Notable Works: Hollywood Shuffle, B.A.P.S., Eddie Murphy: Raw, Ms. Pat: Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy?, The Parent ‘Hood, The Meteor Man, The Five Heartbeats, A Soldier’s Story, Colin in Black & White, Black Lightning, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, Little Richard, Holiday Heart Hardware: Oscar Micheaux Trailblazer of Excellence Award, American Black Film Festival Career Achievement Award

When I was growing up, my mom never let me watch R-rated movies. To be honest, that’s probably the reason why I sit here now, obsessed with movies. My mom carved out some notable exceptions, though — Black films she deemed essential to better understanding my culture and the river through which Black entertainment flows. She sat me down to watch I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Coming to America and Krush Groove. When I was learning to play the trumpet, she let me watch Mo’ Better Blues, fast-forwarding through the sex scenes. 

One movie that’s still thoroughly seared in my mind is Robert Townsend’s 1987 directorial debut, Hollywood Shuffle. Up until that point, I’d never seen anything like it — and neither had Tinseltown. The film is a scathing satire about the unsavory conditions Black actors face in the industry. In 2018’s They’ve Gotta Have Us, a docuseries about the history of Black film (initially airing on the BBC and currently on Netflix), Townsend talks about what compelled him to make Hollywood Shuffle. 

After a small part in A Soldier’s Story, a film adapted from a Broadway play about Black soldiers navigating racism, Townsend wanted to be in more Black ensemble films. When he asked for scripts that fit this bill, his agent told him to just be satisfied with A Soldier’s Story because those types of pictures were slim pickings. “They only do one Black movie a year,” Townsend’s agent told him, and the casting calls were often for pimps, enslaved people, illiterate basketball players and other stereotypical roles. So Townsend said, screw it — he’d do his own thing. But there was one big problem: Movies ain’t cheap to make. So he decided to pool $60,000 together from various acting gigs and max out his credit cards to finance his film. Townsend, who co-wrote Hollywood Shuffle with Keenen Ivory Wayans, shot the film in just 12 days. On top of that, he was the film’s lead actor, director and producer — an impressive feat of independent filmmaking.

This labor of love has become an indispensable piece of film history. Hollywood Shuffle is a masterpiece that holds an industry’s feet to the fire, turning raw fury into a poignant tale. All the inequities Black workers in the business felt — and still feel more than three decades later — were on full display in this semi-autobiographical satireale about a young Black man trying to make it in the biz. Hollywood Shuffle is also uproariously funny thanks to iconic skits interspersed throughout like “Black Acting School” and “Sneaking in the Movies.” 

Following the release of Hollywood Shuffle, Townsend directed Eddie Murphy’s 1987 stand-up special, Raw. It’s remembered for many things — Murphy’s purple and black leather suit, his perfect impressions and offensive jokes he’s since come to regret — and it still holds the record for the highest-grossing stand-up comedy film of all time. Raw, released in the middle of Murphy’s golden age, has a special place in history. Its popularity has spawned as many comedians as Aretha Franklin has divas. If Murphy doesn’t get thousands of ugly ties and “#1 Dad” mugs in the mail every Father's Day, then comedians around the globe should be ashamed of themselves. 

Just as Hollywood Shuffle sought to humanize the Black actor, 1997’s B.A.P.S. aimed to challenge stereotypes around Black women. Non-Black producers, directors, writers and studio heads have often told dehumanizing or salacious stories about Black people, and Black actors are frequently robbed of their dignity and agency. Yet B.A.P.S., written by a Black woman, Troy Byer, never faults its characters for being who they are. They aren’t chastised for failing to assimilate to white America’s hollow standards of decorum. 

B.A.P.S. follows Nisi (Halle Berry) and Mickey (Natalie Desselle-Reid), two waitresses from Georgia who cash in their life savings to fly to LA to compete for a $10,000 prize and a spot in a Heavy D music video. They plan to use their winnings to fund their dream business — a combination hair salon and soul food restaurant — but, instead, they’re tricked into a scheme to con an elderly white man out of his riches. B.A.P.S. is a buddy comedy that doesn’t hold the same weight as Hollywood Shuffle. It was panned by white critics and didn’t earn much at the box office, but B.A.P.S. is still a cult classic in its own right — and seminal Black camp. That’s in part because of fantastic performances by the two leads and Ruth E. Carter’s legendary costume design. The term “unapologetic” may be overused these days — but B.A.P.S. is truly unapologetic self-expression. Nisi and Mickey traverse the screen in hoop earrings, gold fronts, big hair and loud, vibrant clothes. The only respectability politics the movie entertains are the virtues of being a decent person. Hopefully we can all agree that’s a good thing.

Raw, B.A.P.S. and Hollywood Shuffle are probably Townsend’s most essential works, but his filmography is fecund with delights. In the ’90s, he starred in The Parent ’Hood, a standard family sitcom. He wrote, directed and starred in The Five Heartbeats, a music biopic loosely based on Motown-era musicians like The Temptations and the Four Tops. Long before Black Panther became one of the most beloved superhero movies of all time, Townsend built the scaffolding with the Black superhero flick The Meteor Man. Recently, Townsend directed an episode of the Netflix series Colin in Black & White, about blackballed football player-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick’s childhood. 

Townsend’s been in the film business for more than four decades and who knows — maybe his best work is still ahead of him. But he’s long proven himself a foundational Black artist who’s inspired some of your favorite actors and directors. When people say things like they’re “standing on the shoulders of giants,” well, Townsend is one of those giants they’re talking about.