Roger Ebert Home

Richard Roundtree

Reviews

Moving On (2023)
Nationtime (2020)
Shaft (2019)
Boat Trip (2003)
Seven (1995)
The Big Score (1983)
Q (1982)
Man Friday (1976)

Blog Posts

Features

His own man: Jim Kelly, 1946-2013

With his perfectly styled Afro, cool bop walk and smart-aleck mouth, martial artist and actor Jim Kelly, who died from cancer on Saturday at the age of 67, was a seventies screen sensation who became an icon. Michael A. Gonzales appreciates cinema's first African-American martial arts star.

Movie Answer Man

Movie Answer Man (06/30/2002)

Q. In your review of "Lilo and Stitch," you were moaning that people would ignore this film in favor of "Scooby Doo." Well, "Lilo and Stitch" is on track to almost tie as the number one box office draw this weekend, with the second biggest opening ever for a traditional animated feature. And "Scooby-Doo" suffered a 57% drop of box office revenue. (Kenneth Chisholm, London ON)

Festivals & Awards

Sundance standouts reflect black indie tradition

PARK CITY, Utah I saw a group of interesting films about African Americans at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the big annual showcase for new independent films. And as I sat down to write about them, I realized that black films in America have long been "independent." Only recently, with a new generation of stars, have they moved into the studio mainstream.

Roger Ebert

Powerful `Once' Deserves Wider Audience

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. This is the story of one of the most important films I've seen this year and of the show-business cliffhanger it prompts: Will it find the audience it deserves? Or will it drift into the neverland of home video, because it has been denied the right launching pad?

Festivals & Awards

Star Power and Small Gems Get Equal Time at Festival

In the autumn march of film festivals, Chicago's comes after Montreal, Telluride and Venice, and is held at about the same time as New York. All of these festivals are essentially fishing in the same pond, so the remarkable thing about the 31st annual Chicago event is how many new or unfamiliar titles have been discovered.

Interviews

Interview with Richard Roundtree

Richard Roundtree turned up at the crack of dawn the other morning to be on a Chicago TV show, and right away he knew he was in trouble. First, they wouldn't let him smoke. Second, they had his name on the screen and it read: Richard (Shaft) Roundtree. That was when he knew he needed a cigarette.

Interviews

Gordon Parks' big score

For Gordon Parks, the first black director in the history of the Hollywood film, it all began more than 30 years ago when he was an assistant bartender on the North Coast Limited between Chicago and Seattle.