Posts Tagged ‘Howard McQuitter’
Movie Corner: Melvin Van Peebles
He's the ManMelvin Van Peebles (1932-2021) Melvin Van Peebles. Photo by John Matthew Smith By HOWARD McQUITTER II The African American filmmaker-actor Melvin Van Peebles, a fiercely independent filmmaker, could make memorable and remarkable films on a shoestring budget such as the 1971 bombshell film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song about a Black pimp who kills two policemen for beating up a Black militant and how he eludes law enforcement. (His son Mario, is also an actor/director.) And with Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, in particular, but in conjunction with his body of work (his directorial debut is Watermelon Man in Hollywood), the man is often known as the "Godfather of Black cinema". (The late Black director Gordon Parks is also a modern pioneer of Black cinema.) Mr. Melvin Van Peebles graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a B. A. in 1953. He decided to travel heavily in Europe, Mexico and the United States taking on jobs such as postal worker, painter, [...]
Chadwick Boseman: The Bronze Man (1976-2020)
Movie Corner By HOWARD McQUITTER IIÂ “The worst is Death, and death will have his day.” --William Shakespeare The day I heard Chadwick Boseman died, his death shocked my system. What”™s more he was only 43 years old, dying of colon cancer. ( I”™m all too familiar with colon cancer, thanks be to God I”™m still here to talk about it.) Young, gifted, Black and handsome Mr. Chadwick came into the world on November 29, 1976, born and raised in Anderson, SouthCarolina, to Carolyn and Leroy Boseman. The likes of a Boseman-- his voice, his expertise, his persona, his reverential treatment of scripts as a thespian not only causes little Black boys and girls to dream, but to do what God gives them as upcoming thespians: talent. Boseman leaves lasting marks in cinema by acting in biopics of African American icons such as playing baseball star Jackie Robinson in “42”(2013); college football great Vontae [...]
Movie Corner – November 2018
By HOWARD McQUITTER II oldschoolmovies.wordpress.com howardmcquitter68@gmail.com This year, 2018, marks the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick”'s masterpiece or, one of them anyway, “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), a treasure of science fiction/ drama although a film in this day that may not be fully understood, at least at the ending. (One can honestly say, Kubrick”'s “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” is also a Masterpiece.) Mr. Kubrick”'s “2001: A Space Odyssey” is a major example of his ambivalence about technology and its future for humanity. Kubrick (like myself) grew up during the” Cold War” when “The Cuban Missile Crisis” and threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed to be on the verge of breaking out. Kubrick”'s film is based on Arthur C. Clarke”'s “The Sentinel.” Both men collaborate on the [...]
