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7/20/2000
Hollywood Shuffle
This is a movie written by, directed by, produced by, starring
and paid for by Robert Townsend. It was also co-written by Keenan Ivory Wayans and you can see Wayans family members strewn throughout the movie. It is basically a movie that satirizes Hollywood's treatment of black actors.
It is the story of a fast food employee, Townsend, who dreams of making it in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he finds out that the only roles he can get are as a pimp, thief or convict. Throughout, there are hilarious
sketches - such as Black Acting School, Sneakin in the Movies and The Adventures of Sam
Spade - that use laughter to show the plight of the black actor in Hollywood.
After watching this movie, you definitely look at movies differently as it relates to minorities. One example is Lou Gossett Jr. This man won an Oscar, for god's sakes, but he's stuck doing Iron Eagle movies till he dies. That is just not right.
An interesting aspect of this movie is the story behind the movie. Townsend made this on a shoestring budget. He borrowed film from other filmmakers, he got the actors to accept deferred payments and even used his own credit cards to finance this movie. While this cost cutting shows at times, this movie is still infinitely better than a movie with a $100 million dollar budget, like Armageddon.
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