"He was 51.... Mr. Singleton had been admitted to the hospital on April 17, reportedly after having a stroke. His family said he had a history of hypertension.... He was 22 when he began shooting 'Boyz,' which follows Tre (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) and his friends Ricky (Morris Chestnut) and Doughboy (Ice Cube) as they try to avoid gangs and drugs. When Ricky is shot and killed by a gang member, Doughboy, his half brother, seeks revenge, but Tre backs away from retribution. Mr. Singleton had graduated from film school less than a year earlier. He later conceded that when he made 'Boyz N the Hood' he did not yet know how to direct a film. 'As the movie was going along, I was learning how to direct,' he said after a 25th-anniversary screening of the film in Manhattan in 2016. 'As it becomes more intense and comes on to the third act, the camerawork is more and more fluid, because I’m getting better and better — and taking more chances.'"
From the NYT obituary.
The highest-rated comment quotes this — “Mr. Singleton directed a variety of films over the next 20 years, but none had the impact of 'Boyz.'"
Here’s the thing, like everything in America, the lens through which you are looking colors everything. All of Johns films made a huge impact, but just not to white audiences. I have a niece named Justice, after the Justice in Poetic Justice. Rosewood was so traumatic for me that I’ve only seen it twice, in pieces. I know people who can quote you the script of Baby Boy almost line by line. And I know the soundtrack to the movie Higher Learning front to back.
John, you have been and will always be embedded in the fabric of Black American life. You may be gone, but you will not be forgotten. You will be missed! Rest In Peace.
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23 comments:
A gift to touch so many people with your work.
I've never seen his movies.
It's odd. I wonder what the reason is for so much segregation of culture? Not just black and white, but nations, industry, religions, and more. Is it just that there is so much variety that we cannot experience it all? Do we consciously reject art and ideas outside of our comfort zone? Are we that incurious?
"You wouldn't understand it, it's a _____ thing."
Someone NEEDS to address the RACISM that IS Hypertension!
WHY is this disease Allowed to unjustly prey on Black Lives?
I liked Boyz in the Hood though it was a good, not great movie. Singleton didn’t have much success after that, nor did Cuba Gooding. Ice Cubes greatest success has been in cross over family movies. And Lawrence Fishburnes greatest success after that was The Matrix.
"... he appeared in A Few Good Men (1992), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), Outbreak (1995), and Jerry Maguire (1996), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He gained later attention for his roles in Men of Honor (2000) as Carl Brashear, and in Michael Bay's World War II epic Pearl Harbor (2001) as Doris Miller. His other notable films include As Good as It Gets (1997), the ensemble farce Rat Race (2001), American Gangster (2007), Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013), and Selma (2014), playing civil rights attorney Fred Gray. In 2016, he portrayed O.J. Simpson in the FX drama series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and co-starred in the sixth season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story, subtitled Roanoke." - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba_Gooding_Jr.
I never saw "Boyz N the Hood," but the obituary makes me wish I had.
I used to rely on critics and would see nearly everything that was very highly regarded by the critics. This movie was an exception to that rule, because I mistrusted the critics, who seemed to be overdoing the praise in a patronizing way.
Very very sad. Boy N the Hood is a really good movie.
First African-American director.
First Homosexual director
First Transgender director
First Non-binary Queer director
First Atheist Who Identifies As Mermaid director
First African-American born on a Tuesday director
First Non-Documented Latino director
First Non-Documented Latino Disabled director
This will never end.
John, you have been and will always be embedded in the fabric of Black American life.
And you too Paul. Your contributions to White America have been monumental.
(can you imagine the backlash?)
Boyz n the Hood is a legitimately good movie. And pretty realistic. Not necessarily the outcome, but the setting, the dialogue, the general feeling of the movie. Felt like my neighborhood.
I'd say he was one of those black black blackety-black guys if not for his remake of "The Good Earth".
Boyz n the Hood was very good. A little preachy at times but less than a Spike Lee or Spielberg movie.
Boyz was a good solid movie about a subject that gets little attention. It was more "real" then the usual fakey Hollywood movies about crime/poor people. 51 is a
young time to have stroke.
The diversity lens and 1/2 Americans. There has been progress. RIP.
It's hard to fathom that "Boyz" was 25+ years ago.
It was a good flick, made a big impression, made Cuba Gooding & Ice Cube into movie stars, and made John Singleton a directorial star. Young black Orson Welles.
It seemed to accurately portray what was going on in South Central LA at the time - at least in the minds of Westside liberals in Brentwood, Westwood and Santa Monica.
I'm not sure there were any white characters in the flick, just as there's not too many white folks in South Central. It dealt with black kids and black parents and their successes and struggles, without merely "blaming Whitey."
Sorry that JS has left us so soon.
People will know my script of "Frankenstein, Part II" by heart. My use of "it's alive" will become iconic. A new interest in Blackstone will develop. I borrow two lines from the Clintons and even they will thank me. And, of course, the last lines will become as famous as "I'll be back" and similar quotes.
Only 95 pages. You can still get a copy by emailing me at daviddbegley@gmail.com
It really is great. No lie.
I'm talking to you Bay!
Allright, Begley - I salute you and your literary pursuits. I will open up a private back channel to you, but I want a co-authorship if we make millions!
My entrepeneurial idea to make millions is to market "MAGA" stenciled Pussy Hats and wear them at college campuses. Present them as a fair and balanced, bipartisan view of politics.
Whaddya think?
I don't think the total addressable market is very big. Conservative women on college campuses aren't usually political. But if you do try it, your target market is sorority girls at state schools.
Singleton was a superior director to his contemporary Spike Lee. Boyz in the Hood was a good movie, one that I felt offered an fairly authentic look at a grim reality that many white people may not have been very familiar with at the time. It was both honest and entertaining.
Since then, I think HBO's The Wire offers much more complete picture of that world though.
Boyz is one of those movies I'll stop to watch when channel surfing. Every time.
Boyz was a great film. One of the best I've ever seen.
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