Gordon Parks Jr.
Directing
Biography
Gordon Roger Parks, Jr. (December 7, 1934 – April 3, 1979) was an American film director best known for the film Super Fly. Parks was the son of Sally Alvis and late photographer and director Gordon Parks. The younger Parks followed in his father's footsteps after his father had success with the blaxploitation hit Shaft. He was killed with three others when their small airplane crashed on takeoff near Nairobi, Kenya.
Known For
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
The Godfather
After his wife is kidnapped by a group of White supremacists, a record producer teams up with a PR man and a martial artist to get her back and put a stop to their plot to poison the water supply with a toxin that only kills Black people.
Three the Hard Way
Priest, a New York City drug kingpin, devises a scheme to get out of the business and retire with a big payday, but his plans are complicated when a street dealer rats him out to the police.
Super Fly
The story, set in Kansas during the 1920's, covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager, and documents the veritable deluge of events which force him into sudden manhood. The family relationships and enmities, the fears, frustrations and ambitions of the black teenager in small-town America are explored with a strong statement about human values.
The Learning Tree
A pair of thieves operate in the American South between 1911 and 1915, stealing from rich, white capitalists, and giving to Mexicans, Native Americans and poor whites.
Thomasine & Bushrod
Aaron and Angela, two young adults living in the Harlem ghetto of New York City, are deeply in love with each other. The only thing standing in the way of their love is their families. Aaron is black, while Angela is Puerto Rican, and neither family wants one of their own to associate with the others. As the pair rebel against the prejudices of their families, they soon find the conflict spreading out to their friends and neighbors, until the hatred threatens to spiral out of control.
Aaron Loves Angela
A documentary made on the set of "The Learning Tree." Narrated by Gordon Parks Jr., and featuring interviews with Gordon Parks Sr. and members of the cast and crew.
My Father: Gordon Parks
Piri Thomas, a painter, poet, author, ex-con, and ex-junkie, describes the life of a Puerto Rican in the Spanish Harlem ghetto in New York City.