The first actor you see in MALCOLM X is not Denzel Washington, or even a kid playing a young Denzel Washington. It’s Spike Lee getting his shoes shined, then strutting across the street in a zoot suit. As if to say, “Yep, after a long fight to be hired by the producers, struggling to shoot the movie, fighting the studio for the 3 hour running time, gathering donations from black celebrities for completion funds, here I am. Playing Malcolm X’s best friend Shorty. Welcome to my movie.” The audacity makes me laugh, but oh well, it works.
This is by far Lee’s most Serious and Important film, but there’s some fun to be had early on. In his youth Malcolm went to dances, tried to look good and pick up women, and Lee couldn’t resist an epic lindy hop sequence that’s incredible to watch. Hard to believe people used to know how to dance like that. I wonder how many people landed on their heads?
But Malcolm is headed toward an inner struggle and that’s symbolized in that first scene with Spike in the zoot suit. He’s actually strutting across the street to the barber shop where he’s about to put lye on Malcolm’s red hair to straighten it out. Malcolm loves the look (”looks white, don’t it?”) but it burns his head and he tries to rinse it off before it’s ready. Later in the movie he’ll be straightening his hair and discover the sink’s not working and be forced to dunk his head in the toilet. This was in the book so it apparently really happened to Malcolm but it’s the perfect poetic way of making the point about trying to be someone he’s not.
He has a black girlfriend, but prefers the white one, uses her as his moll and accomplice when he falls in with criminals, becomes a numbers runner, has a falling out, and starts robbing houses. When he goes to prison he says it’s not as much for robbing houses as for having sex with a white woman. (more…)
Like
This is a new comedy concert movie directed by Spike Lee. Instead of having somebody good like Richard Pryor as the star, the gimmick here is that it’s Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac.
