There’s a long list of black movies that have wonderful performances, great production value and that are pleasurable to watch. Here’s a list of the narrative (fictional) films featuring black actors and directors (“black films”) that we feel are essential viewing.
What’s the criteria for being an essential black narrative film? The movie must include one or more of the following characteristics:
1) The movie must have or have had a historical or cultural impact in the field of cinema.
2) The film must exhibit above average quality in story, performance, and/or direction.
3) The movie must represent people of African descent in a positive light.
Black action movies typically – really all comedy films – walk the line between comedy and action. So, you’ll find on our list that most of the movies star comedians, and also most of the films on this list are on our BLACK COMEDY MOVIES list.
African-American comedy movies have influenced pop culture trends for a long time, and have made all audiences laugh hysterically at characters such as “Sherman Klump”, “Detective James Carter”, “Agent Malcolm Turner”, and on and on…and on…
Actors like Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy have all tickled our funny bones and touched our hearts over the years, and we thank you!
Great Black dramatic films rarely seem to get much hype (unless it’s directed by a non-African American director), and although we’ve included films that aren’t directed by African-American directors, the dramas below are quintessentially “black” in the sense that an African-American played a prominent role in the film’s successes.
