This Film's Crap, Let's Slash The Seats, Pt.3
For some, a trip to the cinema is all about popcorn and sitting in seat 2K. For others, it's all about fire, gunfights and nude satanic rituals.
Boyz N The Hood
Place: Southern California
Time: March 1991
”I love black people but I hate…” well, you know the rest of the Chris Rock bit. But in case you don’t, the gang-banging, Uzi-fixated members of the African-American that Mr Rock took issue with had, among others things, made it impossible to see a movie during the first week of release.
“They’re shooting at the screen!” continued the stand-up. “‘Boy, I love this movie so much, I’m going to have to pop a cap in here!’”
While he could have been talking about the drive-bys that marred the openings of the Hughes Brothers’ Menace II Society and Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City, it’s more likely that Rock was referring to the 60 shooting incidents and the two deaths that ocurred in and around Californian movie theaters the month after John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood went on release.
Those who like their irony fitted with flashing neon lights will recall that Singleton’s powerful, critically-lauded breakthrough boasted the tagline ‘Increase The Peace’.
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