BlackkKlansman (new Spike Lee film)

My dentist voted for HRC. I did order a pizza from a K.K.K.-adjacent pizzeria one time back in the early '70s...which I
didn't realize until I went in to pick up the pie. Lotsa Maryland State Police in there that day who didn't appreciate
my hair-length and general demeanor. Pizza was pretty damned good though...unfortunately.

 

I basically liked the film, but I had a few issues: 1: There's a Nixon campaign poster-two, actually, at the Klan event both the "Black Klansman" and his beard are at-Nixon finished desegregating the public schools and also desegregated the building trades! Did the Klan like Nixon? I doubt it! Likelier they supported Wallace. And the actual operation this depicts was in 1978 and '79! WHY would posters for a seven year old campaign be up at all? 2: And regarding the actual event happening 1978-'79, why does the film feel so much like the early 70s? I was a naive Teenager in the 70s, but by '79 the days of Afros, Blacksploitation movies(discussed in the films' dialog as if current), and "Black Power" seemed long over.

 

I felt that the police department's motivation for launching the investigation in the first place was a bit fuzzy.

 

Ha-Ha-yes!

 

OK, the film is ACTUALLY SET in 1972! Hmm, I kind of like it when films based on actual events are set in the year that the events actually happened.

 

This really should be the SHF motto!

 

Agree. The motivation seemed to be "Ron wanted to do it". I don't recall there being any obvious sign that the Colorado Klansmen were up to illegal activities that would prompt an investigation, but I may be forgetting something.

I know there's a scene where Ron sells the investigation to his boss, but I don't recall it seeming all that convincing!

 

I don't think Lee ever specifies the year - though again, maybe he did and I forgot.

I think I pieced together the year based on when Ture spoke in Colorado. Also, it's clear Nixon is president in the movie.

As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, I believe Lee went with early 70s so he could contrast the then-burgeoning "Black Power" movement with the KKK. That's not gonna work in 1979.

Also, the Afros and the music!

 

So...1972 or 1979? Ice Age-level 'cultural shifting' between.

 

Young, pre-fame Quentin Tarantino: "Gee Mr. Stone it's great to meet you! I've seen all of your movies!"
Hollywood's own Oliver Stone: "I don't make movies...I make films".

 

Frankly, i'm amazed that the moderators allowed this thread to continue. And, the best part if that it's been very peaceful.

I hope I didn't just jinx it.

 

If that were true, you'd delete this post.

 

Not you-know-who, but you-know-what.

 

Saw this tonight - fairly watchable but far too heavy-handed to be effective and not very well directed. As I'm a Spike Lee fan normally, this was pretty disappointing.

 

I went for a viewing this afternoon; senior discount, y'know.
It is truly great, although I thought that the soundtrack was a bit weak, which is not the Spike Lee way.
People will have to go with both open eyes and, more importantly, open ears. Doing that, they might grasp that what is said has a certain familiarity to what is being said now.
I chuckled and wondered how many of the crowd would realize the thread between the first person on screen and one of the last.
People are filing out and the sweeper has arrived, seeing that I'm the last person there. I went up to him and said, "You know how sometimes there's someone who sticks around to read the end credits. I'm that guy". He laughed and said it's alright. Bruce Hornsby... as part of the soundtrack used in the film? Get out!

 

Definitely get the DVD.

 

Oh, i'll definately get it on Blu-ray when it comes out.

 

4K UHD.

 

I don't know if it's worth getting everything in 4k, though. hell, there are some recent movies that were only released on DVD!

 

Usually better packaging/cover ..also improved picture.

 

Yeah, if studios don't think movies will sell, they don't bother with BD and DVD releases.

Seems like a minor expense to me but obviously they don't think it's worth it, so there are still some movies that get only DVD.

And plenty that don't get 4K. Apparently "Klansman" is slated for a 4K release, though...

 

I don't know if anyone else who saw the film had this same thought I did, the first time John David Washington, as "Ron Stallworth", speaks on the phone to the "organization": Richard Pryor.

 

The film is listed on MoviePass today so I think I'll go see it.

 

I saw it this afternoon and was disappointed. Poor scriptwriting, weak direction, over-played,... I was wincing all the way through it.
It should have been grittier and more tense. You'd think it had been made by a newcomer and not someone of the stature of Lee.
I wonder if he made it a little dumb on purpose in order to get the message across to a less intelligent proportion of the public. Keep it light. Spell-it-out. Or maybe he just blew it.

 

Spike Lee could be a filmmaker as great as Martin Scorsese if he had an editor as great as Thelma Schoonmaker.