''Aaron Loves Angela'' is a 1975 American comedy-drama film written by Gerald Sanford and directed by

Gordon Parks Jr. Gordon Roger Parks Jr. (December 7, 1934April 3, 1979) was an American film director, best known for the 1972 film '' Super Fly''. Life and career Parks was born to Sally Alvis and photographer and director Gordon Parks in Minneapolis in 1934 ...

It stars

Moses Gunn Moses Gunn (October 2, 1929 – December 16, 1993) was an American actor of stage and screen. An Obie Award-winning stage player, he is an alumnus of the Negro Ensemble Company. His 1962 off-Broadway debut was in Jean Genet's ''The Blacks,'' and ...

Kevin Hooks Kevin Hooks (born September 19, 1958) is an American actor, and a television and film director; he is notable for his roles in '' Aaron Loves Angela'' and '' Sounder'', but may be best known as Morris Thorpe from TV's '' The White Shadow''. Ea ...

and

Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and f ...

Plot

A modern adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' Romeo and Juliet'', the film deals with the struggles of living in Harlem and intercultural divides in the 1970s. Two teenagers living in the slums of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

are deeply in love with each other. Angela is a Puerto Rican girl who lives in Spanish Harlem with her mother. She falls in love with Aaron, a young

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

basketball player. Their intercultural relationship is not approved by either of their parents, and they soon find out that the same prejudice is shared by their friends and neighbors. They rebel by meeting in secret, yet soon find themselves in danger.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, composed by

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...

and Janna Marlyn Feliciano, was released as the José Feliciano album ''Angela'' for

Private Stock Records Private Stock Records was a record label that operated from 1974 to 1978. The label was founded by Larry Uttal after he was ousted from Bell Records. The label primarily focused on pop music and had numerous hit records, many of them one-hit wo ...

. Forty years after being recorded, in 2016, the soundtrack was re-released for the first time for digital stores. Track listing Notes *Not included on the album but in the movie were: "What I Wanna Do" (performed by José Feliciano) and "Wilfull Strut". Both these songs were used as B-sides of the single, "Angela" in different territories. * In Latin countries, the single "Angela" included the same song sung in Spanish on the B-side, same version in Spanish was also part of the LP in those Latin countries like first song of b-side

External links

* * {{José Feliciano 1975 films 1970s coming-of-age drama films 1975 romantic drama films American coming-of-age drama films American romantic drama films American teen romance films Blaxploitation films Columbia Pictures films 1970s English-language films Films about interracial romance Films based on Romeo and Juliet Films directed by Gordon Parks Jr. Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City 1970s American films

Plot

Cast

Soundtrack

See also

External links