Black Movies: Best 100+ Black Movies of All Time
Here's the top 100 black movies we have gathered in the same place for you. If you're new to black movies, it's definitely something to check out! This list has covered the top 100 black movies, that explore African-American culture and themes within that framework. All the titles on this list are ranked by community votes, so you will find the most popular movies on the top of the list. Many movies on this list belong to different sub-genres, such as comedies and biographical movies. You can also find black crime films, action flicks and famous gang movies from the list. Some examples of famous black movies are The Pursuit of Happyness, Do the Right Thing and Remember the Titans. In case your favourite is missing from the list, you can add and vote up your own favourite to share it with other fans of black movies.
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1
Beverly Hills Cop
Young and reckless Detroit police detective Axel Foley’s latest unauthorized sting operationgoes sour when two uniformed officers intervene, resulting in a high-speed chase through the city which causes widespread damage. His…
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2
The Wood
Roland (Taye Diggs) is getting married (and is currently missing) and Slim (Richard T. Jones), who scoffs at the idea of marriage, is furious at Roland for disappearing. The story reminisces back to Mike’s (Omar Epps, portrayed as a youth…
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3
Glory
During the American Civil War, Captain Robert Shaw, injured at Antietam, is sent home to Boston on medical leave. Shaw accepts a promotion to colonel commanding the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry,…
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4
The Color Purple
Celie Harris is an African-American teenager in early 20th century rural Georgia who had had two children by her abusive stepfather, both of whom have been taken from her. She is given away as a wife to widower Albert Johnson,…
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5
I’m Bout It
The plot details his life in a New Orleans uptown ghetto and about his brother Kevin Miller played by Anthony Boswell. Master P wrote, directed and acted in the film. The movie itself was a huge success for No Limit…
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6
Hoodlum
After being paroled from Sing Sing, Bumpy Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) returns to Harlem to resume his old life. He is welcomed back by his cousin, Illinois Gordon (Chi McBride) as well as Stephanie “Madame Queen” St.…
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7
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Helen (Kimberly Elise) and Charles McCarter (Steve Harris) have money, success, and a fine home. Their lives are perfect – on the surface. Charles, an attorney, is distant, verbally abusive, and has been having multiple affairs, while Helen is…
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8
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
In 1987, 16-year-old Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) lives in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City with her unemployed mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), who has long subjected her to physical, verbal and sexual abuse. Precious…
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9
Jungle Fever
Flipper Purify (Wesley Snipes), a successful and happily married architect from Harlem, is married to Drew (Lonette McKee), who works as a buyer at Bloomingdales. Together, they have a young daughter, Ming (Veronica…
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10
A Low Down Dirty Shame
Former LAPD detective Andre Shame is a private investigator who owns A Low Down Dirty Shame Investigations. He runs it with Peaches, whom he arrested six years before and has romantic feelings for him. Despite the high-risk jobs, Shame is unable to…
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11
Dr. Dolittle
he Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed (1920) begins the series. The sequel The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922) won the…
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12
John Q
A motorist is driving dangerously down a winding road, recklessly passing cars until she comes upon a slow moving Mack truck. As she attempts to pass, her car is clipped by a truck going in the opposite direction, then slammed full-force by the…
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13
A Raisin in the Sun
Walter and Ruth Younger, their son Travis, along with Walter’s mother Lena (Mama) and Walter’s sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a dilapidated two-bedroom apartment on Chicago’s south side. Walter is barely making a living as a…
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14
Lady Sings the Blues
In 1945 New York City, Billie Holiday is arrested on a drugs charge. In a flashback to 1928, Billie is working as a housekeeper in a brothel in Baltimore where she is raped. She runs away to her mother, who sets up a job cleaning for…
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15
Major Payne
U.S. Marine Corps Major Benson Winifred Payne, a hardened Marine, returns from a violent but successful drug raid in South America, only to find out that he was once again not promoted to lieutenant colonel. Payne receives an honorable…
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16
Two Can Play That Game
Shante Smith (Vivica A. Fox) is a woman who gives advice on how to keep a man in check. Her ideals are challenged when her man, an attorney, named Keith Fenton (Morris Chestnut), threatens to stray. Smith is a well-educated woman who feels that when…
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17
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
The novel and its main character are particularly notable for the breadth of time and history and stories they recall. In addition to the plethora of fictional characters who populate Jane’s narrative, Jane and others make many references to…
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18
Why Do Fools Fall in Love
Lymon was 13 years old when the teenage group Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers erupted from radios and jukeboxes with their 1956 hit “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” and appeared in the movie Rock, Rock, Rock (1956).…
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19
All About the Benjamins
Tyson Bucum (Ice Cube), a maverick bounty hunter, is out to capture a petty drug dealer, Lil J (Anthony Michael Hall). Bucum confronts Lil J in his trailer home and nearly handcuffs him, but Lil J’s girlfriend, who wields a shotgun, recklessly…
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20
Booty Call
Booty Call is about a tender-hearted, upwardly-mobile named Rushon who has been dating his girlfriend Nikki for seven weeks. They really like each other, but their relationship has not yet been consummated; Nikki is not so sure if their…
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21
Akeelah and the Bee
Akeelah Anderson, an 11-year-old spelling enthusiast, attends Crenshaw Middle School, a predominantly black school in South Los Angeles. She lives with her disgruntled widowed mother Tanya, her older sister Kiana, her…
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22
Why Did I Get Married?
