Two weeks back, I paid homage to five big-screen performances by five talented African-American actors (Samuel L. Jackson, Derek Luke, Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes and Denzel Washington) that I feel weren’t showered with the praise and accolades that they deserved.
Part Two of my tribute to unsung film performances delivered by African-American actors was supposed to run last week, but it was postponed by a week so my colleague Kerry Birmingham could pay homage to screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, in light of her passing.
So with no further ado, here are another five exceptional performances worth checking out.
Don Cheadle in Talk To Me
Truth be told, Don Cheadle should be as revered an actor as Denzel Washington and as big a box office draw as Will Smith. He’s got a list of great performances under his belt, like Devil in a Blue Dress, Boogie Nights, HBO’s “The Rat Pack” and “A Lesson Before Dying,” Traffic, and Hotel Rwanda, to name a few. But it’s his stirring performance as Ralph “Petey” Greene, an ex-con who became a wildly popular and heavily influential radio personality and activist in 1960s and 1970s Washington D.C., that allows one to fully appreciate Cheadle’s full range as an actor. Part Good Morning, Vietnam, part Talk Radio, actor-turned-filmmaker Kasi Lemmons’ third feature film (following Eve’s Bayou and The Caveman’s Valentine) is an evocative walk through little-known black history with Cheadle as our funkadelic guide. He embodies Greene, a larger-than-life character, from the top of his ‘fro to the bottom of his gator heels. He’s winningly paired with Chiwetel Ejiofor as the straight-laced program manager of the D.C. radio station Greene takes by storm the moment he arrives, and Taraji P. Henson as Petey’s foxy, bourghetto girlfriend.
Ice Cube in Boyz ‘N The Hood
Throughout the mid-to-late-1980s and into the 1990s, a number of rap and hip-hop artists attempted to parlay their music careers into acting careers, a trend that continues 20 years later. It’s been that amount of time since Ice Cube made his unforgettable big screen acting debut as Doughboy, a convicted felon who came of age, minus a father or father-figure, with his younger, football-obsessed brother Ricky in South Central Los Angeles. In a film filled with great actors and performances, Cube’s charismatic, raw and honest portrayal is a revelation, and not just because he likely grew up with guys like Doughboy. Whether he’s squaring off with some rival gang members over some nonsense or shielding the hurt that his emotionally-distant mother causes him every time she openly favors Ricky, he commands the screen and your attention.
Jamie Foxx in Any Given Sunday
Jamie Foxx rightfully won the Best Actor Oscar for his revelatory turn as music legend Ray Charles in the big screen biopic Ray (2004), and was additionally nominated in the Supporting Actor category for his other 2004 performance in Collateral opposite Tom Cruise. Prior to his one-two punch in 2004, Foxx hinted at the greatness he’s capable of in Oliver Stone’s 1999 football drama, Any Given Sunday, playing Willie Beamen, a third-string quarterback for the fictional Miami Sharks who gets the shot of a lifetime when the team’s aging quarterback (Dennis Quaid) and backup are both sidelined with injuries. Despite a rough start, Beamen’s raw talent and charisma, both on and off the screen, indicate that he’s got the stuff to be a star and team leader. The athletically-gifted Foxx played high school football and more than convinces the audience that he’s star-quarterback material during the film’s football sequences. Perhaps this came out too close on the heels of Jerry Maguire because Foxx’s turn is every bit as memorable and award-worthy as Cuba Gooding Jr’s Oscar-winning performance. Coincidentally, Gooding expressed interest in playing Beamen but that idea was nixed by Stone who was all too aware that comparisons to Maguire would be even more pronounced if he went with Gooding.
Al Freeman Jr. in Malcolm X
Classically-trained stage actor Freeman is perhaps best known for his magnificent work as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam, in Spike Lee’s 1992 big screen biopic of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X. While serving time in prison, Malcolm Little (Denzel Washington) is introduced to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad by a fellow inmate. Muhammad takes the newly named Malcolm X (who’s converted to the Muslim faith while incarcerated) under his wing once he’s released from prison, whereupon Malcolm quickly becomes the Nation of Islam’s chief spokesperson, brilliantly espousing the rage and despair felt among many of his fellow Muslims and black Americans. When Malcolm starts to eclipse the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in terms of celebrity, and to a certain extent within the Nation of Islam itself, jealousy rears its ugly head and the once-respectful father-son relationship they shared is permanently broken. Washington rightfully got the lion’s share of attention for his career-best performance, but he was surrounded by an ensemble of amazing actors doing equally great work, none more so than Freeman who gives voice to a controversial figure that not much was known about but much was inferred.
Danny Glover in Grand Canyon
Much like Al Freeman Jr., Danny Glover is also a classically-trained stage actor. Best known for his now-iconic work as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film series, and as the abusive Mister in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, Glover beautifully played what I like to call the “linchpin character” in writer-director Lawrence Kasdan’s 1991 dramedy Grand Canyon. A “linchpin character” is any character in a film, television or stage project that serves the dual purpose of setting up the film’s premise and propelling the narrative. The linchpin character also generally serves as the project’s emotional core. As Simon, a single, Los Angeles tow truck driver who literally comes to the rescue of an immigration lawyer, Mack (Kevin Kline), one random night, Glover is in the zone. It is quite simply the perfect fusion of character, material and actor. The scene where Simon and his new lady-love Jane (Alfre Woodard) are speaking to his hearing-impaired daughter via an instant messaging phone, and she asks her father (who’s never allowed a woman he’s been involved with prior to speak to her), “Is there love going on out there?” his organic response is a magical movie moment.
