Dear bonbon70532-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. Here is a list courtesy of the State of Louisiana?s
Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism. While not all of them are
about African-Americans, many (if not most) of them do have
African-American characters in them. I think it is important to note
that here in the Southern United States (where I happen to live) the
dialect of African-Americans is not that much different than the
dialect used by any other race native to this region though it does
tend to differ a bit as you travel toward the deep south. Like most
places, there is of course some cultural slang that is fairly unique
to one race or the other, but by and large, if you talked to one of us
on the phone and relied upon our dialect alone, our race might very
well be a mystery to you. Here is the list. I hope it helps you with
your project:
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: Marlon Brando reprises his role from the stage as the
brutish Stanley Kowalski. When Janet Leigh visits her sister in the
French Quarter, she also meets for the first time her loutish,
sweat-soaked husband. Quickly at odds with one another, Stanley
eventually forces his self upon her in a final act of brutality.
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden
Director: Elia Kazan
Thunder Bay (1953)
Louisiana Locations: Morgan City
Plot Summary: Convinced there is "blackgold" at the bottom of the Gulf
of Mexico, James Stewart heads for the Louisiana coast in this
vibrantly colored wide-screen adventure. Spurred by the construction
of an offshore rig, a clash ignites between shrimpers and oilmen.
Starring: James Stewart, Joanne Dru
Director: Anthony Mann
Band of Angels (1957)
Louisiana Locations: Baton Rouge, Burnside, Clinton
Plot Summary:Yvonne De Carlo stars as a woman of class sold into
slavery upon finding out that she is partly of African-American
decent. Purchased at an auction by Clark Gable, a love affair
eventually ensues between Yvonne and her master that crosses racial
boundaries.
Starring: Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, Sidney Poitier, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Director: Raoul Walsh
King Creole (1958)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans, Orleans Parish
Plot Summary: The King of Rock n Roll plays Danny Fisher, a singing
dishwasher at a sleazy nightclub on New Orleans' Bourbon Street. A
young delinquent, Danny is kicked out of high school for brawling and
later joins a gang. Walter Matthau stars as an area mobster that tries
to doublecross Danny to prevent his marriage to his former moll.
Starring: Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau
Director: Michael Curtiz
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Louisiana Locations: Clinton, Jackson
Plot Summary: Newman plays a Mississippi man with a bad temper, no
doubt inherited from his father who was known to burn down barns to
settle disputes. He drifts into a small town that is controlled by
Wells, a wealthy landowner. Becoming a sharecropper on Wells's
property, Newman soon proves to be a fine future son-in-law to be,
that is, if Wells can convince his rebelling daughter to wed him.
Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Wells, Angela Lansbury
Director: Martin Ritt
The Horse Soldiers (1959)
Louisiana Locations: Clinton, Natchitoches
Plot Summary: Based on an actual mission known as Grierson's Raid, the
film takes place in the spring of 1863 and finds Union General Grant
frustrated by his inability to take Vicksburg. Taking drastic action,
Grant decides to send a Calvary unit deep within Confederate territory
to cut enemy supply lines to Vicksburg. Selected for the task is
Colonel Marlowe (John Wayne), a no-nonsense, citizen soldier.
Starring: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers
Director: John Ford
Hush?Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Louisiana Locations: Houmas House Plantation, Burnside
Plot Summary: When the family plantation is threatened by highway
construction, an eccentric, recluse of a woman with a horrific past
frightens the local townspeople.
Starring: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotton, Agnes
Moorehead, Mary Astor
Director: Robert Aldrich
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans, Covington
Plot Summary: Steve McQueen is The Kid, a hustling small-time
card-shark in New Orleans. When "The Man," played by Edward G.
Robinson, comes to town, McQueen can't resist a high-stakes match
against the long-time master of the game.
Starring: Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann-Margret, Karl Malden, Tuesday Weld
Director: Norman Jewison
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
Louisiana Locations: Clinton
Plot Summary: An avaricious cattleman delivering 5000 head of cattle
to Union forces is waylaid by a contingent of tough Confederate troops
insisting on redirecting the prized beef to Rebel territory.
Starring: Indus Arthur, Barry Atwater, Harry Carey Jr., William Holden
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Nevada Smith (1966)
Louisiana Locations: Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans
Plot Summary: An obstreperous youth tracks down the killers of his parents.
