Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

tavm Concluding reviewing African-Americans in film in chronological order for Black History Month, we're at the near end of 1970 when James Earl Jones reprises his Tony-winning role as boxer Jack Jefferson in film version of The Great White Hope which got him an Oscar nomination. Since this takes place in the early part of the 20th century, he's not very much liked by the majority white public of America at the time certainly whenever he's seen with his Caucasian female partner Eleanor Backman (Jane Alexander, also Academy nominated). His former girlfriend Clara (Marlene Warfield) certainly resents Eleanor for usurping her power over Jack who has no use for her. Good thing he has his manager Goldie (Lou Gilbert) as well as his trainer Tick (Joel Fluellen) on his side so they all go to Europe where they don't have to worry about jail time. I'll just stop there and just say that the staginess is quite evident in many scenes. Still, both Jones and Ms. Alexander are effective whenever they're together whether intimate or arguing. And Fluellen has his biggest role here and makes the most of it. In addition, it was such a treat, after playing husband-and-wife in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, to see Beah Richards-as Jack's mother-and Roy Glenn-as a pastor at her house-in the same scene again. And seeing Bill Walker-so memorable as Reverend Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird-playing a deacon in an early scene was also pleasurable to me. One more thing, Hal Holbrook has a memorable turn as an attorney interviewing Ms. Alexander. So on that note, The Great White Hope is highly recommended. Oh, and while this is the official last entry for BHM, there are a few movies I wanted to review in the time alloted that I'm viewing in the next few days (or weeks, depending on my mood) so if you are reading this under my username, watch this space for those reviews...

MBunge The Great White Hope demonstrates why a great play doesn't always become a great motion picture.Based on the real Jack Johnson, the first black man to win boxing's world heavyweight championship, The Great White Hope is the story of Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones), the first black man to win boxing's world heavyweight championship. I'm not entirely sure why they fictionalized a true story. Maybe it was out of respect for Johnson's real life or maybe Howard Sackler, who wrote the play and adapted it for the big screen, just didn't want people complaining about any dramatic license that he took.Anyway, Jack Jefferson fights his way to the top of the boxing world and then wins the title when the man who retired as champion returns to the ring to defend the white race against the black interloper. For a while, Jack's on top of the world. He's got the title belt, money and his white fiancée Eleanor (Jane Alexander). His only worries are his common law wife Clara, the authorities trying to find something to arrest him on, and the chance that someone might just try and kill him, either for being a black champion or bedding a white woman. The feds eventually do nail Jack on a charge of taking a woman across state lines for the purpose of having sex with her, a law meant for pimps and prostitutes but turned against Jack and Eleanor.Jack and Eleanor flee the country and he tries to make a living as a fighter in Europe. That doesn't work out. Both because some countries don't want anything to do with him and because Jack isn't content to just fight a series of bums and collect a paycheck. Jack has to be the best in the world and everyone has to acknowledge it. Unable to fight, his money run out, Jack ends up driving away everyone he cares about until the feds finally corner him in Mexico and a terrible tragedy forces Jack to take a deal. He'll throw a fight and lose the title to a white fighter and they'll drop the charges against him. But during the match in Cuba, Jack just can't go through with it. He lets the white boxer beat on him for 10 rounds but won't go down. Then his pride rears up and Jack tries to win, but he's been hurt too bad and goes down for the count.The only real problem with The Great White Hope is that a lot of the story I just told you never ends up on the screen. Except for the final scene in an open air stadium where an ocean of white men in ties and hats cheer in bloodlust to see the black champion beaten, everything in this film could fit neatly on a theater stage. But the motion picture frees a story from the limitations of the stage. You can change scenes, move actors around and do all number of things impossible in live theater. On stage, you usually have to hear a lot of the story. In a movie, you can see all of the story. With The Great White Hope, it's a movie where you hear most of it. Jack Johnson's life is a great tale but when you compare this with other boxing movies like Rocky or Raging Bull, you can see how clinging to the form and function of the play forces Sackler and director Martin Ritt to leave out things they don't need to leave out.While the plot is somewhat cramped, the sterling performances more than make up for it. Hal Holbrook shines in a small role as an overly clever district attorney who doesn't want to bring Jack Jefferson down but feels he must. Jane Alexander is also quite fine as a woman truly and deeply in love with her man but still not entirely free from what it means to be a white woman loving a black man in the dawning of the 20th century.First and last, though, The Great White Hope is James Earl Jones' movie and he dominates it from beginning to end. His Jack Jefferson is a towering figure of joy and unrelenting strength. He shows us the heart of a man who genuinely loves life and revels in it. Then he shows us inside that heart an angry insistence that he go through life on his terms and no one else's. Not the white promoters, not the black people who cheer for him, not even the terms of the woman he loves. Jack's constant smile is both an expression of his deep happiness and a baring of his teeth at everyone and every thing in the world.The Great White Hope also does a decent job for a piece of entertainment at giving people a deeper look into American racism. This film is about how racism is not just hate, though epithets like the N-word get thrown around a lot, but is also about an idea that the world is white people up high, black people down low and how both whites and blacks internalize that idea until they don't even realize how it shapes their thoughts and emotions.This film has most of the problems of plays that turn into movies, but it also has the major advantage of such work. Plays can overcome a lot of problems if they give an actor the sort of material with which he can stand up and thunder. James Earl Jones thunders in The Great White Hope and you'll enjoy watching him storm.

