Get on the Bus
Get on the Bus
R | 16 October 1996 (USA)
Get on the Bus Trailers

Several Black men take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in 1995. On the bus are an eclectic set of characters including a laid-off aircraft worker, a man whose at-risk son is handcuffed to him, a black Republican, a former gangsta, a Hollywood actor, a cop who is of mixed racial background, and a white bus driver. All make the trek discussing issues surrounding the march, including manhood, religion, politics, and race.

Reviews
fedor8

Another FINE effort by America's most UNDERrated filmmaker. His knowledge on the subject of racism is STAGGERING, and IMPRESSES me on more than one level. Accusations that Lee is really just a devious little racist, a poisonous dwarf who opportunistically exploits Hollywood's Affirmative Action system to make movies of inferior quality is utter NONSENSE, mere Right-Wing propaganda. The very notion that Lee would resort to misusing the current climate of political correctness in America in order to produce hate-filled anti-white movies is simply FALSE and malicious.Some of Lee's detractors even go so far as to suggest that GOTB glorifies African-Americans, while putting down other races: obviously, another FALSEHOOD disseminated by people who are AGAINST peaceful co-existence between different races in America and elsewhere.My favourite scene in the movie is a lengthy dialogue early on between the rich black Republican and the others in the bus. The views presented by that man are simply WRONG - all across the board. 100% UNTRUE. He LACKS education, unlike the brilliantly INFORMED guys who quite DESERVEDLY throw him off the bus.TERRIFIC performances, and an INTELLIGENT script make for a viewing experience that has been RARELY rivaled by any political movies made since.I also want to point out the incessant LIES that the Million-Man March had only 80,000 people taking part in it!(And now all you have to do is take the antonyms of all the words written in capital letters...)So what message does Lee send here? If someone doesn't agree with your political views, you simply apply violence and throw him off the bus. I thought the movie said "get ON the bus"...?Apparently, Mr.Lee is for bus-segregation after all, i.e. is no different than those KKK lunatics before him: the bus is only for those blacks who are in line with the Democratic Party's line of thinking. So much for "freeing the slaves"...The end-credits: "This movie was entirely financed by black people." And distributed and marketed by a major Hollywood studio run by Jews and whites whom Farrakhan despises...

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bryanac625

I always intended to watch this movie for a long time but I kept putting it off. I was really surprised at how excellent and well-written this movie actually was. If you enjoy films where a group of diverse people are put into a situation and then left to deal with each other (eg "Twelve Angry Men"), then you must see this movie. This film was also very intelligent. I think too many people believe that if you get a group of black men together for anything, they'll soon be calling each other "nigga" and violence will erupt, not necessarily in that order. About halfway through the movie, I told my wife that the n-word had not been used at all, and no punches had been thrown.But I was wrong.What made it even more interesting was the way the men responded to the person who called everyone "nigga," and there was a fight, which occurred between a homosexual and an arrogant, big-mouthed guy who kept calling him "faggot." I don't condone violence, but the gay guy knocked him down a peg or two, and he certainly had it coming. This film also solidifies Andre Braugher as an incredible actor. He has taken on such diverse roles and here, he was outstanding. So many of these actors were. Almost every scenario and discussion is covered in two hours well spent.

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pyotr-3

My favorite scene in "Get on the Bus" is when a gay man beats the you-know-what out of a nasty homophobic straight guy who has been harrassing him non-stop on the bus. This is especially poignant since the whole point of the bus trip is to go express unity and love and self-respect, yet the homophobic guy was robbing his brother of all that.Spike Lee put together a wonderful tribute to unity, love and new beginnings in this film. Louis Farrakhan may not stand for those tributes, but many people joined this march for those tributes.

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Agent10

This was really one of those films which turned out to be a gem. I didn't care about the fact it was black-funded and had a virtually all black cast. The way I look at it, regardless of the racial signifying, it was a very strong film filled with symbols and depictions of black men that haven't been seen in other films. To me, Spike Lee should focus on the aspects of black life instead of showing the lines that separate. Instead of making everything about racism, he should focus on the relationships which can exist and develop between people and diversity of the said individuals. The men all had different backgrounds; gay republicans, used car salesman, a UCLA film student, an older gentleman who actually experienced deep racism, an young Islamic man with a past, a father and son in the middle of a personal conflict and even the arrogant actor. Full of great performances, especially Ossie Davis, this film should have been the type of film Spike Lee would strive to make.

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