Each of those bar scenes always have only one black couple in the entire place. The director places them right in plain view of the camera.. right up on the camera. Black folks used as hip buttons and Coke cans..
Served with the style of a real neurotic
the easy style of a true psychotic
J C Clarke
Very astute observation. I noticed that some of the illegal immigrants looked like white guys in dark makeup. The 60's were a time of transition for our culture, with blacks, Latins, and gays moving beyond the stereotypical roles they had always been assigned to.
shareThe only black character in the book, Puddler, was turned in a blue-eyed, blonde Aryan.
shareI wasn't going to mention this in any board discussion at all since it is political in nature, but when Juan Williams was fired from NPR for supposedly hanging out with the FOX news alumni, one of his first invites was the Bill O'Reilly Show. Now I am NOT implying that O'Reilly or FOX news is in any way racist, (to the contrary) But when that interview ended there was an exchange between the two men. A looking away on the part of Juan and he clouded up when O'Reilly promised to be there for him and give his hosting shots and do anything he could to help. I thought of that night when Ving Rhames insisted on giving his Oscar to Jack Lemmon, and, also, Spike Lee's film "Bamboozled" and how when Mr. Williams clouded up and looked away from O'Reilly at that moment it looked to me like the ancient pain of the slave mentality vs the plantation owner had reared it's ugly head once again. As a white ..it hurt me to think that we white folks hurt members of our own human race to the point that it's STILL there and still hurts. I understood something while watching the two grown men in that awkward situation. Something else was in control.. some hollow sad and ancient spirit of... something very very primative. Something alien to me. If there are any people of color on this board who can speak to me without pointing ugly fingers.. I would appreciate it.
shareI just mentioned the only black character in the book was white in the movie. Of course that could have white guilt since the character (Puddler) was a dumb thug.
share Blacks were underrepresented. Now they're over-represented (especially in commercials). Neither is good.
O'Reilly was kind to Williams, supported him, promised to help him, and that's racist? What a thoroughly f'ed up world we have created in recent years.
shareI just finished watching "Harper" for the first time, and I too noticed the token Blacks in the SOME of the club scenes. I emphasize "some" because when Harper told the Winters character that she was too good for a place like the club they were in and invited her to a more upscale club in the Hotel Bel Aire, I looked for the token Blacks at the Bel Aire only to find none. An oversight? I doubt it.
share"Calculate the correct number of Negroes in a 1966 private eye movie made by a major Hollywood studio.
Bonus question: What will be the maximum height (in inches) of their Afro hairdo's, given that -- for a summer 1966 release -- the film will be shot in Q3 or Q4 of 1965?"
-- Questions found on a "Diversity in Cinema" class test at UCLA extension school
You're right. They should have stuck with the old trend of putting zero black couples there. Crawl before you can walk. If they didn't put a token black couple there in 1966...
share