(Photo: American International Pictures)

Pull out your bell-bottoms, platform shoes and afro picks, this week is the 38th anniversary of Pam Grier’s legendary flick Foxy Brown.  On this day back in 1974, Foxy Brown, directed and written by Jack Hill and starring the Halle Berry of the ’70s, debuted in theaters.

The luscious Pam Grier played a nurse who wanted to get revenge on a powerful drug ring. She ferociously fought back against the government, racism and sexism.

The film was a sequel to 1973’s Coffy and was supposed to be titled Burn, Coffy, Burn! But at the last minute the film studio decided they didn’t want a sequel and slapped on the title Foxy Brown.

Although panned by critics, Foxy Brown was a huge hit for a Blaxploitation film and still has a cult following.

While promoting her book, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts, Pam Grier said to theGrio, “Here I am, this ‘icon,’ if you will, but someone humanized the iconic title and humanized Foxy Brown, Sheba, Jackie Brown, and all the female imagery that I projected so that it was never one-dimensional. I want others to realize that I get my power from them, I didn’t invent it, I get my ‘foxiness’ from all women.”

Fists in the air to Miss Grier. That’s one bad mama jama!

(Photo: Courtesy New Line Cinema)

Eleven years ago this week, my favorite Spike Lee film opened in theaters — Bamboozled. With little to no promotion, the movie barely got a run at theaters, but created a huge buzz after screenings on various college campuses.  I first heard of Bamboozled from students at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I saw the artsy Spike Lee Joint at a theater in Manhattan — instead of a movie poster that is usually posted for every film, Bamboozled had a 8 x 10 computer print out.  The sheet of paper was taped to the door of the theater. Bamboozled was getting bamboozled in every direction.

Bamboozled was the story of the Mantan Show, the new millennium minstrel show that became a television sensation. The flick starred Jada Pinkett Smith, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, Mos Def, Savion Glover and Damon Wayans as the lead, Pierre Delacroix. Bamboozled received mixed reviews and wasn’t a box office hit, but in many ways Lee’s vision of a resurgence of minstrel shows has come to life in the form of reality television.

Bamboozled is an underrated classic.  If you haven’t seen it, Nextflix it right away.

Check out the vintage trailer below!

(Photo: Miramax Films)

Though the themes of drug and violence had already been depicted in several different movies before its release, the 1994 drama Fresh was praised as a film that told the same story in much more interesting way.

The film, written and directed by Boaz Yakin, follows 12-year-old Fresh, an urban teen who works as a runner for a drug dealer in order to support himself and his troubled sister. Fresh lives in a crowded housing project with his cousins and aunts. His sister is junkie while his father, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is an alcoholic who supports himself via chess game scams.

Fresh finds himself with the respect of local drug dealers because of his intelligence and honesty. Ultimately, the young child witnesses the murder of a classmate and ends up a target in his own right. He then has to use derive a way to protect his life.

The film was criticized for its depiction of urban life, but overall was widely praised. In his review, Roger Ebert wrote, “Here’s a movie filled with drama and excitement, unfolding a plot of brilliant complexity, in which the central character is solemn and silent, saying only what he has to say, revealing himself only strategically.”

(Photo: HBO)

For a while many wondered if a film about the life of the iconic and pioneering actress Dorothy Dandridge would ever be made. Certainly multiple high profile entertainers made the effort through the years. Model-actress Jayne Kennedy, television star Jasmine Guy, model-actress-singer Vanessa Williams, along with pop megastars Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston, all expressed interest in portraying the first Black woman to receive an Academy award nomination for Best Actress.

Ultimately, it was film star Halle Berry who achieved this feat by way of a made for TV biographical drama she dubbed a labor of love. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1998, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge depicted the life of the now legendary starlet – examining her humbling beginnings as a roadhouse circuit performer in the South and going on to become one of the biggest actresses of her time.

Promoted with the tag line, “Right woman. Right place. Wrong time.” the HBO movie also shed light on her personal life, which was filled with much tragedy and heartache. Dandridge died of an overdose of pills in 1965, at the age of 41.

For her efforts, producer and starring actress Halle Berry won an Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award.

(Photo: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks)

On this day in 2000, the Spike Lee directed The Original Kings of Comedy was released to theaters. Filmed in front of a live audience at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina over a two-night stand, the movie captured the routines of four of the biggest Black comics at the time: Steve Harvey, Cedric The Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and the late Bernie Mac. The Original Kings of Comedy consistently sold out 10,000 to 15,000 seat capacity arenas during its coast-to-coast run – making it one of the biggest comedy tours in history.

Each respective comedian covered topics related to black culture, race relations, religion and family during their sets. In between each comedian’s bit, footage of the funny men backstage and their lives on the road were intertwined. On the movie, The New York Times wrote, “What comes out of these comedians’ hearts hits the most powerful chord, and the audience wants more of it.”

Others highlighted the comedic genius of Bernie Mac, with the critic at Film Threat claiming: “It is Bernie Mac who is the true King of Comedy here, following in the footsteps of Pryor and Murphy before him as he crosses from church-raised testifying, to furious black cultural theorizing, to barely controlled comedic genius.”

