James Naremore
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520285521
- eISBN:
- 9780520960954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520285521.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This color film has a double plot involving a young man in Watts who works in his family’s dry-cleaning store and who fails to fulfill two commitments he has made. He promises to serve as best man at ...
More
This color film has a double plot involving a young man in Watts who works in his family’s dry-cleaning store and who fails to fulfill two commitments he has made. He promises to serve as best man at his brother’s wedding and, at the same time, to protect his best friend, who has just been released from prison. In the end, the young man leaves his brother’s wedding just before it starts and arrives too late to attend his friend’s funeral. Shifting between satire and tragedy, the film incisively portrays generational and class conflict in black society.Less
This color film has a double plot involving a young man in Watts who works in his family’s dry-cleaning store and who fails to fulfill two commitments he has made. He promises to serve as best man at his brother’s wedding and, at the same time, to protect his best friend, who has just been released from prison. In the end, the young man leaves his brother’s wedding just before it starts and arrives too late to attend his friend’s funeral. Shifting between satire and tragedy, the film incisively portrays generational and class conflict in black society.
James Naremore
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520285521
- eISBN:
- 9780520960954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520285521.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses one of Burnett’s major achievements and the first of his films to be made under relatively normal Hollywood production circumstances. To Sleep with Anger tells the story of ...
More
This chapter discusses one of Burnett’s major achievements and the first of his films to be made under relatively normal Hollywood production circumstances. To Sleep with Anger tells the story of generational and class conflict within a black family in Los Angeles. Retired worker Gabriel and his wife, Susie, are visited by Harry, an old friend from the south, who becomes a houseguest. Soon after Harry’s arrival, strange things begin to happen. Gabriel falls ill, and his youngest son falls under Harry’s bad influence.Less
This chapter discusses one of Burnett’s major achievements and the first of his films to be made under relatively normal Hollywood production circumstances. To Sleep with Anger tells the story of generational and class conflict within a black family in Los Angeles. Retired worker Gabriel and his wife, Susie, are visited by Harry, an old friend from the south, who becomes a houseguest. Soon after Harry’s arrival, strange things begin to happen. Gabriel falls ill, and his youngest son falls under Harry’s bad influence.
