Five on the Black Hand Side was conceived as "an antidote" to the "blaxploitation" films of the era.[3] The film's tagline was "You've been coffy-tized, blacula-rized and super-flied - but now you're gonna be glorified, unified and filled-with-pride... when you see Five on the Black Hand Side."
Plot
During the weekend of her daughter's wedding, Mrs. Gladys Ann Brooks, a meek wife (played by Clarice Taylor) and her three children—Gideon Brooks (Glynn Turman), Booker T. Washington-Brooks (D'Urville Martin), and Gail Brooks (Bonnie Banfield)—finally decide to stand up to their overbearing husband and father Mr. John Henry Brooks Jr. (Leonard Jackson) who displays retrogressive behavior.
Mrs. Brooks is tired of everybody treating her "like an old couch" and decides to leave her husband if he does not change his abusive behavior. Mr. Brooks controls every moment of his wife's life. Unlike his children, he considers himself "American" not "African". He does not agree with the fact that his daughter Gail is having an African themed wedding. His younger son Gideon does not talk to him and refuses to stay in the same room with his father. Gideon camps on the roof, instead, where he practices martial arts (by that time an important element of the Black Power movement). Mrs. Brooks joins her son on the roof in a civil rights movement after invading her husband's barbershop, where women are not allowed, where she hands Mr. Brooks a list of demands. She, for example, requires him to call her by her first name "Gladys", while Mr. Brooks insists on calling her Mrs. Brooks. Mr. Brooks finally changes his behavior and all the family members gather at Gail's and her new husband Marvin's "African" wedding.
In pop culture
The relationship between the parents in this movie was parodied in a skit of the same name on the comedy series In Living Color. The film went into limited release in theaters, but helped launch the careers of Glynn Turman and Ja'net DuBois: he did films and TV, landing mostly African-American characters, leading to the role of Bradford Taylor on the TV Show A Different World and she became famous as Willona on the TV hit Good Times.
Background
Five on the Black Hand Side was originally a play written by Charlie L. Russell. It was Russell's first Off-Broadway play, which was produced by American Place Theatre and directed by Barbara Ann Teer. Since the opening in 1969, the play was performed 62 times.[4]
Russell was working as a play doctor (revised plays before production) at a theatre when he came up with the idea of Five on the Black Hand Side. First, Russell only worked out a draft, but had to finish the script when he met Luther James, a member of the Harlem Writers Guild. As Russell said himself, he wanted to "mix comedy and the political thing", as the 1960s and 1970s were an era full of political changes. He got inspired by women's liberation movement that was happening at City College. Originally, the play was named Gladys, after Mrs. Brooks' character as a reference to the Women's liberation movement.[4]
It took Russell about six months to rewrite the play into the movie script, the film was then released in 1973. Like in the plays, the character of Mrs. Brooks was again played by Clarice Taylor. Russell knew her from The Negro Ensemble Company. As he said, "She created the part. She is a wonderful woman, great actress, great person. I really got to know her more when we did the movie."[4]
Themes
The main theme of Five on the Black Hand Side is liberation. As a new-style black comedy, it was the part of the Black Power movement.[5]
Charlie L. Russell grew up in West Monroe, Louisiana, in 1930s, where he witnessed many cases of racism. Together with his younger brother Bill Russell, the future Boston Celtics Hall-of-Famer, he experienced "harassment from local police, one of whom once ordered their mother to go home and remove the 'white woman' dress she was wearing, and threats from local businessmen, including a frightening moment at a gas station when the white owner held a shotgun to their father's face because he was going to leave rather than 'wait his turn' while one white customer after another was helped before him."[6]
Russell then decided to write for an African American audience and address black community problems. In an interview in 1973, he stated: "Yeah, I do, I write for a particular audience. I write primarily for black people, for a black audience. I write for, what I consider to be the workers, the masses of black people. I'm talking about, like, clerks, I'm talking about bus drivers, you know, working people. (...) There's a definite difference between what we call a black play and a white play and it all comes from the premise you start with, the premise of what reality is... I start from the premise that black people are oppressed in America... A black play must deal with this oppression in some way. In Five on the Black Hand Side I tried to do two things, and that was raise the level of consciousness and to unify black people."[6]
In the movie, there is a generational gap depicted between Mr. Brooks and his children. Gideon, Gail, and Booker T. fight for African-American civil rights. They identify themselves as Africans. Gideon sings African songs in the shower and wants the family to move to Africa, Booker T. hates his "slave" name and likes to be introduced by an Arabic name "Sharif", and Gail is about to have an African wedding. Each one of them wears an afro and does not want to be a part of the system. Preston, a young barber, is also on their side and calls Mr. Brooks a “museum negro” for his conservative opinions.
The movie is about the women’s liberation movement and the civil rights movement going hand in hand. Joining the civil right movement along with her children and admitting her African roots give Mrs. Brooks strength to stand up to her husband. Despite this, her daughter Gail in the end of the movie enters into an unequal marriage, in which her husband is the head of the family.
