Cinema: Art, War, Death and Sex

War, Death and Sex Big issues in four "small" independent films

HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE

"There ain't nothin' to it but to do it." Armed with this bromide, an easy wit and $100,000, Robert Townsend made a movie. Suddenly the actor (A Soldier's Story) was his own producer, director and coauthor. The film might be his own life too. Bobby Taylor (Townsend) works days at a hot-dog stand while enduring auditions with casting directors who want every black actor to be Eddie Murphy or Super Dude or "just a little more . . . black?" He secures the title role in a blaxploitation epic called Jivetime Jimmy's Revenge, only to chuck it all for...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!