Black Hair Velvet Soul (1982)
Similar movies
A story of two teenagers trapped in the world of illegal underground boxing. One is fighting to save his fathers life and using the money pay off gambling debts accumulated by his father. The second is fighting for the money to get out of the ghettos. While being exploited by a boxing promoter the two teens become friends. An explosive ending puts the two friends in the ring against each other.
In at least 6 movies by director Kinji Fukasaku, Bunta Sugawara played a yakuza thug. This time, he carries a badge but his character hasn't lost his distaste for double-dealing bosses and authority figures who are out to cover their own butts. Detective Kuno is balanced between the law and pragmatism. Cops didn't enforce the law to the point of pushing gangsters over the edge. In return, the gangsters mostly stayed out of the public eye. Some of them even became friends with cops, sharing a mutual desire to keep-down trade unions and leftists. When that balance is upset, Kuno has to decide where his loyalties lie. In this gray world, cops aren't always good and gangsters are thoroughly bad.. although there's no reward for good men who drink from the cup of corruption. "Cops Versus Thugs" has that trademark Fukasaku camera-work.. constantly moving, zooming, and putting you right in the middle of the action, changing loyalties and political maneuvering between cops and criminals.
Swope is the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm, and is accidentally put in charge after the death of the chairman of the board.
Iris invites her friend Jack to stay at her family's island getaway after the death of his brother. At their remote cabin, Jack's drunken encounter with Hannah, Iris' sister, kicks off a revealing stretch of days.
Marie and Michelle are escaping from a lunatic asylum. Michelle is a tough girl who knows how to survive on the road, but the extremely shy Marie desperately clings to her until Michelle gives in and promises help. The two get into a lot of trouble which puts their friendship to a test.
Kaitlyn is a high school student whose obsession with gambling leads to her accumulating a mountain of debt. Her habit also causes a high degree of family tension.
Muraki, a hardboiled Yakuza gangster, has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder. Revisiting his old gambling haunts, he meets Saeko, a striking young upper-class woman who is out seeking thrills, and whose presence adds spice to the staid masculine underworld rituals. Muraki becomes her mentor while simultaneously coping with the shifts of power that have affected the gangs while he was interred. When he notices a rogue, drug-addicted young punk hanging around the gambling dens, he realizes that Saeko's insatiable lust for intense pleasures may be leading her to self-destruction.
New York City English professor Axel Freed outwardly seems like an upstanding citizen. But privately Freed is in the clutches of a severe gambling addiction that threatens to destroy him. After a heavy loss betting on basketball, he relies on his mother to bail him out to the tune of $44,000. Unfazed, he continues to gamble recklessly, winning big at a casino, only to blow it all just as quickly. When his debts become more than he can handle, the loan sharks begin to circle.
Literature professor and gambler Jim Bennett's debt causes him to borrow money from his mother and a loan shark. Further complicating his situation is his relationship with one of his students. Will Bennett risk his life for a second chance?
Naseeb, a story of destiny and fate, begins with a lottery ticket. A drunk who cannot pay his restaurant bill trades his recently purchased ticket with a waiter. Naseeb becomes a poignant story about love, friendship, sacrifice, deceit, revenge and above all, destiny.
Mike and Danny fly a cropduster, but because of Danny's gambling debts, a local sheriff takes custody of it. Trying to earn money, they hitch-hike to the World's Fair in Seattle. While Danny tries to earn money playing poker, Mike takes care of a small girl, Sue-Lin, whose father has disappeared. Being a ladies' man, he also finds the time to court a young nurse, Diane.
To pay off his debt as a gambler, a man drags his sister and step-brother into a life of crime and a violent war between rival gang lords.
A hard-luck limo driver struggling to go straight and pay off a debt to his bookie takes on a job with a crazed passenger whose sought-after ledger implicates some seriously dangerous criminals.
Two guys find a beautiful young woman to take the place of their missing roommate. Everything seems fine until a horrible mistake on drunken night leads all three on a downward spiral.