Women's liberation movement
Following the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the 1970s is known for women's liberation movement. Black women, though, had a hard time being recognized as freedom fighters in both women's liberation movement and Black Power movement.[7]
The so called second wave feminists, according to Shelly Eversley and Michelle Habell-Pallán, fought to shape new standards "for thinking about gender, sexism, racism, sexuality, reproductive rights, religion, labor, colonialism, technology, art, music, and the environment".[8]
In the 1970s African-American women also started to gain a louder voice in Black Power movement, which originally advised them to stay in the role of a mother and support black manhood.[9]
In the beginning of the movie Five on the Black Hand Side, Mrs. Brooks does not seem to be able to stand up to her husband. When Mr. Brooks comes to the kitchen in the morning, she hands him a coffee right away while he does not even look at her. Mr. Brooks controls every second of Mrs. Brooks' life, saying controlling women is an art, and he even brags about it in his barbershop. He also blames his wife for not raising their children properly.
Showing how Black Power movement and women's liberation movement go hand in hand, recognizing her African roots gives Mrs. Brooks strength to stand up to her husband. With an afro and dressed like an "African queen", she invades her husband's barbershop, where women are not allowed, and hands him her list of demands yelling: "In the name of peace, self-determination and liberation, I demand that you sign mine list of demands. And they are non-negotiable!" Mrs. Brooks then joins her younger son in a civil rights movement waiting for her husband to accept the list of demands, otherwise she is determined to leave him.
The symbol of a barbershop
Like in many other movies about the black community, a barbershop is a very important place for African-American men in Five on the Black Hand Side. Women are not allowed here. The barbershop is a symbol of John Henry's success: with his own business he supports his own family.
In an article "The Barbershop in Black Literature", Trudier Harris elaborates about the importance of the barbershops by saying that it is black men's second home, where they meet and talk, and the audience is always welcoming and friendly. Harris cited Joseph A. Pierce who stated that most of the barbershops look the same: "Joseph A. Pierce concludes of the 404 barbershops in 12 cities he studied that they fall in the fifty-three percent of black businesses that are located in secondary business areas—'Negro business centers almost without exception are located in these areas and are usually surrounded by large concentrations of Negro populations.' Two barber chairs are a standard feature in the usually rectangular room (small, 15 or 20 feet by 30 or 40 feet). Several straightback chairs or benches are placed along the walls for customers and noncustomers."[10]
Opening hours of the barbershop are usually flexible due to the owner's and customer's needs. When the shop is closed without a notice, the customers are very understanding. Men can sit in on a bench for free, not standing in the way of the business. The barber welcomes the company when there are no customers. Due to Harris, "The barbershop allows for escape and retreat. (...) Barbershops in black literature also serve as public forums and information centers. They provide a setting for the discussion of political, social, and moral issues as well as the exchange of information."[10]
Charlie L. Russell described the barbershop in Five on the Black Hand Side as a "Typical Harlem barbershop. There are two barber chairs, a jukebox, and several chairs for customers to sit in while they wait. There is a dryer, and a chair and a sink in the rear where facials are performed. There is also a closet in the rear of the shop. Pictures of famous theater and sports personalities hang on the walls."[10]
Mrs. Brooks then invades this place so sacred to her husband Mr. Brooks and screams in his face, "In the name of peace, self-determination and liberation, I demand that you sign mine list of demands. And they are non-negotiable." As Harris wrote, "if the wife can invade this domain, and come out unharmed, she has a chance of changing John Henry's attitudes at home".[10]
Reception
After the movie's premier, A. H. Weiler wrote in The New York Times that Five on the Black Hand Side "is amiable but realistic in attempting only to solve a few problems for a middle-class black family. But by tickling the funny bone, Charlie L. Russell's adaptation of his Off Broadway play is a good deal more effective than most of the militant and violent so-called black films that are getting redundant."[11]
Weiler continues, "Mr. Russell's script may be a basically lightweight affair, but he writes with an affection and keen perception that make his people and the issues, couched either in jive talk or straight dialogue, three dimensional and pertinent. Credit for the giggles and truths is also due Oscar Williams, who directed with professional feeling for pace and comedy."[11]
Charlie L. Russell received several prizes for the screenplay. In 1975, he received NAACP Image Award for Best Film Script. In 1973, the Institute of International Education provided him with a grant to study African rituals and ceremonies in Nigeria for a period of three months. He also received a Rockefeller Playwright's Grant in 1975.[4]
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a 1954 American musical film, directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and choreography by Michael Kidd. The screenplay, by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Dorothy Kingsley, is based on the short story "The Sobbin' Women", by Stephen Vincent Benét, which was based in turn on the ancient Roman legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which is set in Oregon in 1850, is particularly known for Kidd's unusual choreography, which makes dance numbers out of such mundane frontier pursuits as chopping wood and raising a barn. Film critic Stephanie Zacharek has called the barn-raising sequence in Seven Brides "one of the most rousing dance numbers ever put on screen." The film was photographed in Ansco Color in the CinemaScope format.
An Ideal Husband is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for 124 performances. It has been revived in many theatre productions and adapted for the cinema, radio and television.
