← Back to Reviews
in
Spike Lee, in my mind a hit and miss director, hit a bullseye with Get on the Bus. This engrossing 1996 comedy-drama follows a group of black men who take a bus trip from a Los Angeles suburb, en route to the Million Man March in Washington DC.
I love movies that focus on fictional characters involved in a real life event and Lee has put together a most interesting collection of characters and thrown them together for this personal journey to a history-making event.
Some of the finest African American talent has been assembled to make this story work. Andre Braugher shines as Flip, a self-absorbed actor, waiting to hear about the results of an audition, who you have to really wonder why he is even interested in attending the march. Isaiah Washington plays a closeted homosexual whose soon to be ex-lover (Harry Lennix) pretty much outs him in front of everyone on the bus. A father (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) is accompanied by his son (De'Aundre Bonds) who, because of a court order, has to be in shackles for the entire trip. Hill Harper plays a film student who has decided to film the march for a school project. Roger Guevenor Smith plays a light-skinned black cop who confronts a Muslim passenger (Gabriel Casseus) who has a record and still has a warrant on his head.
Richard Belzer plays the paranoid Caucasian driver of the bus whose discomfort with the assignment forces him to quit a couple of hours into the trip forcing the trip leader (the always solid Charles S. Dutton) to take over driving the bus and Ossie Davis adds a touch of dignity as Pop, the only passenger on the bus who was probably at the first march on Washington in the 60's.
This is a delicious ensemble peace, lovingly directed and skillfully acted with a music score that is a Motown lover's dream. A minor classic that, if given the opportunity, will move you.
Spike Lee, in my mind a hit and miss director, hit a bullseye with Get on the Bus. This engrossing 1996 comedy-drama follows a group of black men who take a bus trip from a Los Angeles suburb, en route to the Million Man March in Washington DC.
I love movies that focus on fictional characters involved in a real life event and Lee has put together a most interesting collection of characters and thrown them together for this personal journey to a history-making event.
Some of the finest African American talent has been assembled to make this story work. Andre Braugher shines as Flip, a self-absorbed actor, waiting to hear about the results of an audition, who you have to really wonder why he is even interested in attending the march. Isaiah Washington plays a closeted homosexual whose soon to be ex-lover (Harry Lennix) pretty much outs him in front of everyone on the bus. A father (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) is accompanied by his son (De'Aundre Bonds) who, because of a court order, has to be in shackles for the entire trip. Hill Harper plays a film student who has decided to film the march for a school project. Roger Guevenor Smith plays a light-skinned black cop who confronts a Muslim passenger (Gabriel Casseus) who has a record and still has a warrant on his head.
Richard Belzer plays the paranoid Caucasian driver of the bus whose discomfort with the assignment forces him to quit a couple of hours into the trip forcing the trip leader (the always solid Charles S. Dutton) to take over driving the bus and Ossie Davis adds a touch of dignity as Pop, the only passenger on the bus who was probably at the first march on Washington in the 60's.
This is a delicious ensemble peace, lovingly directed and skillfully acted with a music score that is a Motown lover's dream. A minor classic that, if given the opportunity, will move you.