The 11 Best Movies of 1995

 

Originally Posted 1/20/20

A quarter-century later and these flicks are still well worth the watch. From South Central to Brooklyn and from New Jersey to the deep sea, 1995 offered enough various locales and fascinating characters to keep any movie buff happy. Spike Lee tried his hand at the crime genre, Ice Cube officially became a screenwriter (in one of two high-profile releases) and John McClane finally went home.





11. Higher Learning

To this day, Higher Learning is one of the few films to explore the tensions created -- and intentionally fueled -- by the various politically-minded groups on college campuses. With African-Americans fighting discrimination, women protesting sexual assault and even white supremacists whining about "making America great again", the movie also serves as a microcosm of the country nearly a quarter-century after its premiere. Perhaps most tragically, Higher Learning examines the now-commonplace phenomenon of school shootings.

10. Othello

Laurence Fishburne brings the title role to life in the first cinematic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy to be released by a major studio. Othello, a Venetian general and military prodigy, becomes the target of envy and malice not only because of his status as the only Moor in such a high-ranking position in Italy, but also due to his interracial marriage to a powerful senator's daughter.

9. Bad Boys

1995's Bad Boys was a smash hit, bringing in seven times its budget at the box office. The partnership between Will Smith's Detective Mike Lowery and Martin Lawrence's Detective Marcus Burnett was unheard of; buddy-cop movies featuring an African-American police officer and a white counterpart (the Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon series, Running Scared and Die Hard) were revolutionary at the time. But two Black cops at the center of a high-profile action movie was one-of-a-kind.









8. A Walk in the Clouds

7. Devil in a Blue Dress

Though Denzel Washington has portrayed a police officer in seven of his films and a current or former federal agent in five, Devil in a Blue Dress features his one and only turn as a private investigator, which is a shame because his
performance as Ezekiel "Easy" Rollins rivals legendary movie detectives
John Shaft, Philip Marlowe(The Big Sleep) and Sam Spade (The Maltese
Falcon). Blue Dress features all of the hallmarks of film noir (the genre most
commonly-associated with detective thrillers, including: murder;
conspiracy; a femme-fatale; first-person narration; and, of course, mystery) and owing to its 1940s California setting -- a not-so-rosy look at race relations.

The story, adapted from Walter Mosley's 1990 debut novel of the same name,
involves the aforementioned Ezekial "Easy" Rollins, a WWII vet who decides
to become a private eye after being fired from his job as an aircraft
manufacturer at Champion Aircraft. In the summer of 1948, when segregation
was aggressively enforced, Easy is offered $100 per day ($1,000 in today's
money) by a white man, DeWitt Albright, to track down a white woman, Daphne
Monet. He's told that Daphne is the girlfriend of Todd Carter, who was a
lock to win the LA mayoral race before dropping out. Easy's investigation
takes him on a tour of the African-American side of LA, including juke
joints and underground clubs.









6. Seven

5. Clockers

Anyone who was disappointed upon discovering that Chi-Raq wasn't a gritty, straight-forward look at urban crime should watch Clockers. While both films center on how a young drug dealer affects and is affected by his inner-city community, you won't find any musical numbers, synchronized dance routines, rhyming dialogue or forced comedy in the latter.

Clockers follows Ronald "Strike" Dunham, a career criminal, who, after entering the crack trade at a young age, has worked his way up to street-level dealer. And as they say, with more power comes more responsibility. But Strike dreams of a different life and has a minor obsession with trains, as they represent a path to a new life far away from his Brooklyn housing project. When Strike's boss and father figure, Rodney Little, learns that another dealer, Darryl Adams, is skimming off the top, Strike is tasked with murdering him. Not having the stomach for it, both literally and figuratively (he constantly guzzles Pepto-Bismol), Strike goes to his older brother, Victor, to talk it over. The brothers couldn't be more different. While Strike is a flashy crack-dealer, Victor is a humble family man with two jobs and no criminal record. However, after Darryl turns up dead, 

Meanwhile, Strike has taken Tyrone Jeeter, a teen resident of his housing project, under his wing.

After Darryl is found shot to death, Victor confesses to the police that he killed him in self-defense. However, NYPD homicide detective Rocco Klein doesn't believe Victor's story and sets out to bring the real shooter to justice -- whom he believes to be Strike. Klein's not Strike's only problem. Housing Authority officer Andre "the Giant" is growing tired of Strike's influence on Tyrone. And after Klein frames Strike as an informant in order to pressure him into confessing his guilt, Rodney sends his chief enforcer, Errol Barnes, to ensure that Strike is unable to fulfill any agreement he may have made with law enforcement. 

