the 10 COOLEST BLACK MALE CHARACTERS IN MOVIE HISTORY part1

Cocky or intelligent, good or mean, cool is being your own man, doing your own thing…and surviving to tell about it. Here is PART 1 of my list of the 10 Coolest brothers in movie history.

1. John Slade (Bernie Casey) I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
Not only did he take lead in the movement to take back the streets from Mr. Big, he still made the time to organize street kids into bettering themselves by participating in the Gang Olympics. But most notably, he was the first brother to acknowledge his theme music because “Every Good Hero should have one.” Please forgive the tight leather suit, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka may have been a spoof of so-called Blaxploitation films of the 1970’s, but this still was the eighties.


2. Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) - Nothing But A Man (1964)
The masses know him as Mr. Asagai from Raisin In the Sun, of better yet as “the black guy” from Hogan’s Heroes. But before that Ivan Dixon starred in a critically acclaimed performance in Michael Roemer’s Nothing But a Man. This film follows the story of black man trying to do good but so unsure of his place in this racist and classist world that he goes on a search for self-discovery and identity, leaving behind his wife Josie, played by singer Abbey Lincoln. But unlike a lot of European and American led films, he doesn’t cheat on her or do crazy things to find himself…he wanders, returns to his roots, talks to folks, and THINKS. Yes, a black man thinking on film. Uncompromising in his quest for humanity, he chooses to deal with his own problems instead of taking it out on his wife any longer, and thankfully she lets him work it out…like most men need to do. Mature and very real, Nothing But A Man is a somber, but ultimately uplifting film that would not have been as successful without Dixon as its star.


3. Mouse Alexander (Don Cheadle) – Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)
Like the paladins of old, Mouse had has own gun and did indeed travel to post-WWII Los Angeles to help out his boy “Easy” Rawlins on his 1st case as a P.I. just when he needed him the most. Armed with a violent and playful forwardness, the then relatively unknown Don Cheadle played Mouse as the heavy with a short temper in contrast to Denzel Washington’s calm and often naïve Easy. His portrayal propelled Cheadle into the Hollywood limelight and he’s become the gracious actor that many of the others want to work with. I’m disappointed that another of Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins mysteries has never been adapted for the screen.

4. Ben (Duane Jones) – Night of the Living Dead (1968)
He vas the voice of reason among the zombie chaos and led his fellow survivors when leading needed to be done. George Romero didn’t have to cast him, a black man as the highly competent lead in the now seminal horror flick, but it was the best choice he ever made. Okay, he died in the end of the flick, but then so did everyone else. But at least our man didn’t go out like an irrational sucker.

5. Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) – Do The Right Thing (1989)
Remember his intro: The close-up on the radio, then the rings (LOVE & HATE across his fingers-on separate ads) – classic cinema. The strong silent brother, Radio Raheem was a brother who lived to blast P.E. (Public Enemy for all you suckas…boooyyeeee!!!) from his boom-box and enjoy his neighborhood. Just the fact that the street kids stopped the open fire hydrant for Raheem to pass by was a testament to his cool factor – only the Fonz got more love than that. Who knows what would become of the street philospher if the pigs didn’t viciously kill him? Nunn may have never had another stand-out role like this, but he is embedded in movie history.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF THE LIST LATER THIS WEEK!