The four couples, who are also best friends, converge in a house in the mountains for a week-long retreat that has become their ritual of sorts to help work out their marital problems and ask the question “Why did I get married?”. Though…
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23
A Soldier’s Story
The time is 1944 during World War II. Vernon Waters, a master sergeant in a company of black soldiers, is very drunk and staggering along a road along Fort Neal, a segregated Army base in Louisiana. Waters’ last words amidst his…
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24
The Preacher’s Wife
A voiceover by the child Jeremiah (Justin Pierre Edmund) guides the viewer through the film. Rev. Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance) is the pastor of a small struggling Baptist church in a poverty-stricken neighborhood of New York…
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25
In the Heat of the Night
In 1966, a wealthy industrialist named Phillip Colbert has moved from Chicago to Sparta, Mississippi to build a factory. One night, police officer Sam Wood discovers that Colbert has been murdered. Chief Gillespie leads the…
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26
I Am Legend
In 2009, a genetically re-engineered measles virus, originally created as a cure for cancer, turns into a lethal strain which kills 90% of those it infects, mutates over 9% into predatory, nocturnal…
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27
The Brothers
Jackson Smith (Chestnut), Brian Palmer (Bellamy), Derrick West (Hughley) and Terry White (Moore) are lifelong friends since childhood. The film has separate subplots with each character, showing how their friendships binds them. Jackson struggles…
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28
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka
Soldier Jack Spade returns home to Any Ghetto, U.S.A. after receiving news that his brother, Junebug, died of an “OG” – an overdosing on gold chains. Surveying the old neighborhood, Jack observes the effect of gold chains on his community and…
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29
The Wiz
The idea for the musical originated with producer Ken Harper. He replaced the original director, Gilbert Moses, with Geoffrey Holder in Detroit during out-of-town tryouts. The original Baltimore cast included Renee Harris as…
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30
Purple Rain
“The Kid” is the talented but troubled frontman of his Minneapolis-based band, The Revolution. To escape his difficult home life – his father is verbally and physically abusive, and his mother…
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31
Sister Act
In the film’s prologue, Deloris Wilson is a young student at a Catholic school; she seems more focused on music groups and being the class clown than her studies. As an adult, she is a lounge singer at a nightclub…
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32
The Hurricane
The film tells the story of middleweight boxer Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter, who was convicted of committing a triple murder in a bar in Paterson, New Jersey. His sentence was set aside after he had spent nearly 20 years…
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33
Think Like A Man
Think Like a Man is a 2012 American romantic comedy film directed by Tim Story and written by Keith Marryman and David A. Newman, based on Steve Harvey‘s 2009 book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. The film…
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34
Higher Learning
At fictitious Columbus University, students Malik Williams, a black track athlete, Kristen Connor, a white woman, and Remy, a white young man, are starting their freshman year. Kristen’s roommate is Monet, a black student. Malik’s…
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35
The Tuskegee Airmen
During World War II, Hannibal Lee (Laurence Fishburne), traveling by train to Tuskegee, Alabama, is joined by fellow flight cadetcandidates Billy “Train” Roberts (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), Walter Peoples III (Allen Payne), and Lewis…
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36
Cooley High
In 1964 on Chicago’s Near-North Side, Preach – an aspiring playwright – and Cochise – an all-city basketball champion – are best friends who are both celebrating the final weeks of their senior year with their…
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37
Drumline
The film centers on Devon Miles (Cannon), a teen who has just graduated from a high school in New York City. Upon graduating, Devon heads to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the fictitious Atlanta A&T University (based on North…
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38
Amistad
La Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling from Cuba to the United States in 1839. It is carrying African slaves as its cargo. As the ship is crossing from Cuba to the United States, Cinqué, a leader of the Africans, leads a mutiny…
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39
Eve’s Bayou
Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett), a 10-year-old girl, lives in a prosperous Creole-American community in Louisiana with her younger brother Poe (Jake Smollett) and her older sister Cisely (Meagan Good) in the 1960’s.. Their…
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40
Harlem Nights
In Harlem, New York, 1918, Sugar Ray has a dice game. Nearly killed by an angry customer, Ray is saved by seven-year-old errand boy Vernest Brown, who shoots the man. After being told that his parents are dead, Ray decides to raise the boy as…
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41
The Great Debaters
Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at Wiley College, a Historically Black College, to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South…