Starring: Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Suzanne Pleshette, Martin Landau
Director: Henry Hathaway
This Property is Condemned (1966)
Louisiana Locations: Burnside, New Orleans
Plot Summary: In a depression-ravaged town in rural Mississippi,
Natalie Wood falls madly in love for a stranger staying at her
mother's boarding house played by Robert Redford. Plans to elope are
thwarted by Wood's overbearing mother, bent on seeing her daughter
marry a wealthy middle-aged man.
Starring: Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Robert Blake,
Dabney Coleman
Director: Sydney Pollack
Hurry Sundown (1967)
Louisiana Locations: Hammond, Sunshine, St. Gabriel, St. Francisville
Plot Summary: Set in the South in the days just after World War II, a
black and a white farmer team up to irrigate their fields and escape
the crushing poverty that their families live under. At the same time,
a malicious real-estate developer uses every means available to
procure this prized land for a northern canning company factory.
Starring: Michael Caine, Loring Smith, Jane Fonda, George Kennedy, Burgess Meredith
Director: Otto Preminger
Easy Rider (1969)
Louisiana Locations: Lafayette, Morgan City, New Orleans
Plot Summary: Hippie bikers from Los Angeles take a cross-country trip
to New Orleans where they hope to arrive in time for Mardi Gras. On
the way, they meet several unusual characters.
Starring: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Antonio Mendoza, Phil Spector
Director: Dennis Hopper
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: A brilliant, classical pianist gives up a life of music
only to become an alienated, misfit drifter.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Fannie Flagg, Sally Struthers, Toni Basil
Director: Bob Rafelson
Sounder (1972)
Louisiana Locations: Clinton, St. Helena Parish, East Feliciana Parish
Plot Summary: A loving and strong, tight-knit family of Black
sharecroppers in Louisiana learns to cope without a father when he is
jailed for stealing food for his family in desperation. With all
attempts to contact the father in jail futile, the eldest son goes on
a journey to find him.
Starring: Teddy Airhart, James Best, Spencer Bradford, Erick Hooks
Director: Martin Ritt
Live and Let Die (1973)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: James Bond shuttles between New York, New Orleans and
the Caribbean when a diabolically, brilliant heroin magnate plans to
supply the US with free heroin.
Starring: Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, Clifton James, Yaphet Kotto
Director: Guy Hamilton
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
Louisiana Locations: Clinton
Plot Summary: A black woman born into slavery in the 1850's lives to
become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. An
outstanding and moving history lesson!
Starring: Cicely Tyson, Teddy Airhart
Director: John Korty
The Drowning Pool (1975)
Louisiana Locations: Lake Charles, Lafayette, Oaklawn Manor
Plantation, owned by present Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster, in Franklin
Plot Summary: A big-city private detective travels to the Deep South
to help out an old girlfriend who is being blackmailed.
Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Casey?s Shadow (1978)
Louisiana Locations: Lafayette
Plot Summary: A children?s film about a young boy in a family that
trains racehorses and an unlikely horse he hopes to make a champion.
Starring: Walter Matthau, Alexis Smith
Director: Martin Ritt
Pretty Baby (1978)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: This is a period piece from 1917 concerning the
red-light district of New Orleans. The story is about the women, a
photographer and a prostitute?s daughter.
Starring: Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon
Director: Louis Malle
Southern Comfort (1981)
Louisiana Locations: Shreveport, Caddo Lake area
Plot Summary: A group of National Guardsman with limited skill and
weaponry fight Cajun inhabitants of a Louisiana swamp.
Starring: Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe
Director: Walter Hill
Cat People (1982)
Louisiana Locations: Slidell, New Orleans
Plot Summary: Larger-than-life erotic fantasies involving a tale of a
brother and sister who turn into panthers as a result of their strange
family tree.
Starring: Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell John Heard, Annette O?Toole
Director: Paul Schrader
The Toy (1982)
Louisiana Locations: Baton Rouge, Hammond
Plot Summary: Considered Richard Prior?s best film. On one of his
son?s annual visits, U.S. Bates pays Jack Brown to be the boy?s
friend/playmate.
