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Up Tight!
''Uptight'' (also known as ''Up Tight!'') is a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It was intended as an updated version of John Ford's 1935 film '' The Informer'', based on the book of the same name by Liam O'Flaherty, but the setting was transposed from Dublin to Cleveland. The soundtrack was performed by Booker T. & the MG's. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. is used as a backdrop for the film's fictional narrative. Plot In Cleveland, Ohio, at the time of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., protesters riot in the streets. Johnny Wells, a charismatic black revolutionary, leads a group of black men on a mission to steal guns from a warehouse as preparation for violent racial conflict. Johnny's best friend Tank, who formerly worked at the steel mill with several of the men, is supposed to help with the robbery, but when the group goes to his house, they find him drunk and watching the television coverage of King's funeral. Tank is a middle-ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules Dassin
Julius "Jules" Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, where he continued his career. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Screen Directors' Guild. Dassin received a Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his film ''Du rififi chez les hommes''. He was later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen for his film ''Never on Sunday'', and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his Broadway production of ''Illya Darling''. Biography Early life Julius Dassin was born on December 18, 1911, to Bertha Dassin (née Vogel) and Samuel Dassin, a barber, in Middletown, Connecticut. His parents were both Jewish immigrants from Odessa, Russian empi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assassination Of Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7:05 p.m. He was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience. James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested on June 8, 1968, at London's Heathrow Airport, extradited to the United States and charged with the crime. On March 10, 1969, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. He later made many attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and to be tried by a jury, but was unsuccessful. Ray died in prison in 1998. The King family and others believe that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy involving the U.S. government, the mafia, and Memphis police, as alle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert DoQui
Robert DoQui (April 20, 1934 – February 9, 2008) was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He is best known for his roles as King George in the 1973 film ''Coffy'', starring Pam Grier; as Wade in Robert Altman's 1975 film ''Nashville''; and as Sgt. Warren Reed in the 1987 science fiction film ''RoboCop'', the 1990 sequel '' RoboCop 2'', and the 1993 sequel '' RoboCop 3''. He starred on television and is also known for his voice as Pablo Robertson on the cartoon series ''Harlem Globetrotters'' from 1970 to 1973. Early life DoQui was born on April 20, 1934, in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He served in the U.S. Air Force before heading to Hollywood in the early 1960s. DoQui was married to Janee Michelle from 1969 until 1978. Career He is best known for his roles as the flashy pimp King George in the 1973 blaxploitation film ''Coffy''. He starred in the miniseries ''Centennial'' in 1978, and the television film ''The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson'' in 1990. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ketty Lester
Ketty Lester (born Revoyda Frierson; August 16, 1934) is an American singer and actress known for her 1961 hit single "Love Letters", which reached the top 5 of the charts in the U.S. and the UK. She is also known for her role as Hester-Sue Terhune on the American television series ''Little House on the Prairie''. Life and career Ketty Lester was born Revoyda Frierson on August 16, 1934 in Hope, Arkansas. Her parents were farmers who would eventually have a total of 15 children. As a young child, Lester first sang in her church, and later in school choirs. She won a scholarship to study music at San Francisco State College, and in the early 1950s, she began performing under the name "Ketty Lester" in the city's Purple Onion club. She later toured Europe and South America as a singer with Cab Calloway's orchestra. Lester (as Revoyda Frierson) appeared as a contestant on the December 26, 1957, episode of ''You Bet Your Life'', hosted by Groucho Marx. Lester sang "You Do Somethin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wesley (actor)
John Wesley (August 3, 1947 – September 7, 2019) was an American actor who worked in many television series, including ''The Fresh Prince of Bel Air'', and in ''Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad'', where he played the role of Principal Pratchert. He also had roles in many feature films as well as theater productions. He was Mr. Jim on the series ''Martin'' for 3 seasons, and was the series regular "Sweets Walker" on ''Dirty Dancing'', the television series. He has also appeared in numerous commercials and voiceovers including "Rafaki". His first main film role was as Frankie in '' Missing in Action 2: The Beginning'' starring Chuck Norris but his first credited film role was in the 1968 Clint Eastwood western ''Hang 'Em High''. Wesley was also an award-winning stage actor and a Vietnam veteran. Wesley earned degrees from the University of California, San Diego graduate acting program and the University of San Diego. Wesley died on September 7, 2019, from complications of multiple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ji-Tu Cumbuka
Ji-Tu Cumbuka (March 4, 1940 – July 4, 2017) was an American actor. He is best remembered as "Torque" in the hit TV series ''A Man Called Sloane'' together with Robert Conrad and Dan O'Herlihy. In 2011, Cumbuka published his autobiography ''A Giant to Remember: The Black Actor in Hollywood''. He has a son and a granddaughter. Early life Cumbuka was born in 1940 in Helena, Alabama, to a Baptist minister. After Texas Southern, he moved to California to pursue his acting career, and went to Columbia College in New York City, earning a bachelor of arts in theatre and a master's degree in cinematography. He landed a role in the 1968 movie '' Uptight'' directed by Jules Dassin. Acting career Cumbuka appeared in such television productions as the ''Roots'' miniseries, ''Daniel Boone'', '' Young Dan'l Boone'', ''Knots Landing'', ''The A-Team'', ''The Dukes of Hazzard'', ''Murder She Wrote'', ''Walker, Texas Ranger'', ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', ''Amen'', ''227'', '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Anthony Williams