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42
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Nightclub manager Darnell Wright is a perpetual playboy and hopeless male chauvinist. He works for a nightclub called Chocolate Cityand aspires to be its owner. He trades VIP privileges at the club for favors from…
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43
Love Jones
In Chicago, Darius Lovehall is a poet who is giving a reading at the Sanctuary, an upscale nightclub presenting jazz and poetry to a bohemian clientele. Shortly before his set, he meets Nina Mosley, a…
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44
Big Momma’s House
The film begins in an illegal underground dog-fighting arena in Korea, where an undercover FBI agent, John Maxwell, has been identified and is later ordered by a Korean mob boss to be killed. However, John is eventually rescued by his…
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45
The Original Kings of Comedy
Steve Harvey, the star of The Steve Harvey Show, is the master of ceremonies for the show. Unlike his sitcom character, Harvey’s on-stage routines use a significant amount of profanity; as the show’s M.C., Harvey is…
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46
Enemy of the State
NSA official Thomas Bryan Reynolds meets with U.S. Congressman Phil Hammersley in a public park to discuss support for a new piece of counterterrorism legislation the U.S. Congress is pushing that dramatically expands…
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47
Rosewood
Mann is a mysterious World War I veteran who is scouting out land to buy. He comes to the town of Rosewood, a small predominantly black town in Florida. Rosewood is home to the Carriers, an upwardly mobile black family, helmed by Aunt Sarah and…
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48
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Stella Payne is a very successful 40-year-old stockbroker raising her son, Quincy, and living in Marin County, California, who is persuaded by her best friend from college, Delilah Abraham, to take a well-deserved, first-class vacation…
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49
The Players Club
The story is presented as a memory of Diana Armstrong (LisaRaye) sparked by her arrival at the scene of the raunchy, dysfunctional Players Club. She explains that she used to work at the club, beginning working there after getting pregnant with her…
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50
Dreamgirls
In 1962 Detroit, Michigan, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a black girl group known as “The Dreamettes”, which consists of lead singer Effie White and backup singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, at an…
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51
School Daze
Vaughn “Dap” Dunlap (Fishburne) is a politically conscious black American student at Mission College, a leading historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia whose motto is “Uplift the Race.”[2] The college…
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52
Brown Sugar
Brown Sugar is a film that follows the evolving relationship between Sidney (Sanaa Lathan), an attractive young woman who has just been appointed the editor-in-chief of the hip-hop magazine XXL, and Dre (Taye Diggs),…
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53
What’s Love Got to Do with It
Born and raised in Nutbush, Tennessee, Anna Mae Bullock (Tina’s birth name) grows up in an unhappy family, with her parents leaving and abandoning her at a young age. Following her grandmother’s death, she relocates to St.…
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54
Waiting to Exhale
Waiting to Exhale is a story about four African-American women who are good friends: Savannah, Robin, Bernadine, and Gloria. The four women get together frequently to provide support, and to listen to each other vent about life and love. They…
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55
Soul Food
Soul Food is told through the eyes of 11-year-old Ahmad (Hammond), following the trials of the Joseph family, a close-knit Chicagofamily that gets together to have Sunday dinner every week, with plenty of soul food to…
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56
Life
Elderly inmate Willie Long (Obba Babatundé) attends the burial of two friends who recently perished in an infirmary fire in a Mississippi prison. He begins telling the two young inmates digging the graves his friends’ life story. Ray Gibson…
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57
A Time to Kill
In the town of Canton, Mississippi, ten-year-old African American Tonya Hailey (Rae’Ven Larrymore Kelly) is abducted, raped, and beaten by two local men, Billy Ray Cobb (Nicky Katt) and Pete Willard (Doug Hutchison). The duo dump her in a…
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58
House Party
In their high-school cafeteria, Peter, also known as “Play” announces to his friends Christopher aka “Kid” Robinson, Jr., and Bilal that he will be having a party at his house that night, as his parents are on vacation. The…
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59
The Nutty Professor
At Wellman College, thousands of hamsters overrun the campus after being accidentally released by Sherman Klump, a morbidly obese but very kind-hearted professor. Meanwhile, Sherman has created an experimental formula that reconstructs the…
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60
Ali
The film begins with Cassius Clay Jr. before his championship debut against then heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. During the pre-fight weigh-in Clay heavily taunts Liston (such as calling Liston a “big ugly…
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61
Boomerang