Starring: Richard Prior, Jackie Gleason, Scott Schwartz
Director: Richard Donner
A Streetcar Named Desire (1984)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: Blanche Dubois visits her sister Stella and husband
Stanley in New Orleans. Stanley suspects Blanche has cheated Stella
out of some inheritance.
Starring: Ann-Margret, Randy Quaid, Treat Williams
Director: John Erman
The Long Hot Summer (1985)
Louisiana Locations: Burnside, Baton Rouge, St. Francisville, Vacherie
Plot Summary: Ben Quick arrives in town after being kicked out of
another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge. Ben?s employer
decides that Ben might make a good husband for his least attractive
daughter.
Starring: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Judith Ivey, Cybill Shepherd
Director: Stuart Cooper
North and South I (1985)
Louisiana Locations: Greenwood Plantation in St. Francisville
Plot Summary: The story is of the friendship between two boys. George
and Orry meet at West Point. One is from a wealthy northern steel
family and the other a Southern plantation.
Starring: Patrick Swayze, Kirstie Alley, Elizabeth Taylor, Hal
Holbrook, Lesley-Ann Down, David Carradine
Director: Richard T. Heffron
Belizaire, The Cajun (1986)
Louisiana Locations: Cecelia, Henderson, Lafayette
Plot Summary: Story of a South Louisiana, Cajun community and their
culture and customs. Starring: Armand Assante, Gail Youngs
Director/Writer: Glen Pitre, a Louisiana native
North and South II (1986)
Louisiana Locations: Greenwood Plantation, St. Francisville
Plot Summary: The second part of this mini series continues the saga
of the two families featured in part I. The two boys find themselves
fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War and struggle to maintain
their friendship through these troubled times.
Starring: Kirstie Alley, Lloyd Bridges, David Carradine, Leslie-Ann Down
Director: Kevin Connor
Down By Law (1986)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans, Slidell
Plot Summary: Zack and Jack end up in prison for being framed for
crimes they didn?t commit. They share a cell with Roberto who they
befriend because he knows an escape route.
Starring: Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni, Ellen Barkin
Director: Jim Jarmusch
The Big Easy (1987)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans.
Plot Summary: Lieutenant McSwain of the NOPD sets about solving gang
killings as well as dealing with Ann Osborne a District Attorney on
the Police Corruption Task Force investigating his office.
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ned Beatty, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman
Director: Jim McBride
Angel Heart (1987)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans and Laurel Valley Plantation in Thibodaux.
Plot Summary: Harry Angel, a private investigator is hired to find a
man called Johnny Favourite. As he begins to investigate, all the
people he contacts concerning Johnny are killed in mysterious ways.
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet
Director: Alan Parker
A Gathering of Old Men (1987)
Louisiana Locations: Houma, Thibodaux
Plot Summary: After shooting a racist Cajun farmer, Sheriff Widmark
expects a lynch mob, but it doesn?t turn out that way. Louis Gossett,
Jr. leads a band of prideful old black people in this adaptation of
Ernest Gains?s novel.
Starring: Louis Gossett Jr., Holly Hunter, Richard Widmark
Director: Volker Schlondorff
In The Heat of the Night: TV Series (1988)
Louisiana Locations: Hammond
Plot Summary: A small-town sheriff in the American South tries to
solve crimes and catch criminals, aided by his capable investigator
Virgil Tibbs. He must navigate tricky small-town politics and racial
tensions often run high.
Starring: Carroll O?Connor, Howard Rollins
Director: Paul Chavez, Larry Hagman
Everybody?s All-American (1988)
Louisiana Locations: LSU Stadium in Baton Rouge, Southern University
Stadium, St. Francisville, Nottoway Plantation in White Castle.
Plot Summary: A romance following the 25-year marriage of two shallow
characters, a former college football star and his ex-beauty queen
wife.
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Jessica Lange, John Goodman
Director: Taylor Hackford
Fletch Lives (1989)
Louisiana Locations: Burnside, Gonzales, New Orleans, Thibodaux
Plot Summary: Newspaperman Fletch inherits a southern mansion, and
gets caught up in a murder mystery when he goes to claim it. The
character provides a perfect showcase for Chase?s brand of smart-aleck
humor.
