Our film critics, looking at the complex history of black filmmaking in America, chose 28 essential works. We’ll be highlighting a film from their list each day in February.http://nyti.ms/2DVxhcI
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6. “Show Boat” (1936): This version of the 1920s musical is notable for the frankness of its subplot about passing and for the galvanic presence of Paul Robesonhttp://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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7. “Stormy Weather” (1943): An anthology of great performances featuring Bill Robinson, a.k.a. Bojangles; Lena Horne; Fats Waller; and other celebrated dancers, comedians and musicians.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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8. “Dirty Gertie From Harlem U.S.A.” (1946): If Francine Everett — the star of this all-black drama — had been born decades later, she might have been a name everyone remembers.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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9. “Intruder in the Dust” (1949): A movie that Ralph Ellison said was the only film of its era "that could be shown in Harlem without arousing unintended laughter" http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/PSJetp4NS6
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10. “The Jackie Robinson Story” (1950): The filmmakers stuck to the truth (more or less), and in doing so made a mockery of the mainstream industry’s screen segregation. http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/dhLWySvzjX
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11. “The Defiant Ones” (1958): There's plenty to roll your eyes at in this movie. But Sidney Poitier’s wit and charisma transcend the material and render it believable.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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12. “Shadows” (1959): John Cassavetes’s landmark independent film about 3 black siblings of varying skin tones — only one of whom was played by a black actor, a casting decision that speaks to the time http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/p3ywzOCU7G
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13. “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, Take One” (1968): All but forgotten until the early 2000s, the film is mischievously eloquent on the struggles of the black artist in a supposedly liberal societyhttp://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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14. "The Story of a Three-Day Pass" (1968): An affair between a black soldier and a young Frenchwoman becomes a prism for a 1960s theme: the longing for liberation in the face of deeply entrenched, absurd obstacleshttp://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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15. "The Learning Tree" (1969): The moment Gordon Parks called "action" on the set, he broke decades of Hollywood apartheid, becoming the first African-American director of a major studio productionhttp://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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16. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" (1970): Ossie Davis's movie gave Blaxploitation its literary and Hollywood pedigree. The volatile, often contradictory politics are especially pointed here.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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17. "I Am Somebody" (1970): The director, Madeline Anderson, lets striking female workers speak for themselves, a choice that puts their fight for self-determination into stirring terms http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/1S2onomx7l
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18. "Ganja & Hess" (1973): Directed by Bill Gunn, a fixture of the New York black independent film movement, the movie's a sensual, scholarly, magic-realist exploration of black history and black desirehttp://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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19. "Killer of Sheep" (1977): One of the essential films of American cinema, “Killer of Sheep” sings a song of love, family, brutalizing despair and ineffable, persistent human dignity.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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20. “Stir Crazy” (1980): For movie fans who came of age in the late '70s, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were an unparalleled interracial buddy act. As a director, Sidney Poitier shows a silly side behind the camera that he rarely indulged in front of it. http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/FK1z6SNplU
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21. “Losing Ground” (1982): Identity is among the themes that wend through Kathleen Collins’s film, which feels just as personal and vital now as it did over 35 years ago.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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22. “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986): Spike Lee’s debut feature remains a loving, lovely portrait of black bohemia. (That said, the sexual politics may look problematic in hindsight.)pic.twitter.com/h1y1IpsZjp
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23. “Tongues Untied” (1989): This passionate, angry mix of documentary, memoir and poetry is a milestone in both New Black and New Queer cinema.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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24. “House Party” (1990): The rap duo Kid ’n Play star in an exuberant teenage comedy that mixes rebellious mischief and respect for elders. http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/MF3f5kp1Ka
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25. "Daughters of the Dust" (1991): Beyonce’s "Lemonade" sparked the latest revival of interest in this masterpiece, a beautiful work of historical reconstruction and feminist imagination.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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26. “Malcolm X” (1992): Denzel Washington dominates almost every frame of this electrifying epic, one of Spike Lee’s most enduring films. http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/I8sCIA1G0h
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27. "Devil in a Blue Dress" (1995): As a man traverses both black and white L.A., the film offers up a rich vision of African-American life almost entirely absent from Hollywood’s fantasies. http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU pic.twitter.com/Z5yuoCwUsN
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28. “The Watermelon Woman” (1996): The moral of this movie is that “sometimes you have to invent your own history.” That idea is both heartbreaking and inspiring.http://nyti.ms/2BMQKpU
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