike Lee released the most ambitious film of his career, “Malcolm X”. It was a critical success and it furthered cemented Spike Lee’s stature as the leading Black director in Hollywood. Not only that but it was the film that ensured Denzel Washington would be holding an Academy Award one day (since he was robbed for his portrayal of Malcolm X initially).

All throughout the 90’s, the Black film flourished. Many of them being quality fare including “South Central”, “Menace II Society”, “Posse”, “Poetic Justice”, “Just Another Girl On The IRT”, “CB4”, “Jason’s Lyric”, “I Like It Like That”, “Crooklyn”, “The Inkwell”, “Fear Of A Black Hat”, “Fresh”, “Clockers”, “New Jersey Drive”, “Higher Learning”, “Dead Presidents”, “Get On The Bus”, “Gridlock’d”, “Eve’s Bayou”, “Love Jones”, “Hav Plenty”, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”, “The Players Club”, “Blade”, “The Best Man”, “The Wood” and many more films anyone familiar with Black cinema can easily recall. The question is, what happened to the Black film? “The Best Man” was the #1 film in America for a good stretch in 1999 for God’s sake!

There was a significant slowdown in the release of quality Black films in the early part of the 00’s but the dearth of quality Black films was ultimately damaged by the overwhelming box office successes of Tyler Perry’s “Diary Of A Mad Black Woman” in 2005 and “Madea’s Family Reunion” in early 2006. After those films made more than 10 times their budgets domestically before DVD sales (which were also brisk), studios weren’t looking to release any Black films unless they somehow followed Tyler Perry’s formula or either he (or Oprah) were involved somehow.

So here we all are. Stuck. Essentially every industry based off of sales revenue and not quality or performance is a copycat industry thus you either compete or get left in the dust. What we need is a new wave of maverick Black writers and directors to change the game once again and save us from an endless parade of Tyler Perry film clones. I’ll do everything humanly possible to make sure the pain stops. Or I’ll die trying…

One.