Advertisement executive Marcus Graham tells his assistant to send flowers to nine different women, with cards reading “thinking only of you” indicating his lifestyle of dating multiple women at once. It’s quickly established that…
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62
The Five Heartbeats
Donald “Duck” Matthews, Anthony “Choirboy” Stone, J.T. Matthews, Terrence “Dresser” Williams, and Eddie King Jr. perform at a Battle of the Bands contest as The Heartbeats. The group loses to…
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63
Antwone Fisher
The film focuses on Antwone “Fish” Fisher (Derek Luke), a temperamental young man with a violent history who is serving in the U.S. Navy. His father was killed before he was born and his teenage mother, Eva Mae Fisher, ended up arrested…
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64
Bad Boys II
Eight years after the events of the first film, Miami Police Department (MPD) narcotics division detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey are investigating the flow of ecstasy into the city, leading them to a Ku…
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65
The Best Man
Childhood friends Olly Pickering and Murray go their separate ways when Olly goes to university. While there, Olly meets James. Murray vomits all over James, creating instant enmity between them. Olly writes the two first chapters of a novel and an…
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66
Roots
In The Gambia, West Africa, in 1750, Kunta Kinte is born to Omoro Kinte (Thalmus Rasulala), a Mandinka warrior, and his wife, Binta (Cicely Tyson). He was raised in a Muslim family.[5][6] When Kunta…
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67
Barbershop
On a cold winter day, Calvin Palmer Jr. (Ice Cube) decides he has had enough of trying to keep open the barbershop his father handed down to him. He cannot borrow, revenues are falling, and he seems more interested in get-rich-quick…
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68
Hotel Rwanda
Tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples lead to a civil war in Rwanda, where corruption and bribes between politicians are routine. Paul Rusesabagina, manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines, is Hutu, but his wife…
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69
The Pursuit of Happyness
In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner invests his entire life savings in portable bone density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy quantum leap over standard X-rays. The scanners play a…
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70
Bad Boys
Miami detectives Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) investigate $100 million of seized Mafia heroin, which was stolen from a secure police vault. Internal Affairs suspects that it was an inside job and threatens…
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71
Lean on Me
By 1987, the once successful Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, has deteriorated due to drugs and crime. The majority of students cannot pass basic skills testing, and even the teachers are not safe from gang…
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72
Django Unchained
In 1858 Texas, brothers Ace and Dicky Speck drive a group of shackled black slaves on foot. Among them is Django, sold off and separated from his wife Broomhilda von Shaft, a house slave. The brothers are stopped by Dr. King…
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73
Ray
Raised on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles Robinson went blind at the age of seven, shortly after witnessing his younger brother drown. Inspired by a fiercely independent mother who insisted he make his own way in the…
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74
Malcolm X
Malcolm X follows the life of African-American activist Malcolm X. Rising from a troubled childhood, in which his father, a preacher, is murdered by the Black Legion and his mother is institutionalized for insanity, Malcolm…
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75
Clockers
In a Brooklyn, New York, New York City, New York housing project, a group of clockers — street-level drug dealers — sell drugs for Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo), a local drug lord. Rodney tells Ronald “Strike”…
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76
Love & Basketball
Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) have wanted to be professional basketball stars since they were kids. Monica wanted to play for the Los Angeles Lakers and wear Magic Johnson’s number: 32. Quincy…
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77
Next Friday
After Craig Jones (Ice Cube)’ successful fight against the neighborhood bully Deebo (Tommy Lister Jr.) in the previous film, rumors spread that Deebo will be breaking out of jail soon and will be looking to enact revenge on Craig. As a result,…
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78
He Got Game
Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen), the top high school basketball player in the United States, is being pursued by the top college basketball programs in the nation. His father, Jake, is a convicted felon serving time at Attica Correctional…
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79
Do the Right Thing
Mookie (Spike Lee) is a 25-year-old delivery man living in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with his sister Jade (Joie Lee). He and his girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez) have a toddler son named Hector (Travell Toulson). He works at the local…
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80
Friday After Next
The movie begins when a robber (Rickey Smiley), disguised as Santa Claus, breaks into Craig (Ice Cube) and Day-Day’s (Mike Epps) house at 3:37 AM on Christmas Eve. Craig fights with the robber, trashing their apartment while making…
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81
