6 Movies Starring Mario Van Peebles

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Ellen Brody still lives in the island resort town of Amity, and her sons Sean and Michael don't work at Sea World anymore, and some time ago, Ellen's husband Martin Brody died of a heart attack that happened because he was afraid of sharks. Sean is now a deputy in Amity. One night, during the Christmas season, Sean is called to untangle a log from a buoy, and when Sean goes to the buoy, he's killed by a great white shark. After hearing about this, Michael, who is studying to be a marine biologist, visits Amity with his wife Carla and his 5-year-old daughter Thea. Wanting to get away from Amity and spend Christmas with Michael, Carla, and Thea, Ellen goes with them to their house in the Bahamas on an airplane whose pilot is Hoagie Newcombe, and Hoagie starts falling for Ellen. Michael's friend Jake, who is also studying to be a marine biologist, lives next door to Michael. Sometime later, while Michael and Jake are out at sea, their boat is attacked by the shark that killed Sean. Michael and Jake try to tag the shark so they can keep track of it. Sometime later, while Thea and some of her friends are on a banana boat, a yellow boat shaped like a banana, the shark attacks the banana boat and kills a woman, leaving Thea in shock, but it looks like Thea will be okay. Carla is mad at Michael for not telling her that the shark is in the waters of the Bahamas. Michael and Jake didn't mention the shark, because they didn't want to upset Ellen and mess up her visit. Ellen believes that the shark is after her family and that it was trying to kill Thea instead of the woman it killed, so Ellen takes Michael's boat out to sea on a single-minded mission to find the shark and kill it while Michael, Hoagie, and Jake try to find Ellen because they're afraid the shark will kill Ellen before Ellen can kill the shark.

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A group of mostly black infantrymen return from the Spanish-American War with a cache of gold. They travel to the West where their leader searches for the men who lynched his father.

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The third Highlander movie takes place at 1994, which means it's a prequel of the second film. After the death of his beloved wife Heather some centuries ago, Connor MacLeod left the highlands of Scotland and wandered around the world. Finally, he got to Japan, where he met the famous sorcerer Nakano, who was an Immortal too. Soon, they became friends, and Nakano taught Conor some tricks. But one day, an old enemy, Kane, came to Japan willing to find Nakano's cave and kill him. Although he succeeded, after cutting Nakano's head the mountain collapsed and Kane was trapped. Now, centuries after, an excavation reveals Nakano's cave...

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In 1964, a brash new pro boxer, fresh from his olympic gold medal victory, explodes on to the scene, Cassius Clay. Bold and outspoken, he cuts an entirely new image for African Americans in sport with his proud public self confidence with his unapologetic belief that he is the greatest boxer of all time. To his credit, he sets out to prove that with his highly agile and forceful style soon making him a formidable boxer who soon claims the heavyweight championship. His personal life is no less noteworthy with his allegiance to the Nation of Islam, his friendship with the controversial Malcolm X and his abandonment of his slave name in favour of Muhammad Ali stirring up controversy. Yet, at the top of his game, both Ali's personal and professional lives face the ultimate test with the military draft rules are changed, making him eligible for military induction during the Vietnam War. Despite the fact that he could easily agree to a sweetheart deal that would have meant an easy tour of duty for himself, Ali refuses to submit on principle to cooperate in an unjust war for a racist nation that treated his people so poorly. The cost of that stand is high as he finds himself unable to legally box in his own country while his case is contested in court. What follows is a battle for a man who would sacrifice so much for what he believes in and a comeback that would cement his legend as one of the great sports figures of all time.

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Union activist Asa Philip Randolph's efforts to organize the black porters of the Pullman Rail Company in 1920s America.

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Melvin Van Peebles stunned the world for the first time, with his debut feature, The Story of a Three Day Pass. Filmed in France and selected as the French entry in the San Francisco Film Festival, Melvin's film was awarded the top prize. Saying it was controversial would be an understatement. In 1968 for a black man to walk up to the podium and accept the top festival award for a film he had to go abroad to make--now that's how you make your mark. After his comedy, Watermelon Man, Melvin was determined to push the Hollywood boundaries with the groundbreaking, and even more controversial, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Turned down by every major studio including Columbia, where he had a three-picture deal, Melvin was forced to basically self-finance. Risking everything he had Melvin delivered to the world the first Black Ghetto hero on the big screen--whether they were ready or not! More than 30 years later, history is being fashioned again in the telling of this very tale. Mario Van Peebles, Melvin's son, directs an honest and revealing portrait of his pioneering father. Mario now tells the story of the making of Melvin Van Peebles' landmark 1971 film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, including Melvin's struggles to raise money to fund the film under the guise of creating a black porno film. Melvin had ducked creditors, the unions and had to bail out his camera crew after they were arrested because a white cop decided a bunch of Negroes and hippies couldn't have come by that camera equipment honestly. Despite death threats and temporarily losing sight in one eye, Melvin somehow managed to whip into shape a rag-tag, multi-racial crew and finish the film that would give birth to birth of a new era which was about to explode: Independent Black Cinema.