The Best Underrated Black Movies
Here is a list of really good Black movies who has been rated low and under appreciated.
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- DirectorSpike LeeStarsAlfre WoodardDelroy LindoDavid Patrick KellySpike Lee's vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school teacher, her stubborn jazz musician husband and their five kids living in Brooklyn in 1973.
- DirectorTed DemmeStarsEddie MurphyMartin LawrenceObba BabatundéIn 1932, two strangers are wrongfully convicted and develop a strong friendship in prison that lasts them through the 20th century.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsHarry BelafonteDorothy DandridgePearl BaileyContemporary version of the Bizet opera, with new lyrics and an African-American cast.
- DirectorAlbert MagnoliStarsPrinceApollonia KoteroMorris DayA young musician, tormented by an abusive situation at home, must contend with a rival singer, a burgeoning romance, and his own dissatisfied band, as his star begins to rise.
- DirectorShirley ClarkeStarsRony ClantonCarl LeeYolanda RodríguezA look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto slum life filled with drugs, violence, human misery, and a sense of despair due to the racial prejudices of American society.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsLaurence FishburneGiancarlo EspositoTisha CampbellA not so popular young man wants to pledge to a popular fraternity at his historically black college.
- DirectorJulie DashStarsCora Lee DayAlva RogersBarbara OA languid, impressionistic story of three generations of Gullah women living on the South Carolina Sea Islands in 1902.
- DirectorMarc ConnellyWilliam KeighleyStarsRex IngramOscar PolkEddie 'Rochester' AndersonGod, heaven, and several Old Testament stories, including the Creation and Noah's Ark, are described supposedly using the perspective of rural, black Americans.
- DirectorSam O'SteenStarsPhilip Michael ThomasIrene CaraLonette McKeeThree sisters form a singing group in 1950s Harlem, but success threatens to ruin their relationship forever.
- DirectorHaile GerimaStarsKofi GhanabaOyafunmike OgunlanoAlexandra DuahA self-absorbed Black American fashion model on a photo shoot in Africa is spiritually transported back to a plantation in the West Indies where she experiences first-hand the physical and psychic horrors of chattel slavery, and eventually the redemptive power of community and rebellion as she becomes a member of a freedom-seeking Maroon colony.
- DirectorPaul BogartStarsCalvin LockhartJanet MacLachlanJeff BridgesAn all-black inner city school has to become an integrated school. Few dozen white kids are transferred there, but the black students are aggressively opposed to this. The school then approaches a tough black teacher for help.
- DirectorSidney PoitierStarsSidney PoitierBill CosbyCalvin LockhartTwo Atlanta men raise funds for their charity by rigging boxing matches in New Orleans, but their tricks attract the mob's attention.
- DirectorEddie MurphyStarsEddie MurphyRichard PryorRedd FoxxDuring the 1930s, a New York City illegal gambling house owner and his associates must deal with strong competition, gangsters, and corrupt cops in order to stay in business.
- DirectorKeenen Ivory WayansStarsKeenen Ivory WayansBernie CaseyAntonio FargasIn this parody of blaxploitation movies, a black hero wannabe reunites former black heroes from the 70s to help him get revenge on Mr. Big.
- DirectorF. Gary GrayStarsJada Pinkett SmithQueen LatifahVivica A. FoxDesperation drives four inner-city women to bank robbery in Los Angeles, then they start mistrusting each other.
- DirectorStan LathanStarsRae Dawn ChongGuy DavisJon ChardietAn aspiring DJ from the South Bronx and his best friend, a promoter, try to get into show business by exposing people to hip-hop music and the local culture.
- DirectorGordon Parks Jr.StarsJim BrownFred WilliamsonJim KellyBlaxploitation film about three martial-arts specialists who prevent white supremacists from tainting the U.S. water supply with a toxin that's only harmful to black people.
- DirectorOscar WilliamsStarsGodfrey CambridgeClarice TaylorLeonard JacksonIn contrast to most of the violence-laden "blaxploitation" films of the period, this low-budget effort eschews exploitation for humanity and domestic drama. Leonard Jackson plays a barber who is also the domineering head of a middle-class African American family. Jackson is forced to rethink his values when his previously docile wife joins their three children in rebelling against her husband's retrogressive behavior.
- DirectorMichael CampusStarsRony ClantonDon GordonJoyce WalkerA gifted young man is caught up in gang life.
- DirectorErnest R. DickersonStarsOmar EppsTupac ShakurJermaine HopkinsFour inner-city teenagers get caught up in the pursuit of power and happiness, which they refer to as "the juice".
- DirectorAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsLarenz TateKeith DavidChris TuckerA Vietnam vet adjusts to life after the war while trying to support his family, but the chance of a better life may involve crime and bloodshed.
- DirectorGeorge Tillman Jr.StarsVanessa WilliamsVivica A. FoxNia LongOne person can keep a family together and, when that one person is gone, a family can be torn apart.
- DirectorReginald HudlinStarsChristopher ReidRobin HarrisChristopher MartinKid decides to go to his friend Play's house party, but neither of them can predict what's in store for them on what could be the wildest night of their lives.
- DirectorDoug McHenryStarsAllen PayneJada Pinkett SmithBokeem WoodbineTwo brothers, survivors of family tragedy, take different life paths: one falls for a high-spirited waitress and dreams of success, the other follows a life of petty crime. Their lives reconnect in shattering fashion.
- DirectorMichael BayStarsWill SmithMartin LawrenceLisa BoyleTwo hip detectives protect a witness to a murder while investigating a case of stolen heroin from the evidence storage room from their police precinct.