Gordon Parks

Directing

Gordon Parks

Born — Died

1912-11-30 — 2006-03-07

Place of birth

Fort Scott, Kansas, United States

Known for

Directing

Credits

33 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was a groundbreaking American photographer, musician, poet, novelist, journalist, activist and film director. He is best remembered for his photo essays for Life magazine and as the director of the 1971 film Shaft. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gordon Parks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Known for

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

Shaft poster
6.0

New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.

Shaft

2000

Shaft poster
6.4

Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Shaft

1971

Shaft's Big Score! poster
6.1

John Shaft is back as the lady-loved black detective cop on the search for the murderer of a client.

Shaft's Big Score!

1972

BaadAsssss Cinema poster
6.0

With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than a complete record. It features interviews with some of the genre's biggest stars, like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree. Director Melvin Van Peebles discusses the historical importance of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. For a contemporary perspective, the excitable Quentin Tarantino offers his spirited commentary and author/critic bell hooks provides some scholarly social analysis.

BaadAsssss Cinema

2002

Moments without Proper Names poster
7.7

Parks makes himself the subject, tracing his development as a person and an artist through a non-narrative abstract self-portrait that combines his photographs with his poetry, musical compositions and scenes from his films. It also features footage of Parks, plus interpretations of his personal reminiscences performed by actors Avery Brooks, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Joe Seneca.

Moments without Proper Names

1987

Film credits

2000s · 6 titles

Shaft poster
6.0

New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.

Shaft

2000

BaadAsssss Cinema poster
6.0

With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than a complete record. It features interviews with some of the genre's biggest stars, like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree. Director Melvin Van Peebles discusses the historical importance of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. For a contemporary perspective, the excitable Quentin Tarantino offers his spirited commentary and author/critic bell hooks provides some scholarly social analysis.

BaadAsssss Cinema

2002

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It) poster
7.2

Melvin Van Peebles was one of the first black directors to challenge the white establishment in his films, which include "Watermelon Man" and "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song." In this documentary, the life of Van Peebles is discussed, including his work not only in film, but also as a novelist, actor, musician, stock trader and even Air Force pilot. Interview subjects include Gil Scott-Heron, Spike Lee and Melvin's son and fellow filmmaker, Mario Van Peebles.

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)

2005

Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks poster
7.5

An intimate look at the life and career of Gordon Parks a true Renaissance man who has excelled as a photographer, novelist, journalist, poet, musician and filmmaker.

Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks

2000

The History Makers: Success poster
NR

Ossie Davis, Terry McMillan, Horace Julian Bond, Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick and many others share their inspiring stories of success in the first installment of this series about African-American history makers, including civil rights leaders, actors and authors. A good education, dedication to work, dogged determination and the courage to take risks figure prominently in these remarkable success stories told by notable African Americans.

The History Makers: Success

2005

No artwork available
NR

An interview/overview on the influential careers of Gordon Parks, Ossie Davis, and Melvin Van Peebles.

Unstoppable

2005

1990s · 3 titles

1970s · 2 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Shaft poster
6.4

Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Shaft

1971

Shaft's Big Score! poster
6.1

John Shaft is back as the lady-loved black detective cop on the search for the murderer of a client.

Shaft's Big Score!

1972

Moments without Proper Names poster
7.7

Parks makes himself the subject, tracing his development as a person and an artist through a non-narrative abstract self-portrait that combines his photographs with his poetry, musical compositions and scenes from his films. It also features footage of Parks, plus interpretations of his personal reminiscences performed by actors Avery Brooks, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Joe Seneca.

Moments without Proper Names

1987

Moments without Proper Names poster
7.7

Parks makes himself the subject, tracing his development as a person and an artist through a non-narrative abstract self-portrait that combines his photographs with his poetry, musical compositions and scenes from his films. It also features footage of Parks, plus interpretations of his personal reminiscences performed by actors Avery Brooks, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Joe Seneca.

Moments without Proper Names

1987

The Learning Tree poster
6.8

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

1969

The Learning Tree poster
6.8

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

1969

The Learning Tree poster
6.8

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

1969

Leadbelly poster
6.4

The life of Blues and folk singer Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly is recounted. Covering the good times and bad from his 20s to 40s. Much of that time was spent on chain gangs in the south. Even in prison he became well known for the songs he had composed and sung during and before the time he spent there.

Leadbelly

1976

Solomon Northup's Odyssey poster
6.8

A free Black man from New York is tricked, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the South, where he endures twelve years of brutal servitude before finding a way to contact his family and secure his freedom.

Solomon Northup's Odyssey

1991

The Super Cops poster
5.9

The true story of two New York City cops. Greenberg & Hantz fought the system, became detectives and were known on the streets as "Batman & Robin."

The Super Cops

1974

Martin poster
NR

This documentary film imaginatively captured the ballet Martin, a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. produced and scored by Gordon Parks. The PBS dance film includes an introduction narrated by Parks and accompanied by a montage of his photographs from the period. The ballet was choreographed by Rael Lamb, with John Jones playing the role of Dr. King, and Sheila Rohan as Rosa Parks. It proceeds in five acts, corresponding to significant moments in Dr. King’s life—the bus boycott, march on Selma, his confinement in a Birmingham jail, his assassination, and his funeral.

Martin

2026

Martin poster
NR

This documentary film imaginatively captured the ballet Martin, a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. produced and scored by Gordon Parks. The PBS dance film includes an introduction narrated by Parks and accompanied by a montage of his photographs from the period. The ballet was choreographed by Rael Lamb, with John Jones playing the role of Dr. King, and Sheila Rohan as Rosa Parks. It proceeds in five acts, corresponding to significant moments in Dr. King’s life—the bus boycott, march on Selma, his confinement in a Birmingham jail, his assassination, and his funeral.

Martin

2026

Flavio poster
6.3

Documentary about a boy living with his family in extreme poverty in Rio de Janeiro.

Flavio

1964

Flavio poster
6.3

Documentary about a boy living with his family in extreme poverty in Rio de Janeiro.

Flavio

1964

The World of Piri Thomas poster
9.0

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.

The World of Piri Thomas

2021

Diary of a Harlem Family poster
8.0

Presents Gordon Parks' photo-essay "A Harlem Family", framed by a filmed segment featuring Parks and the Fontanelle family and narrated by Parks.

Diary of a Harlem Family

1968