Beauty Shop is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Bille Woodruff. The film serves as a spin-off of the Barbershop film franchise, and stars Queen Latifah as Gina, a character first introduced in the 2004 film Barbershop 2: Back in Business. This film also stars Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Mena Suvari, Kevin Bacon and Djimon Hounsou.
The Captain's Paradise is a 1953 British comedy film produced and directed by Anthony Kimmins, and starring Alec Guinness, Yvonne De Carlo and Celia Johnson. Guinness plays the captain of a passenger ship that travels regularly between Gibraltar and Spanish Morocco. De Carlo plays his Moroccan wife and Johnson plays his British wife. The film begins at just before the end of the story, which is then told in a series of flashbacks.
The Trouble with Angels is a 1966 American comedy film about the adventures of two girls in an all-girls Catholic school run by nuns. The film was directed by Ida Lupino and stars Hayley Mills, Rosalind Russell and June Harding.
Clarice Taylor was an American stage, film and television actress. She is best known for playing Cousin Emma on Sanford and Son and Anna Huxtable on The Cosby Show. and Mrs. Brooks in Five on the Black Hand Side (1973).
The Group is a 1966 ensemble film directed by Sidney Lumet based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Mary McCarthy about the lives of a group of eight female graduates from Vassar from 1933 to 1940.
Alice Adams is a 1935 romantic drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Katharine Hepburn. It was made by RKO and produced by Pandro S. Berman. The screenplay was by Dorothy Yost, Mortimer Offner, and Jane Murfin. The film was adapted from the novel Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington. The music score was by Max Steiner and Roy Webb, and the cinematography by Robert De Grasse. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress.
The Shrike is a 1955 American film noir drama film based on Joseph Kramm's play of the same name. José Ferrer directed and starred in Ketti Frings' screenplay adaptation.
Topper Returns is a 1941 fantasy comedy thriller directed by Roy Del Ruth and written by Jonathan Latimer. The third and final installment in the initial series of supernatural comedy films inspired by the novels of Thorne Smith, it succeeds Topper (1937) and Topper Takes a Trip (1938).
An Inspector Calls is a 1954 British drama film directed by Guy Hamilton and starring Alastair Sim, Jane Wenham and Eileen Moore. It is based upon the 1945 play An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley and was adapted for the screen by Desmond Davis. It was shot at Shepperton Studios with sets designed by the art director Joseph Bato.
Dave at Night is a young adult, historical fiction novel written by award-winning author Gail Carson Levine in 1999. This book was inspired by leading figures in the arts during the Harlem Renaissance and her father, David Carson, whose childhood was spent in an orphanage.
The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's 1936 play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code for it to be released.
Craig's Wife is a 1936 American drama film starring Rosalind Russell as a domineering wife. It was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1925 Broadway play of the same name by George Kelly, and directed by Dorothy Arzner. Former MGM star William Haines was the film's production designer. Previously filmed in 1928, Craig's Wife was remade in 1950 as Harriet Craig, rewritten as a vehicle for Joan Crawford and co-starring Wendell Corey.
Lady with Red Hair (1940) is an American historical drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Miriam Hopkins, Claude Rains and Richard Ainley. Released by Warner Brothers it stars Hopkins as the nineteenth century actress Mrs. Leslie Carter. Future star Alexis Smith made her screen debut in a small role.
The Unseen is a 1945 American mystery film directed by Lewis Allen and starring Joel McCrea. It's based on the 1942 novel Midnight House by Ethel Lina White.
Foxfire is a 1955 American drama romance Western film released by Universal-International, directed by Joseph Pevney, and starring Jane Russell, Jeff Chandler, and Dan Duryea. The movie was loosely based on a best-selling 1950 novel by Anya Seton.
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men is an American two act play by Lonne Elder III that premiered Off Broadway in 1969 at St. Mark's Playhouse in a production by the Negro Ensemble Company. Later in the 1969 season, it was given a commercial production that was a long-running success. It was the runner-up for the 1969 Pulitzer Prize in drama and was adapted for a television movie in 1975.
A Majority of One is a 1961 American comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Rosalind Russell and Alec Guinness. It was adapted from the play of the same name by Leonard Spigelgass, which was a Broadway hit in the 1959-1960 season, starring Gertrude Berg and Cedric Hardwicke.
The Barber of Stamford Hill is a 1962 British drama film directed by Casper Wrede from a screenplay adapted by Ronald Harwood from his own 1960 television play of the same name, made at Shepperton Studios. Actor John Bennett plays Mr. Figg, a Jewish barber about to turn fifty, as he contemplates middle age and expresses regrets at never having started a family.
1 2 3 4 Jackson, edited by Pamela Faith; Karimah (1997). Black comedy: nine plays: a critical anthology with interviews and essays (1. printed.). New York: Applause. ISBN1-55783-278-1.{{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
1 2 3 4 Harris, Trudier (1979). "The Barbershop in Black Literature". Black American Literature Forum. 13 (3): 112–118. doi:10.2307/3041528. JSTOR3041528.
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