Films/DVD Asylum

"Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson"

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rico

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Last night I caught the first half of this new four hour Ken Burns documentary on the fabled prize fighter early in the 2th century. The usual Burns cast of characters is there (Stanley Crouch, Gerald Early, music by Wynton) as well as Burns'touches (cleaned up rare archival footage, slow pans over ancient black and white and sepia toned photos, etc, voice overs by actors playing period roles, etc.) and the film contains a wealth of information about Johnson and his times. He reminds me of an early version of Miles Dvis and Jelly Roll Morton rolled into one (Miles' tribute album to Johnson is one of his best efforts). Very enjoyable and worthwhile. Part II is on tonight, I think, and PBS repeats these things frequently throughout the week.

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Already on DVD, according to netflix. - Bulkington 10:56:04 01/19/05 (0)
Don't have tv (my tv isn't for tv-watching), and my friend's cable is out, so I missed it. Wasn't this week the premier? Wonder if it's an error.
Saw Part 2 last night - dwill123 07:07:52 01/19/05 (0)
Best Ken Burns since the "Civil War" (IMO).
Re: Forgot to mention - rico 05:59:12 01/19/05 (1)
that one of the commentators is James Earl Jones, who played Johnson on Braodway's "The Great White Hope".
- Re: Forgot to mention - JoeKool 16:30:47 01/19/05 (0)
  Saw that movie back in the 70's ,was a good movie too. I think they may be preparing a 'new' digitally enhanced remastered special edition in the light of these recent calls for a presidential 'aprdon'.

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