The Original Kings of Comedy was produced with an estimated $3,000,000 budget, but went on to gross a total of $38,168,022 at the box offices. The stand-up film also spawned several sequels, in particular The Queens of Comedy featuring Academy Award-winning actress Mo’Nique.

(Photo: Hollywood Pictures)

People love movies depicting challenged students saved by an unlikely, almost whimsical instructor or administrator that employs unorthodox teaching methods to save the day. Films like Lean On Me and Dead Poets Society are a testament to this, though works with shared themes prove to be profitable but not necessarily critically acclaimed.

Such is the case for the 1995 drama Dangerous Minds.

The bad kids gone good narrative is centered on the true story of ex-marine LouAnne Johnson (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), who struggles with her newfound role as teacher in what’s described as a “school within a school” for troubled students. Johnson, or “White Bread” as her Black and Latino students branded her, has to figure out how to teach students largely soiled by their poverty, drug abuse and gang activity.

She miraculously does so by way of bribing the kids with candy and teaching them about Bob Dylan. If that sounds unbelievable, congratulations, you have just the right amount of cynicism. In his Dangerous Minds review, legendary film critic Roger Ebert noted that the Dylan storyline seemed dubious and upon further research found that in book the movie is based on, “The real Miss Johnson used not Dylan but the lyrics of rap songs to get the class interested in poetry.”

Naturally, a lot of critics found the movie to be a bit unbelievable, too. In the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan, wrote, “The tale screenwriter Ronald Bass came up with, and the way director John N. Smith tells it, is stereotypical, predictable and simplified to the point of meaninglessness.”

Film.com’s Bradley Steinbacher quipped, “Stay home and watch Welcome Back Kotter. It’s more enlightening.”

Yeah, what they said. Most didn’t agree with either critic’s assessment, though, as the film grossed more than $179 million. The movie also boasted a soundtrack that featured one of the biggest hits of the decade: Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.” The Grammy-winning song was the biggest selling single of 1995, and is listed at number 69 on Billboard’s Greatest Songs of All-Time.

The movie also spawned a short-lived television spin-off on ABC. The show only lasted one season, however, and was blasted by the real LouAnne Johnson for the unbelievable turn her character had taken.

Decades before High School Musical and Glee, there was the groundbreaking and Oscar-winning Fame, which opened in theaters 31 years ago today. The Alan Parker-directed film followed the lives of talented students at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts, based on Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York. The cast included Debbie Allen, the “it-girl” of the time, Irene Cara and Gene Anthony Ray as Leroy.

Fame was a massive hit in 1980, capturing every teen’s dream to be a star. The title track, performed by Irene Cara, spoke volumes: “Fame! I’m gonna live forever … Light up the sky like a flame/I’m gonna live forever/Baby remember my name.” The song charted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, hit number one in the UK for three weeks and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The movie garnered over $21 million at the box office, which made it a huge success at the time, especially for a cast that included many people of color. In addition, Fame racked up two Golden Globe nods, six Oscars nominations and two Oscar wins. The film also birthed a successful TV series, which ran for six seasons from 1982 to 1986 and included Janet Jackson.

Irene Cara went on to have have success after Fame, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing “Flashdance… What a Feeling” in 1983. She also won a Grammy, Golden Globe and an American Music Award for the tune. However, after winning a vicious legal battle with her record label in the early ’90s, Cara insisted she was blacklisted from the industry. In 2008, she explained, “They stopped all of my other music from being released. They pretty much blackballed me in the record business. It was horrifying to go through this as a young woman.”

Gene Anthony Ray garnered a cult following for playing Leroy and was part of all six seasons of the TV series. Ray passed away in 2003 at the age of 41.

The legacy of Fame lives on and proves that dreams of teen stardom transcend any decade or generation.

Exactly 52 years ago this week, Imitation of Life, the legendary film about racial identity, was released in theatres nationwide. The film was adapted from Fannie Hurst’s novel and a remake from the 1934 original.

Imitation of Life told the story of Sarah Jane, a light-skinned Black girl (both of her parents were Black), who could pass for White, played by Susan Kohner. She dealt with extreme emotional turmoil, eventually rejecting her mother, played by Juanita Moore. The film also starred Hollywood legends Lana Turner and Sandra Dee.

In the 1934 original Sarah Jane was played by a light-skinned Black actress named Fredi Washington. In 1959, the Sarah Jane character was Susan Kohner, who was Mexican and Jewish. Both actresses in the 1959 version, Kohner and Moore, received Oscar nods for best supporting actress and Kohner won the Golden Globe.

Imitation of Life was a huge success for its time, raking in $6.4 million and being the ninth most successful film in 1959.  The film’s handling of race and the “tragic mulatto” character is a slice of history for its era.

There have been talks for years about an Imitation of Life remake, but no word on who or when.  Last year, a behind the scenes book was released on the movie, Born to Be Hurt: The Untold Story of Imitation of Life by Sam Staggs.

The most memorable scene from the movie was Annie dying and the iconic Mahalia Jackson singing at her funeral. Grab a tissue and check out the clip below.