With the exception of perhaps only John Singleton, no director had a bigger impact on black cinema in the 90s than Spike Lee. Lee came to prominence in the late 80s with such films as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze and Do the Right Thing. These films tackled hard-hitting issues dealing with female sexuality, colorism and classism within the black community and race relations respectively. Controversial, enlightening, artistic, humorous, and thought provoking are all adjectives that have been used to describe Lee’s early movies. The 90s were no exception. The only difference is that he entered the decade as a now renowned (and sometimes reviled) movie director—at any rate he was established within the realm of black cinema. The early 90s saw such Spike Lee Classics as Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever and the seminal work, Malcolm X. With Mo Better Blues, viewers are treated to the story of an obsessive jazz musician and the ups and downs that come along with navigating his obsession, friendships, relationships and the business in general. This movie marked the first time that Denzel Washington and Spike Lee would work together in a major motion picture. While entertaining and critically acclaimed, this film did not necessarily address any of the social issues of some of his earlier works. Following Mo Better Blues was the hit movie Jungle Fever, which addressed the dynamics of an interracial dating from the perspectives of an African-American and Italian American family in New York. The movie was bolstered by the Stevie Wonder lead song that shared the same title as the film. The film brought the issue of interracial relationships to the forefront of a discussion that was primarily had behind closed doors and coined the popular phrase that would become synonymous with blacks and whites dating one another. One of the best performances in the movie was that of Samuel L. Jackson (who had been in several other Spike Lee films to this point) as Gator Purify—the crackhead brother of the lead male character Flipper Purify (played by Wesley Snipes). However, it was Lee’s next film that would forever define his contribution to black cinema—the biopic, Malcolm X. In this film, Lee would once again team up with Denel Washington as he portrayed the slain civil rights leader born Malcolm Little. This movie faced its fair share of controversy—even before filming started. Various groups and individuals felt that Lee would exploit and water down the story of Malcolm X and thought that another, less commercial director should be at the helm of such a cinematic endeavor. Lee would go on to direct the movie, and despite an Oscar snub, the film would go on to spark a nationwide re-awakening to Malcolm X’s story—complete with “X” pendants, “X” hats, “X” posters, and “X” leather coats. The mid-90s would see Lee’s work take a less political overtone, but an intriguing one nonetheless. Films such as Crooklyn, Clockers, and the critically panned Girl 6 would see the director tackle a plethora of topics from a number of different perspectives. Spike would once again tackle somewhat political material with his film Get on the Bus, which depicted the experiences of a group of men from all walks of life as they traveled to the Million Man March. Lee would close out the 90s with the films He Got Game starring Denzel Washington as the father of highly sought after basketball recruit Jesus Shuttlesworth (played by the recently drafted NBA player Ray Allen), as well as Summer of Sam—Lee’s take on the 1976 murders by the serial killer known as the Son of Sam. Spike Lee would still be going strong as the calendars shifted and the 20th Century came to an end, however, black cinema in the 90s would owe a lot to Mr. Lee.
