'Night Catches Us' – The Movie

Public Enemy’s 1994 album, Fear of a Black Planet, had a lot of hits – Brothers Gonna Work it Out; 911 Is a Joke; Welcome to the Terrordome; and the anthem, Fight The Power. Those songs never get old, and they get me amped every time I hear them.

One song on that album that wasn’t a hit, but has always stuck with me is, Burn Hollywood Burn. 

“Yeah, I’ll check out a movie

But it’ll take a Black one to move me.”

“So let’s make our own movies like Spike Lee

Cause the roles being offered don’t strike me.”

So many black folks feel this way about movies. Many of us love watching movies, but would love to see more movies that reflect our stories with more black actors on the big screen. 

In 1994, Spike Lee was it. Now, Tyler Perry’s box office draw confirms that blacks want to see themselves on the big screen. 

Night Catches Us, is filmmaker Tanya Hamilton’s first movie, and I hope she’s no flash-in-the-pan. I can watch movies like this forever. 

The setting is 1976 Germantown, Philadelphia. The story revolves around family, misunderstandings, jail, death, dysfunction, love, ego, prejudice, corruption, forgiveness, youth innocence, and pride. 

You’ll hear mention that Night Catches Us is about the Black Panthers, but the Panthers serve as a backdrop from the past that shapes the current issues faced by the characters in the movie. 

I’ll leave it up to the pros to review the movie, but it was one of the best I’ve ever seen. 

At the end of Public Enemy’s Burn Hollywood Burn, this verbal exchange takes place on top of the music:

Exec: “Now, we’re considering you for a part in a new production. How do you feel about playing a controversial Negro?”

Flavor Flav: “Yeah, I’m wit it. You mean somebody like Huey P. Newton or H. Rap Brown, right?”

Exec: “Well, it’s sort of a servant offer that shuffles a little bit, and sings.

Flavor Flav: What? I’m up outta here.”

Burn Hollywood Burn would have been a perfect song to add to the soundtrack of Night Catches Us.

Click HERE for the official movie site


p.s. Ironically, Night Catches Us stars, Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington, also starred together in the Spike Lee film, She Hate Me. I liked it, but it wasn't well received.