Charles Burnett Movies

A man who despises his upwardly mobile lawyer brother reluctantly agrees to be best man at his wedding.

In 1965 Alabama, an 11 year old girl (Jurnee Smollett) is touched by a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Clifton Powell) and becomes a devout follower. But her resolution…

After the death of his father, a former football star reunites with the family that he abandoned years earlier.

Sarny, a 12-year-old slave girl in the ante-bellum South, faces a relatively hopeless life. Her chief duties at the plantation of Clel Waller are serving at table, spitting tobacco juice…

J.J. is a rookie in the Sheriff’s Department and the first black officer at that station. Racial tensions run high in the department as some of J.J.’s fellow officers resent…

Shelby Coles is engaged to marry talented white jazz musician Meade Howell, but the pair face opposition from both Meade’s family, who object to an inter-racial marriage, and Shelby’s parents,…

Harry Mention, an enigmatic drifter from the South, comes to visit an old acquaintance named Gideon, who now lives in South-Central Los Angeles. Harry’s charming, down-home manner hides a malicious…

The story and legacy of the enigmatic leader of the notorious 1831 homicidal slave revolt in Virginia, along with reviews of works about him, are explored; twentieth century civil rights…

Stan works in drudgery at a slaughterhouse. His personal life is drab. Dissatisfaction and ennui keep him unresponsive to the needs of his adoring wife, and he must struggle against…