''The White Girl'' is a 1990
drama film written, produced and directed by
Tony Brown and starring
Troy Beyer and
Taimak.
Premise
A young
African American college student, a judge's daughter, battles a cocaine addiction, or as the substance is known on the streets, the white girl.
Filming
Brown, who used $2 million of his own money to have ''The White Girl'' produced,
[ also deferred some of his income from his production of his television shows as part of making it. Filming was scheduled to begin in September 1987. ]Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
and North Carolina Central University were two of the filming locations.
African-Americans made up about 80% of the film crew. Caryn James of '' The New York Times'' stated that the use of black crew was "more significant and effective than anything rownhas put on screen."
Rating
The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an "R" rating, something Brown disapproved of and appealed, since he feared it would turn people off from seeing it.[ The rating later changed to PG-13.][ Mathews stated that "With the exception of one moderately strong slang word, "The White Girl" would seem to be as easily acceptable for general TV viewing."][
]
Reception
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
ranked the film two stars, stating that it "is predictable and not especially profound, but it's interesting because it deals realistically with the kinds of pressures that might exist in such a situation". Jack Mathews of the '' Los Angeles Times'' described the film as "essentially a morality play about a middle-class black college girl who becomes vulnerable to drug addiction because of family pressures placed on her to succeed among whites."[ Hal Hinson of the '' Washington Post'' stated that he was unable to take the film in a serious manner and that Brown "doesn't have the talent to convey" the "serious message" present in the film.]
References
External links
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1990 drama films
1990 films
Films about drugs
American drama films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
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