The Poor & Hungry
| The Poor & Hungry | |
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| Directed by | Craig Brewer |
| Produced by | Craig Brewer Jodi Brewer Walter Brewer Erin Hagee |
| Written by | Craig Brewer |
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| Narrated by | Eric Tate |
| Cinematography | Craig Brewer |
| Edited by | Craig Brewer Morgan Jon Fox (remastering editor) |
| Distributed by | BR2 Productions |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000 |
The Poor & Hungry is a 2000 American independent drama written and directed by Craig Brewer. It stars Eric Tate, Lake Latimer, Lindsay Roberts, John Still, T.C. Sharpe and Wanda Wilson.
The film, shot in Memphis, Tennessee, launched Brewer's career as a writer and director. Brewer used the experience of making the film as inspiration for the story in the Academy Award-winning Hustle & Flow.
Car mechanic by day/thief by night, Eli Foote is starting to feel guilty about what he does. His guilt intensifies when he steals a car that belongs to a beautiful cellist named Amanda. Meeting her at the impound yard where she is distraught over her car, Eli strikes up a conversation with Amanda which leads to a romance. Meanwhile, Eli's friend, Harper, a grungy street hustler, is trying to do business with Eli's boss, Mr. Coles. She needs his help in getting a car for a boisterous pimp named Cowboy Urles. Eli wants to leave his criminal past behind, but Harper holds him to their friendship.
Craig Brewer was inspired to write the film after his assistant Erin Hagee's car was stolen. Seeing her crying at the impound lot got him thinking, "What if the guy who stole her car was right here, watching her cry?" Brewer had been working as the manager of a local Barnes & Noble and began writing the screenplay for the film at the P&H Café. When he asked what the P&H stood for, he was told it stood for many things but it was generally accepted that it was called "The Poor & Hungry Café". Brewer asked if he could use the title for the film.
As he was writing the script, Brewer planned to max-out credit cards and shoot the film on celluloid. His father, Walter, suggested it would be cheaper to film on a Hi8 video camera. Weeks later, Brewer's father died from a heart attack at the age of 49. Brewer used his inheritance of $20,000 to begin working on The Poor & Hungry.
The soundtrack features the music of The Delta Queens, DDT, Riverbluff Clan, Microwave Dave & The Nukes, Jack Oblivian, Blind Mississippi Morris, Al Kapone and Jason Freeman.
The film received positive reviews. According to Film Threat, The Poor & Hungry is "a ruggedly moving digital feature; an unlikely love story with a gritty, vaguely melancholic air".
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Wikipedia