Get on the Bus
| Get on the Bus | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Spike Lee |
| Produced by | Reuben Cannon Barry Rosenbush Bill Borden |
| Written by | Reggie Rock Bythewood |
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| Music by | Terence Blanchard |
| Cinematography | Elliot Davis |
| Edited by | Leander T. Sales |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,400,000 |
Get on the Bus is a 1996 drama film about a group of African-American men who are taking a cross-country bus trip in order to participate in the Million Man March. The film was directed by Spike Lee and premiered on the one-year anniversary of the march. For Spike Lee, this was the first time that he did not act in one of his own films.
Fifteen disparate African American men board a bus in Los Angeles bound for Washington, D.C., where they plan on attending the Million Man March. Other than their race, destination, and gender, the men have nothing in common: George is the trip organizer; Xavier is an aspiring filmmaker hoping to make a documentary of the March; Flip is an openly racist and sexist actor; Kyle and Randall are a homosexual couple; Gary, a police officer, is the sole biracial man on the bus; Jamal is a former gang banger turned devout Muslim who has evaded prosecution for the murders he committed; Evan Jr., is a petty criminal who has been permitted to break probation to attend the march on the condition that he remain handcuffed to his father, Evan Sr.
As the bus travels across country, Xavier conducts interviews with the various attendees, allowing them to express their views on race, religion, and politics. The interviews often provoke outbursts from other men on the bus, invariably leading to confrontations; the only topic of unity is the O.J. Simpson trial, with the men agreeing that, while Simpson is probably guilty, his acquittal is justified as his victims were a white woman and a Jew. Peace is kept through the various verbal arguments and physical altercations that occur by Jeremiah, the eldest member of the group. Jeremiah, an 80-year-old former alcoholic who lost his job and family, has found new meaning in life by embracing his African heritage; his philosophies on the black experience and stories of precolonial Africa serve to unite the men and ease tensions and the infighting among them.
En route the bus breaks down and the men are forced to board another bus, driven by a ethnically Jewish white man named Rick. Several of the passengers harass Rick with antisemitic remarks and jokes; Rick ultimately refuses to drive any further, citing the group's prejudice and his opposition to antisemitic remarks made by the leader of the march, Louis Farrakhan. George, himself a bus driver, accuses Rick of racism, but begrudgingly agrees to let Rick resign without incident. George takes over driving for the remainder of the trip, with help from Evan Sr.
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