Richard Anthony Williams (August 9, 1934 – February 16, 2012) was an American actor. Williams is best known for his starring performances on Broadway in ''The Poison Tree'', ''What the Wine-Sellers Buy'' and ''Black Picture Show''. Williams also had notable roles in 1970s blaxploitation films such as ''The Mack'' and ''Slaughter's Big Rip-Off''. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, Williams was raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood. During his early childhood, Williams spent several years in a local hospital due to having polio. For high school, Williams attended Hyde Park Academy High School. Williams later attended Herzl Junior College (now known as City Colleges of Chicago). Career Williams began his career during his late teens as a member of Williams Brothers Quartet, singing group founded in Chicago. He later moved to Los Angeles and began his acting career. Some of Williams roles included Pretty Tony in ''The Mack'' (1973), the limo driver in ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juanita Moore
Juanita Moore (October 19, 1914 – January 1, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She was the fifth black actor to be nominated for an Academy Award in any category, and the third in the Supporting Actress category at a time when only one black actor, Hattie McDaniel in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), had won an Oscar. Her most famous role was as Annie Johnson in the film '' Imitation of Life'' (1959). Early life and career Juanita Moore was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, the daughter of Ella (née Dunn) and Harrison Moore. She had seven siblings (six sisters and one brother). Her family moved in the Great Migration to Los Angeles, where she was raised. Moore first performed as a dancer, part of a chorus line at the Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Julien
Maxwell Julien Banks (July 12, 1933 – January 1, 2022), better known by his stage name Max Julien, was an American actor, sculptor, and clothes designer best known for his role as Goldie in the 1973 blaxploitation film ''The Mack''. Julien also appeared in ''Def Jam's How to Be a Player'' and he guest starred on TV shows such as ''The Mod Squad'', ''The Bold Ones: The Protectors,'' and ''One on One (TV series), One on One''. He began his career on the stage on New York City's Off-Broadway circuit including roles in Joseph Papp's ''Shakespeare-In-The-Park''. Moving westward to Hollywood, CA, Hollywood, he landed co-starring roles with Jack Nicholson in ''Psych-Out'' and Candice Bergen in Columbia's box-office hit film ''Getting Straight''. While spending time in Rome, Italy, he wrote and directed a documentary called ''Trestevre'', then wrote the screenplay for, and subsequently co-produced, Warner Brothers's blaxploitation classic ''Cleopatra Jones,'' which starred actress Tama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Silvera
Frank Alvin Silvera (July 24, 1914 – June 11, 1970) was a Jamaican-born American character actor and theatrical director. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Boston, Silvera dropped out of law school in 1934 after winning his first stage role. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was active in numerous stage productions on and off Broadway and appeared in radio shows. Silvera made his film debut in 1952. Over the course of his 36-year career, he was cast in a wide variety of ethnic roles in film and television. Silvera also remained active in theatre. Silvera was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award in 1963 for his role in ''The Lady of the Camellias''. He founded the Theatre of Being, a Los Angeles theatre for black actors, in 1965. At the time of his death he had a recurring role in the NBC Western series ''The High Chaparral''. Early life Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of a mixed-race Jamaican mother, Gertrude Bell and Portuguese Jewish father, Alfred Silv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Flats
The Flats is a mixed-use industrial, recreational, entertainment, and residential area of the Cuyahoga Valley neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The name reflects its low-lying topography on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. History In 1796, Moses Cleaveland and his survey party landed on the banks of the Cuyahoga upon their arrival from Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap .... Early settlers included Lorenzo Carter, whose land holdings included much of what makes up today's East Bank entertainment district, including Whiskey Island (Cleveland), Whiskey Island, which was created when the mouth of the river was straightened by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Corps of Engineers. Early residents found the Flats inhospitable with humid summers th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slumming
Slum tourism, poverty tourism, ghetto tourism or trauma tourism is a type of city tourism that involves visiting impoverished areas. Originally focused on the slums and ghettos of London and Manhattan in the 19th century, slum tourism is now prominent in South Africa, India, Brazil, Kenya, Philippines, Russia and the United States. History The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' dates the first use of the word ''slumming'' to 1884. In London, people visited slum neighborhoods such as Whitechapel or Shoreditch to observe life in this situation. By 1884 wealthier people in New York City began to visit the Bowery and the Five Points, Manhattan on the Lower East Side, neighborhoods of poor immigrants, to see "how the other half lives". In the 1980s in South Africa, black residents organized township tours to educate the whites in local governments on how the black population lived. Such tours attracted international tourists, who wanted to learn more about apartheid. In the mid- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