Starring: Chevy Chase, Hal Holbrook, Julianne Phillips
Director: Michael Ritchie
sex, lies, and videotape, 1989
Louisiana Locations: Baton Rouge
Plot Summary: The film?s central character is a magnetic, but
troubled, drifter whose only sexual release comes from watching the
videos he makes of women talking about their erotic fantasies.
Starring: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Director/Writer: Steven Soderbergh, a Baton Rouge native
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Louisiana Locations: Natchitoches.
Plot Summary: A large diverse cast of women who have developed a
special lasting closeness that allows them to share life?s pains and
pleasures. The angel of death brings the women even closer together.
Starring: Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah,
Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt, Sam Shepard, Dylan
McDermott
Director: Herbert Ross
Blaze (1989)
Louisiana Locations: Houma, New Orleans, Winnfield
Plot Summary: A story of flamboyant Louisiana Governor Earl Long?s
later life. The aging Long, an unapologetic frequenter of strip clubs,
falls in love with young stripper, Blaze Starr. Earl and Blaze move in
together, which becomes political fodder for his opponents. Can Earl
keep Blaze AND retain control of the state?
Starring: Paul Newman, Lolita Davidovich
Director: Ron Shelton
Convicts
Louisiana Locations: Hahnville
Starring: Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Lukas Haas
Director: Peter Masterson
Wild at Heart (1990)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: A love story. Young lovers head down the highway for
sunny California. Lula?s mother sends out a private detective and a
hitman after them. They encounter an assortment of extremely bizarre
people while discovering hidden secrets about one another.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Willem Dafoe,
Issabella Rossilini, Harry Dean Stanton
Director: David Lynch
JFK (1991)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: A District Attorney will risk his life, the lives of his
family, everything he holds dear for the one he holds sacred?the
truth.
Starring: Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Sissy Spacek, Walter
Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Edward Asner
Director: Oliver Stone
Passion Fish (1992)
Louisiana Locations: Jennings, Jefferson Davis Parish
Plot Summary: A bitter, alcoholic, paralyzed, ex-soap opera actress
has returned home to the bayous of Louisiana. Chantelle, her nurse,
desperately needs the job. Both of these women are in need of
emotional healing, and are forced to deal with their own problems as
well as each other?s.
Starring: Mary McDonnell, Angela Bassett, Alfre Woodard
Director: John Sayles
Hard Target (1993)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: A tough unemployed seaman tries to find work in New
Orleans, where trouble is brewing by the minute. A young woman,
Natasha comes to the city to look for her father. She hires Boudreaux
to protect her, as well as to solve the mysterious death of her
father.
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wilford Brimley
Director: John Woo
The Pelican Brief (1993)
Louisiana Locations: Tulane University, Spanish Plaza, New Orleans
Plot Summary: A female law student writes a brief about the
assassination of two Supreme Court justices. It makes its way into the
wrong hands, marking her for death. She turns to a newspaper reporter
for help. As he learns her story, an incredible conspiracy unfolds.
Starring: Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington
Director: Alan J. Pakula
The Client (1994)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: A street-wise kid sees the suicide of a prominent
Louisiana lawyer whose client is a Mafia hitman. Before the lawyer
kills himself, he tells the kid where the body of Senator Boyett is
buried. The kid is picked up by the FBI, and the Mafia begins to hunt
him down. He knows more than he should, and looks to lawyer Reggie
Love to help.
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, J.T. Walsh
Director: Joel Schumaker
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
Louisiana Locations: New Sarpy, Vacherie, New Orleans, Shreveport
Plot Summary: Drink from me and live forever. Louis, a plantation
owner has lost everything, his wife, his will to live. Lestat, a
vampire, takes a liking to him and offers him a chance to become a
creature of the night. Louis becomes a vampire, but killing humans
repulses him. Together, they live on through the centuries.
Starring: Brad Pitt, Christian Slater, Tom Cruise, Thandie Newton,
Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas
Director: Neil Jordan
Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long: TV (1995)
Louisiana Locations: Baton Rouge, Madisonville, New Orleans
Plot Summary: A creative tale of the infamous Huey P. Long, his
political and personal affairs. Starring: John Goodman, Anne Heche
Director: Thomas Schlamme
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Louisiana Locations: Angola, New Orleans, Slidell
Plot Summary: A caring nun, Sister Helen Prejean, receives a desperate
letter from a death row inmate trying to avoid execution for murder.