A television producer with a penchant for drinking and gambling is sent to Las Vegas to convince his troubled niece to enter rehab.
Set in the present-day southern United States, The Yellow Handkerchief stars William Hurt as Brett Hanson, an ex-convict who embarks on a road trip. Hanson hitches a ride with two troubled teens, Martine (Kristen Stewart) and Gordy (Eddie Redmayne) traversing post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana in an attempt to reach his ex-wife and long-lost love, May (Maria Bello). Along the way, the three reflect on their existence, struggle for acceptance, and find their way not only through Louisiana, but through life.
A pair of brothers, Baby Toto and Pietro, sons of different mothers, live stealing suitcases at the Termini Station in Rome. After a theft they discover that the stolen suitcase they got from an apparent sweet old lady actually contains a corpse. In an attempt to discard the suitcase they mistakenly exchange it with the one of two German hitchhikers, Helga and Inga. Forced to retrieve the "corpus delicti" they are discovered by Count Mischa who blackmail them: in exchange for his silence with the police, they will help him to kill his rich wife. After killing the woman, and following a binge of marjuana mistaken for lettuce by the brothers, Baby Toto will turn into a sadist serial killer. After killing the Count and a half-dozen people, he will soon start torturing his brother.
The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns from a trip to the city, bringing with him a ragged little boy called Heathcliff. Earnshaw's son, Hindley, resents the child, but Heathcliff becomes companion and soulmate to Hindley's sister, Catherine. After her parents die, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up wild and free on the Moors and despite the continued enmity between Hindley and Heathcliff they're happy -- until Cathy meets Edgar Linton, the son of a wealthy neighbor.
Lange stunningly portrays Patsy Cline, the velvet-voiced country singer who died in a tragic plane crash.
The exciting story of Dr. Manette, who escapes the horrors of the infamous Bastille prison in Paris. The action switches between London and Paris on the eve of the revolution where we witness 'the best of times and the worst of times' - love, hope, the uncaring French Aristocrats and the terror of a revolutionary citizen's army intent on exacting revenge.
Times are hard in 1846 London and one must make do. Nellie Lovett adds something extra to the meat pies she peddles on Fleet Street. The secret ingredient: freshly murdered victims of her partner in crime, barber Sweeney Todd. Composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim refashions a macabre tale into a musical masterwork in this dazzling performance of the 1979 Broadway hit originally staged by Harold Prince. In her Tony-winning role, Angela Lansbury plays Nellie. George Hearn turns his stage role of twisted Sweeney into an Emmy-winning triumph. The score coils around itself in every-tightening spirals. The lines ripple with black humor and madness. Enter Sweeney's tonsorial parlor. Attend the tale.
Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal ? What is her purpose?
Director Robin Hardy's reimagining of his eerie 1973 film, The Wicker Man. Young Christians Beth and Steve, a gospel singer and her cowboy boyfriend, leave Texas to preach door-to-door in Scotland. When, after initial abuse, they are welcomed with joy and elation to Tressock, the border fiefdom of Sir Lachlan Morrison, they assume their hosts simply want to hear more about Jesus. How innocent and wrong they are.
Four young siblings: Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne, live a stoic existence in a small village in the English country side. Their old father, an Anglican minister, a rigid spinster aunt and Tabby, the maid, complete their household. The siblings have artistic ambitions and rely upon each other for companionship. Branwell is a painter and a self portrait with his sisters is worthy of the general admiration of the family. He wants to pursue a professional career, but only goes as far as to establish a friendship with Leyland, another artist. Emily's favorite pastime is to walk across the bleak moors that surround the village dressed as a man. Anne, the youngest of the siblings, is her companion. Charlotte, more ambitious than the others, convinces their reluctant aunt to give her money to go to Belgium in order to study French.
Three sisters with quite different personalities and lives reunite when the youngest of them, Babe, has just shot her husband. The oldest sister, Lenny, takes care of their grandfather and is turning into an old maid, while Meg, who tries to make it in Hollywood as a singer/actress, has had a wild life filled with many men. Their reunion causes much joy, but also many tensions.
