Mario Van Peebles' All-Time Favorite Films
by IMDb-Editors | created - 2 months ago | updated - 2 months ago | PublicActor-writer-director Mario Van Peebles celebrates his newest film, Outlaw Posse with a list of his all-time favorite films. See what inspired the director and star of films like New Jack City, Posse, and more.
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1. 100 Rifles (1969)
R | 110 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In 1912 Sonora, Mexico, native revolutionary Yaqui Joe (Burt Reynolds) robs a bank to buy arms for his oppressed people, but finds himself sought by an American lawman and the Mexican Army.
Director: Tom Gries | Stars: Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, Fernando Lamas
Votes: 3,930
Jim Brown and Raquel Welch are at their physical primes and deliver a hell of a performance in this classic! Of course, this interracial Western pissed a lot of people off during that time, on all sides of America's race-ocracy. For that reason alone, it’s a tasty 'should see'!
2. City of God (2002)
R | 130 min | Crime, Drama
In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund | Stars: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele, Phellipe Haagensen
Votes: 800,910 | Gross: $7.56M
This well crafted flick about a drug gang's rise to power in the Favelas of Rio has the relentless pace of hot Samba music! If you saw it when it came out, then you know it’s worth seeing again! If you haven't seen it, what the hell are you waiting for?!
3. Baadasssss! (2003)
R | 109 min | Biography, Drama
Mario Van Peebles' half-documentary/half-homage to his father Melvin Van Peebles' movie Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971).
Director: Mario Van Peebles | Stars: Mario Van Peebles, Nia Long, Joy Bryant, Ossie Davis
Votes: 5,163 | Gross: $0.37M
If you want to understand the perils of independent filmmaking and get a front row seat on our crazy family legacy, this movie does it. Against all odds Melvin Van Peebles takes on Hollywood and becomes the godfather of modern black cinema. Baadassss! is a true father-son story that is also a bit of psychotherapy on celluloid!
4. Of Good Report (2013)
109 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An introverted high school teacher in rural South Africa starts an obsessive affair with a pupil, with tragic consequences. A South African homage to film noir.
Director: Jahmil X.T. Qubeka | Stars: Mothusi Magano, Petronella Tshuma, Tshamano Sebe, Lee-Ann Van Rooi
Votes: 345
This little known South African thriller sets expectations on their ear! Nothing is what it seems, so don’t bother guessing. Just enjoy the ride and the cinematography, and be glad someone told you about it!
5. The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
PG | 102 min | Action, Drama, Crime
A black man plays 'uncle Tom' in order to gain access to CIA training, then uses that knowledge to plot a new American revolt.
Director: Ivan Dixon | Stars: Lawrence Cook, Janet League, Paula Kelly, J.A. Preston
Votes: 1,565 | Gross: $1.00M
This subversive classic urban-thriller looks at the FBI and its indoctrination, through a whole new lens. J. Edgar Hoover's worst nightmare is a thinking agent who does more than question the status quo!
6. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Approved | 178 min | Adventure, Western
A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè
Votes: 811,040 | Gross: $6.10M
This classic spaghetti Western still lives up to the hype. This is a perfect example of a director, Sergio Leone, and composer Ennio Morricone, working magic together…Much imitated and deservedly so! It's still a must see!
7. Black Orpheus (1959)
PG | 100 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.
Director: Marcel Camus | Stars: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira, Léa Garcia
Votes: 12,252
This gorgeous film takes place in Rio over a couple of days during a carnival in the '50s. Romantic, incredible views and people like you've never seen. Wow!!
8. Posse (1993)
R | 111 min | Western
In 1898 Cuba, five Buffalo Soldiers find a gold cache, desert and return to America where they help defend a black town from the KKK, all the while trying to avoid capture by lawmen and military authorities alike.
Director: Mario Van Peebles | Stars: Mario Van Peebles, Stephen Baldwin, Charles Lane, Paul Bartel
Votes: 4,872 | Gross: $18.29M
Yeah, I know I directed this Western, however it’s Woody Strode's last big role and if nothing else, it's really worth hearing him set the record straight on America's favorite origin story which he does with great irony. Plus, I got to act and direct with my father, which was always a good time! Look out for all the dope cameos! Isaac Hayes, Pam Greer, Lawrence Cook, The Hudlin Brothers, Billy Zane, Big Daddy Kane, Tone Loc, Tiny Lister, Sally Richardson, Charles Lane, Blair Underwood, Steven Baldwin, AND my mentor Steven Cannell.
9. Soylent Green (1973)
PG | 97 min | Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A nightmarish futuristic fantasy about the controlling power of big corporations and an innocent cop who stumbles on the truth.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors
Votes: 70,559 | Gross: $7.92M
This grimy dystopian film is a snapshot of humanity’s bleak future and deals with the ultimate in ecological recycling! 'Nuff said!
10. Panther (I) (1995)
R | 124 min | Drama
A dramatized account of the story of The Black Panther Party of Self-Defense.
Director: Mario Van Peebles | Stars: Kadeem Hardison, Bokeem Woodbine, Joe Don Baker, Courtney B. Vance
Votes: 2,694 | Gross: $6.83M
This controversial film about the rise of 'The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense' in Oakland is almost (and deliberately) hard to find. This bit of omitted history provides a key perspective on how drugs are used to medicate urban communities. It also gives an overview on what the Black Panthers were about, and who the forces were that set out to destroy them.
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