Tyrone, however, shoots Errol to death with Strike's handgun and subsequently confesses to the police, prompting Andre to savagely beat Strike in front of a crowd of onlookers. Rodney, having been recently released from custody, pulls up during the commotion, causing Strike to drive to the local police precint, where Klein is waiting with an arrest warrant for him. Just as Klein attempts to pressure him into confessing, Strike's mother and sister-in-law arrive and reveal that Victor's confession was true -- and disown Strike.

Klein releases him, only to discover that Rodney has destroyed his car outside of the police station. Desperate, Strike asks the detective for a ride to Penn Station. Klein obliges, threatening to arrest and detain him with Rodney if he ever sees him again.

4. Crimson Tide

Crimson Tide is all about clashes: blue-collar versus white-collar; young versus old; education versus experience; instinct versus logic; old school versus new school; and black versus white.

The simplest way to describe Crimson Tide is: Mutiny on the Bounty in a submarine. Captain Frank Ramsey is a nightmare of a boss: a bigoted dickhead who thinks he knows everything and has access to nuclear launch codes. Fortunately for the planet, his new executive officer isn't a kiss-ass but rather a smart guy who isn't afraid to challenge authority when he knows it's wrong -- and a threat to the fragile peace between two superpowers.









3. Friday

After 20 years on top, Cheech and Chong had no choice but to abdicate their stoner thrones and make room for Smokey and Craig. But co-writer and star Ice Cube didn't forget to pay homage. Check out Big Worm's ice cream truck. there are plenty of Cypress Hill posters on the bedroom wall too, by the way. Who knew Cube was so funny? Prior to this movie he mostly just scowled and talked gangsta ish. This is the movie that showed that even a boy n the hood can have a sense of humor. Everybody knew Chris Tucker was hilarious but Friday is Chris at his best -- not to mention the movie that turned the Def Comedy Jam stand-up into a certified movie star. Dead Presidents, The Fifth Element, Money Talks, Jackie Brown and, of course, the Rush Hour movies were right around the corner.

Friday is a celebration of that first time -- the one you'll always remember (Probably the only one you'll remember). That magical time when you had virgin lungs and somebody convinced you to take that very first pull -- and you probably pulled too hard, felt like your chest was on fire and coughed your head off. In this case, newly-fired Craig is the first timer and his boy Smokey, a straight-up pothead, gives the rationale that because he has no responsibilities and no other plans, he might as well.

Friday's almost the inverse of Seinfeld. Instead of a couple of rich, weird, white New Yorkers and their friends sitting around drinking coffee at a diner in between crazy adventures, you've got a couple of broke African-American dudes from southern California and their friends sitting around smoking on the front porch in between crazy adventures. You know what though? Maybe Seinfeld and Friday aren't that different after all. Kramer only had a job for a few days and George was outta work for a good bit himself.

Anyway, this is one of the most quoted comedies of all time:

"Bye, Felicia."

"Don't you ever, ever, ever, ever come around here no more."







2. New Jersey Drive

1. Die Hard with a Vengeance

While Die Hard with a Vengeance is the final film in the series to feature
John McClane working with an African-American partner, it's also the only
one to directly address race.

Minutes after they meet -- and escape a group of angry Harlemites, incensed
by the racist sign Mcclane was forced to wear -- John tells African-American Harlem native Zeus to chill out. The response that he gets is, "Chill out? What the %&#@?! Are you trying to relate to me? Talk like a white man!"

Zeus reveals that he helped McClane escape imminent death at the hands of a
group of Harlem kids because he realized that if a white cop were killed in
the predominantly African-American neighborhood, "A thousand cops with
itchy trigger-fingers" would be sent down here...

When McClane explains that he was temporarily famous due to an event in LA,
Zeus quips, "Lemme guess -- Rodney King?"

When McClane incredulously observes Zeus' ignorance when it comes to
firearms, the latter exclaims, "All brothers don't know how to use guns,
you racist mother------!"

Not only did Vengeance foreshadow the September 11th attacks, the film even
references the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. McClane and
Zeus are even framed with the Twin Towers behind them in one scene.

Though Vengeance is the first Die Hard film that doesn't take place at
Christmas -- it's actually set during the summer -- the holiday gets a
couple of references nonetheless: When McClane catches a kid shoplifting
junk food, the pint-sized thief explains, "Look around, man. All the cops
are into something. It's Christmas! You could steal City Hall!" Also, NYPD
explosives specialist Charlie Weiss sings a portion of "The Twelve Days of
Christmas" -- "and a partridge in a pear tree" -- while attempting to
diffuse a bomb. To top it all off, McClane tells two of the terrorists (while pretending to be a member of "Aqueduct Security", " Hey, listen. We got a report of a guy coming through here with eight reindeer. Yeah, it was a jolly old fat guy with a snow white beard and a cute little red-and-white suit. I'm surprised you didn't see him."