Mermaid sisters hunt down their father's human killer... and deal with their own personal relationships with the humans.
Sylvia Scarlett and her father, Henry, flee France one step ahead of the police. Henry, while employed as a bookkeeper for a lace factory, was discovered to be an embezzler. While on the channel ferry, they meet a "gentleman adventurer", Jimmy Monkley, who partners with them in his con games.
Laughton won an Oscar for his portrayal of the 16th-century English monarch in Alexander Korda's biographical account.
Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.
All his life, African-American Renato has been raised in an Italian-American family. Completely unaware that he is Black, his life is upended when his birth parents materialize, causing Renato to examine what he true heritage is.
Set in New York's gay "bear" scene and taking a cue from the popular HBO franchise "Sex and the City," BearCity follows a tight-knit pack of friends experiencing comical mishaps, emotionally sweet yet lusty romantic encounters and a cast of colorful, diverse characters as they gear up for a big party weekend
A satiric tragi-comedy about two women and their lover Robert who is an emigrant that keeps coming back. This film shows chaotic post-communist Europe after the fall of totalitarianism. Two opposite characters, women, meet during the Velvet Revolution in November 1989. Intellectual dissident Nona and a Communist secret police bossâ mistress Ester. They meet at an anti-regime demonstration and become friends. They donât want anything to do with politics, both want to get married and have kids, but also get rich. Crazy plans and risky attempts to realize their shared dreams land them in many sticky situations in the post-revolution chaos. Too much money gets in the way of the power of friendship.
Based loosely on the poem by Rudyard Kipling, this takes place in British India during the Thuggee uprising. Three fun loving sergeants are doing fine until one of them wants to get married and leave the service. The other two trick him into a final mission where they end up confronting the entire cult by themselves as the British Army is entering a trap.
Jan Saudek, Czechoslovakiaâs most famous living photographer, is the subject of this often-shocking kaleidoscopic biopic by friend and colleague Adolf Zika. With an unblinking eye, Zika chronicles the drama-filled life and work of a controversial artist who, though little-known in the United States, has enjoyed international acclaim throughout his fifty-year career
India 1826. The cult of Thugee was sweeping the sub-continent. Worshippers of the goddess Kali demonstrated their devotion by the mutilation and mass murder of thousands of victims. This wave of religious fervour challenges the stability of the Raj and threatens anarchy and chaos but can the cool pragmatism of the British compete against the power of this extreme and zealous passion?
Julie, a girl from the valley, meets Randy, a punk from the city. They are from different worlds and find love. Somehow they need to stay together in spite of her trendy, shallow friends.
After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees, and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.
Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both.
Bhavani Prasad is a powerful thug, who masquerades as a priest. His son Shankar refused to follow his path so he wants his grandson Kundan to carry on the legacy. When his son protests, in a fit of rage, Bhavani gets Shankar killed and passes the buck to his cousin Naubat Lal. When Naubat Lal spills the beans he gets him killed as well, which deepens the family feud.
A man falls in love with a beautiful young woman and begins to suspect that he may have also loved her in a previous life.
Shaw Brothers' number one action hit of 1975, and deservedly so. The character of one-man kung-fu dynamo Big Brother Cheng and kung-fu superstar Chen Kuan-tai were made for each other. A Robin Hood-like restaurant manager who socks it to the thugs in order to make the mean streets of Hong Kong a little less mean, Big Brother Cheng made his first appearance in the extremely popular The Tea House, the success of which spawned this even more successful sequel.
When four degenerate thugs rape and murder a young waitress in part of their rape and murder spree, they are arrested, but get away with though a legal technicality. The brother of one of the rape/murder victims decides to become vigilante and kill the four degenerates by himself.
Harry and Beth wanted a different kind of holiday so they chartered a boat to drop them off on a remote coral island on the Great Barrier Reef. The island was idyllic, surrounded by a wide reef, covered in palms and full of birds and other wildlife. It was small and totally deserted or so they thought. But when things go missing from their camp site and they discover someone else's footprints in the sand this quickly becomes disturbing as they realize the island has a ghost! Inspired by actual events.