Over the course of time, she begins to show empathy not only for the
victims and their families, but for the murderer as well. Sister
Prejean must decide how to deal with the paradox of caring for a
condemned man while understanding the heinousness of his crimes.
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Sister Helen Prejean
Director: Tim Robbins
The Apostle (1997)
Louisiana Locations: Des Allemands, Gibson, Houma, Isle of St.
Charles, Lafayette, Sunset
Plot Summary: The hardest soul to save may be his own.
Starring: Robert Duvall, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Bob Thornton, Miranda
Richardson, Hunter Hayes
Director: Robert Duvall
Eve?s Bayou (1997)
Plot Summary: The Batiste family is plagued with a patriarch with a
wandering eye. The youngest and most naïve daughter, Eve, is
traumatized by witnessing one such occasion. She shares her secret
with her sister and the lies snowball from there.
Starring: Jurnee Smollett, Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi
Morgan, Diahann Carroll, Lisa Nicole Carson
Director: Kasi Lemmons
The Old Man: TV (1997)
Louisiana Locations: Alligator Bayou, Baton Rouge
Plot Summary: When the Mississippi River overflows its banks in the
1920s, the devastation is so great that some prisoners are granted
short-term leave to help rescue efforts. Among them is J.J. Taylor
near the end of a 19-year sentence for train robbery. Assigned to
rescue a pregnant woman clinging to a tree down river, will he provide
assistance or flee?
Starring: Jeanne Triplehorn, Arliss Howard
Director: John Kent Harrison
The Big Easy: TV-Series (1997)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: A New Orleans detective, Remy McSwain, solves mysteries
with the help of Northern District Attorney, Anne Osborne.
Starring: Tony Crane, Susan Walters
Director: James Frawley
Primary Colors (1998)
Louisiana Locations: Oak Alley Plantation
Plot Summary: Jack Stanton is running for President of the United
States. The election is seen through the eyes of young Henry Burton.
Along the way Stanton must deal with a sex scandal. Starring: John
Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Larry Hagman
Director: Mike Nichols
Out of Sight (1998)
Louisiana Locations: Angola, Krotz Springs
Plot Summary: A career bank robber busts out of jail with the help of
his buddy and kidnaps a U.S. marshal in the process. On their journey
to Detroit to pull off another scam, the marshal falls in love with
Clooney.
Starring: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Dennis Farina, Albert Brooks
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Crazy in Alabama (1999)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans, Houma
Plot Summary: A glamorous, eccentric aunt escapes her abusive husband
and takes off for Hollywood to pursue her dreams of TV stardom.
Starring: Melanie Griffith, David Morse, Rod Steiger, Meatloaf, Robert Wagner
Director: Antonio Banderas
Double Jeopardy (1999)
Louisiana Locations: New Orleans
Plot Summary: Accused and imprisoned for six years for killing her
husband (after he faked his own death and framed her in an insurance
scam), a woman sets out to prove her innocence and find her son. Tommy
Lee Jones plays the downtrodden parole officer who has to track her
down.
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Ashley Judd, Annabeth Gish
Director: Bruce Beresford
A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
Louisiana Locations: Madisonville
Plot Summary: In the 1940's, an African-American is wrongly accused of
killing a white storeowner. To indicate that he didn't have the
knowledge of his actions, his white defense attorney compares him to a
"lowly hog." Sentenced to die, his mother and aunt ask the local
teacher to go to his cell each day to instruct and reaffirm that he's
not a dumb animal, but a man with dignity.
Starring: Don Cheadle, Cicely Tyson, Mekhi Phifer
Director: Joseph Sargent
FILMED IN LOUISIANA
http://www.crt.state.la.us/otmedia/movies.htm
The INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE lists 388 such movies, the summaries of
which can all be seen here:
http://us.imdb.com/List?endings=on&&locations=Louisiana,+USA
You may also find these free streaming videos (brief internet movie
clips) valuable in your research:
LOUISIANA FOLKLIFE PROGRAM
http://www.louisianafolklife.org/Resources/main_prog_streaming_video.html
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
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