Directed by Gordon Parks • 1969 • United States
Starring Kyle Johnson, Alex Clarke, Estelle Evans
The first film directed by an African American for a major American studio, THE LEARNING TREE is a personal triumph for director-producer-writer-composer Gordon Parks. Adapted from his own autobiographical novel, this deeply moving coming-of-age saga trace the journey of Newt Winger (Kyle Johnson), a young Black man growing up in small-town Kansas during the 1920s as he learns about love, fear, violent racial injustice, and, during an emotional murder trial, his own capacity for honor.
Directed by Gordon Parks • 1971 • United States
Starring Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi
“Hotter than Bond. Cooler than Bullitt,” the movie posters proclaimed. And as embodied by an ultrabadass Richard Roundtree, John Shaft is indeed a detective to reckon with: a stylish, streetwis...
Directed by Gordon Parks • 1972 • United States
Starring Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Drew Bundini Brown
Richard Roundtree reunites with director Gordon Parks for this sequel to their trendsetting Blaxploitation landmark SHAFT. New York City private detective John Shaft (Roundtree) gets a pred...
Directed by Gordon Parks • 1984 • United States
Starring Avery Brooks, Rhetta Greene, Petronia Paley
Gordon Parks directs the original film adaptation of abolitionist Solomon Northup’s 1853 autobiography “Twelve Years a Slave,” later the basis for the Academy Award–winning drama by Steve McQueen...