The story of three friends, two guys and a girl for one year after they have finished school. Last day of school, decides to rob their teacher. In doing so, they have two guys already staked out their careers as aspiring thugs and they start a protection racket while the girl takes a job at a hair salon.
Charlie Lang is a simple, kindhearted New York City cop. When he realizes he has no money to tip waitress Yvonne Biasi, Lang offers her half the winnings of his lottery ticket. Amazingly, the ticket happens to be a winner, in the sum of $4 million. True to his word, Lang proceeds to share the prize money with Biasi, which infuriates his greedy wife, Muriel. Not content with the arrangement, Muriel begins scheming to take all the money.
On a day trip through the countryside, aspiring opera singer In-jeong flees to the woods to escape the advances of her lecherous professor and mentor, Yeong-sun. When a seemingly harmless local man offers her a ride to the bus station, In-jeong thinks she's been saved - until he insists that they stop to meet his friends, a disturbed group of country-bred thugs. In-jeong finds herself reunited with Yeong-sun and it slowly becomes clear that the pair is being held captive to participate in the gang's sadistic mind games. This film examines the power struggles that exist even at the lowest rung of society.
With 8 ½ Frederico Fellini leaves a self-portrait where dreams and reality are a mix. With help from a most excellent cast and unique scenery this self reflecting film is one of his master works.
New York City factory worker Eddie Marino (Robert Forster, Oscar nominee for JACKIE BROWN) is a solid citizen and regular guy, until the day a sadistic street gang brutally assaults his wife and murders his child. But when a corrupt judge sets the thugs free, Eddie goes berserk and vows revenge.
Young German princess Sophia is married off to Russia's half-mad Grand Duke Peter in the hope of improving the royal blood line.
Slam tells the story of Ray Joshua, an original, gifted young MC trapped in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City. Unable to find a job, Ray copes with the despair and poverty of his neighborhood by using his wits and verbal talent. Written by Offline Publicist Young Ray Joshua lives in the Washington, DC, district known as Dodge City, which is dominated by gang wars. One day he is arrested when his drug dealer is gunned down while talking to him. He is put to prison where two rival gangs, Thug Life and the Union, want to recruit him as a member.
Cynical look at a '50s rebellious Rocker who has to confront his future, thugs with knives, and the crooked town sheriff.
A couple of angels, O'Reilly (Holly Hunter) and Jackson (Delroy Lindo), are sent to Earth to make sure that their next supervised love-connection succeeds. They follow Celine (Cameron Diaz), a spoiled rich girl who has just accidentally shot a suitor (Stanley Tucci) and, due to a misunderstanding, is kidnapped by janitor Robert (Ewan McGregor). Although Celine quickly frees herself, she stays with Robert for thrills. O'Reilly and Jackson pursue, hoping to unite the prospective lovers.
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
In this sequel to the 1980 classic, two children are stranded on a beautiful island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple life together and eventually become tanned teenagers in love.
An extortion gang that murders businessmen kills a policeman working on the case. ACP Jayaseelan exterminates the gang by way of unofficial encounters, but the murders continue. What the cop doesn't realise is that the brain behind the crimes is lurking close to home.
A Sicilian woman is dishonored by her lover, then goes to London with a pistol intending to murder him.
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
When political thugs murder an opponent's volunteer and also kill a cop, chief inspector Verjeat believes the politician who hired them is as guilty as the murderous goon. Verjeat's pursuit of the councilman, Lardatte, gets him a warning from his superiors. When he embarrasses Lardatte while disarming a hostage (the dead volunteer's father), Verjeat is told he's being transferred within a week. He speeds up his hunt for the goon and, with Lefévre, one of his young detectives, he engineers a complicated scheme to buy more time before the transfer. How should Verjeat play out his values of honor and duty?
After dying before his time, an aspiring comic gets a second shot at life... by being reincarnated as a wealthy but un-likable businessman.
© Valossa 2015–2024