Coach Carter
In 1999, Ken Carter takes over the head coaching job for the basketball team at his former high school Richmond, having played on the team himself and earning records. Carter quickly sees that the athletes are rude and disrespectful, and are in…
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82
South Central
Bobby Johnson is a young black gang member of Hoover Street Deuces, or simply “Deuce”. He gets paroled from the Youth Authority and he meets up with his best friend/fellow gang member Ray Ray, Loco and Bear. As it turns out,…
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83
In Too Deep
Jeffrey Cole (Epps) is a recent graduate of the Cincinnati police academy who dreams of working undercover. Cole manages to get an undercover assignment the day of graduation and earns the praise of his superiors. Good at earning the trust of…
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84
American Gangster
In 1968, Frank Lucas is the right-hand man of Harlem gangster Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. When Johnson dies of a heart attack, Lucas takes control of the Harlem crime scene. After handing in almost $1 million that…
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85
Hustle & Flow
DJay (Terrence Howard) is a pimp and drug dealer who is dissatisfied with his life. After acquiring a keyboard and reacquainting himself with an old friend from school, Key (Anthony Anderson), who has become a sound technician,…
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86
Belly
The film begins in early 1999, with two young Queens, New York street criminals Tommy “Buns” Bundy (DMX) and Sincere (“Sin”) (Nas), along with their associates in crime Mark and Black. The four violently rob a…
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87
Poetic Justice
Justice (Janet Jackson) is a young woman living in South Central, Los Angeles. She was named Justice by her late mother, who gave birth to her while attending law school. After the shooting death of her boyfriend Markell (Q-Tip), Justice…
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88
Above the Rim
Kyle Watson is a talented basketball player who is about to graduate from high school. While he waits to find out if he will receive a scholarship to Georgetown University, he finds himself in a difficult dilemma over a playground…
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89
Dead Presidents
In the spring of 1969, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) is about to graduate from high school, and decides to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps rather than go to college. He is sent to Vietnam, leaving behind…
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90
Paid in Full
Ace (Wood Harris) is a young man from Harlem stuck in a dead end job at a dry cleaning shop. His sister’s boyfriend, Calvin (Kevin Carroll), is a local cocaine dealer who tries to lure Ace into the drug trade with promises of fast…
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91
Juice
Bishop (Tupac Shakur), Q (Omar Epps), Raheem (Khalil Kain), and Steel (Jermaine ‘Huggy’ Hopkins) are four teenage African-American friends growing up together in Harlem. They regularly skip school, instead spending their days…
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92
Set It Off
Francesca “Frankie” Sutton (Fox) is a Los Angeles bank teller who witnesses a robbery. Although she had no prior knowledge of the robbery, the bank fires Frankie after the police uncover a connection between her and one of the…
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93
Training Day
Ambitious LAPD Officer Jake Hoyt is up for promotion and is assigned to Detective Alonzo Harris, a decorated but secretly corrupt narcotics officer, for a one-day evaluation. Driving around in Alonzo’s Monte Carlo, they…
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94
Menace II Society
Caine Lawson and his best friend Kevin “O-Dog” Odum enter a local store to buy malt liquor, where the Korean cashier and his wife rush them to buy their beer and leave. After their purchase, the cashier insults O-Dog by…
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95
New Jack City
The story begins in Harlem, 1986, and Nino Brown and his gang, the Cash Money Brothers (CMB), become the dominant drug ring in New York City once crack cocaine is introduced to the streets. His gang consists of his best friend, Gee Money;…
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96
Boyz n the Hood
Ten-year-old Tre Styles lives with his single mother, Reva in Inglewood, California. After Tre gets into a fight at school, his teacher informs Reva that Tre is highly intelligent but has a volatile temper and lacks respect. Worried about…
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97
Friday
Craig Jones, a young man living in South Central Los Angeles, has just lost his job after being framed for stealing on his day off. Not having any plans, he hangs out on his front porch with his best friend, Smokey, a snappy, mischievous drug…
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98
Coming to America
In the fictional wealthy African nation of Zamunda, crown prince Akeem Joffer grows weary of his pampered lifestyle on his 21st birthday and wishes to do more for himself. When his parents, King Jaffe and Queen Aeoleon, present him…
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99
Cool Runnings
Derice Bannock, a top 100m runner, fails to qualify at the Olympic Trial for the 1988 Summer Olympics when fellow runner Junior Bevil trips and falls, taking Derice and another runner, Yul Brenner, with him. To compete in the…
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100
The Help
In 1963, Aibileen Clark is an African-American maid in Jackson, Mississippi. Utilizing intermittent first person voiceover, Aibileen’s perspective is shared directly with viewers and with aspiring writer Eugenia “Skeeter”…