RaiderJack As an 18-yr old, I vividly remember when this movie came out and the swirling controversies that accompanied it. Whites were cautious because it openly dealt with not only an interracial love affair but because of the depiction of an unrelenting, proud, but very angry black man. Interestingly enough, with the advent of Black Power/the Revolution and the emergence of the Black Panthers, most black audiences were equally cautious as well and for exactly the same reasons. Also keep in mind I was living in the South then too. Even in 1970, few southern towns would actually show the film.This is a variation on the real-life troubles of Jack Johnson, one of boxing's earliest contenders.Hands down the most compelling performances are those of James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander that leave an indelible imprint on the viewer. Because of the racial fabric of the time, Jack knew he was asking for trouble by openly defying white authority and then compounding that by becoming involved with a white woman. Both undoubtedly knew full well what they would be up against. While they may have deeply loved each other in the beginning, they soon discovered that simply love does not conquer all.The movie is also filled with treasures of African-American performances by the likes of Beah Richards, Moses Gunn, Roy Glenn Sr. and Virginia Capers. This alone is worth the price of admission.In many instances it is most difficult to watch. Two mesmerizing and thoroughly wrenching scenes were Jane's suicide and when Jack and company were reduced to performing "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in Europe to survive.The film is most certainly uncompromising which was a MAJOR achievement given the social fabric at the time. James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander both deserved Oscars for their performances but that would have been like condoning their whole situation and god KNOWS Hollywood would NEVER have done that.....(sigh) Another example of not being able to see the forest for the trees. Nonetheless, this is an eeeeeeeeeexcellent film and most worthy of your movie collection

zerogirl42 Before I fully begin, let me make one thing clear: The emphasis in this film is not boxing, but the life of a boxer (Jack Johnson) played by James Earl Jones (Darth Vader).In telling the tale of Johnson's life this movie depicts the racial boundaries going on in America in the early 20th century. Unlike many films which tell a tale of racial injustice, this film manages to do it:a) Without sugar coating anything. b) Without being over-dramatic.I saw it today on television and I didn't know what to expect before it started. I was interested to see it because I've heard references made to it in the past and was curious. I can say for certain that giving this film a chance, and watching it beginning to end, is the best movie-related decision I've made in a long time (at least ten-thousand times better than deciding to rent Resident Evil 2). In watching this I got a deep sense of reality. A big reason for this is a simply phenomenal performance by James Earl Jones, as well as solid acting on the part of Jane Alexander and many of the supporting cast members.I couldn't believe that IMDb only has 8 reviews of this movie (at least at the time of me writing this), and due to some folks totally missing the point of it, it has a somewhat sad rating. SEE this film if you are into compelling stories about interesting people which are well written and acted.DON'T see this film if you expect Rocky III.There are a lot of good movies out there and I enjoy all manner of cinema, but I can say without a doubt in my mind that The Great White Hope has made it into the realm of my favorites. 10 out of 10