Black heroes with white sidekicks
July 17, 2017 6:43 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for movies with a Black hero and a white sidekick.
Not equal-ish partners like most of the mixed race buddy cop genre, but where the Black character is the lead by rank or ability somehow.
A Black villain with a white henchman is also good.
Not equal-ish partners like most of the mixed race buddy cop genre, but where the Black character is the lead by rank or ability somehow.
A Black villain with a white henchman is also good.
Best answer: Moses and Pest in Attack the Block
posted by moonlight on vermont at 7:01 AM on July 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by moonlight on vermont at 7:01 AM on July 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
Do TV shows/comics count? Static Shock comes to mind. I'm not sure if there's a movie made from it.
posted by picklenickle at 7:04 AM on July 17, 2017
posted by picklenickle at 7:04 AM on July 17, 2017
Best answer: Neil Patrick Harris is the nerd intern/sidekick to Eddie Griffin's character in Undercover Brother.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:13 AM on July 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:13 AM on July 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Steve Buscemi is effectively Chris Rock's sidekick in I Think I Love My Wife.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:15 AM on July 17, 2017
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:15 AM on July 17, 2017
Best answer: Blazing Saddles, always and forever.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 7:16 AM on July 17, 2017 [36 favorites]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 7:16 AM on July 17, 2017 [36 favorites]
If TV shows count, then Penny Proud is definitely the ringleader/hero of her friend group and Zoey is her sidekick.
I love this show so much
posted by Elly Vortex at 7:20 AM on July 17, 2017
I love this show so much
posted by Elly Vortex at 7:20 AM on July 17, 2017
Best answer: Django Unchained is not quite that, but it's kind of close.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 7:36 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Salvor Hardin at 7:36 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Gridlock'd with Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth. Nominally a "buddy" relationship, but Shakur's character has the natural authority of a leader.
posted by helpthebear at 7:39 AM on July 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by helpthebear at 7:39 AM on July 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Another tv show, Murder in the First has Taye Diggs and a white female sidekick (Kathleen Robertson).
Also, Luther with Alice Morgan as sidekick count could probably count, even if she is unofficially a sidekick (and probably the scariest portrayal by a woman I've ever seen on the tellybox).
posted by humph at 7:40 AM on July 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
Also, Luther with Alice Morgan as sidekick count could probably count, even if she is unofficially a sidekick (and probably the scariest portrayal by a woman I've ever seen on the tellybox).
posted by humph at 7:40 AM on July 17, 2017 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Blade with the the Abraham Whistler character (spoilers in the Wiki link) as sort of a henchman.
posted by exogenous at 7:52 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by exogenous at 7:52 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure how much this will be depicted in the upcoming movie, but Black Panther / Everett K. Ross might qualify.
posted by Julnyes at 8:15 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Julnyes at 8:15 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
It hasn't hit theatres yet, but, in The Dark Tower Idris Elba has a young White boy as his sidekick/protege.
posted by Secret Sparrow at 8:28 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Secret Sparrow at 8:28 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
It looks like the upcoming movie version of a Wrinkle in Time will have a Black (well, interracial, Black mother and white father) hero (Meg) with a white sidekick (Calvin). And Charles Wallace, Meg's brother, is also sort of the hero/sort of the sidekick in the book but it's less clear from the preview what role he'll play.
posted by john_snow at 8:28 AM on July 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by john_snow at 8:28 AM on July 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Best answer: My first thought was Blade with Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson.
posted by victoriab at 8:48 AM on July 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by victoriab at 8:48 AM on July 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: If you watch the first half of Hancock before things get all cosmic and weird (and subsequently ruin the whole thing as a result) I LOVED the premise of a disgruntled superhero with an image problem (Will Smith) partnering with a professional PR rep (Jason Bateman).
posted by helloimjennsco at 8:52 AM on July 17, 2017
posted by helloimjennsco at 8:52 AM on July 17, 2017
Not exactly the lead (and definitely not a hero) but a critical character is Sophie Okonedo's Maggie Gardner in The Escape Artist. The legal defense team totally and completely defers to her obvious superiority as a legal tactician.
posted by victoriab at 9:00 AM on July 17, 2017
posted by victoriab at 9:00 AM on July 17, 2017
Seven has Morgan Freeman's near-retiring Detective Somerset as the mentor to Brad Pitt's green Detective Mills.
posted by ejs at 9:27 AM on July 17, 2017
posted by ejs at 9:27 AM on July 17, 2017
It's TV, but in How To Get Away With Murder, the lead attorney is a black woman, in charge of two white paralegals and a mixed-race team of law students.
posted by praemunire at 9:29 AM on July 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 9:29 AM on July 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Beverly Hills Cop - Eddie Murphy & (The Honorable) Judge Reinhold
posted by brand-gnu at 10:28 AM on July 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by brand-gnu at 10:28 AM on July 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Wild, Wild West, but I'll let The Poet sum it all up:
Jim West, desperado
Rough rider, no you don't want nada
None of this, six-gunnin this, brother runnin this
Buffalo soldier, look it's like I told ya
Any damsel that's in distress
Be outta that dress when she meet Jim West
Rough neck so go check the law and abide
Watch your step or flex and get a hole in your side
Swallow your pride, don't let your lip react
You don't wanna see my hand where my hip be at
With Artemus, from the start of this, runnin the game
James West, tamin the West, so remember the name
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:00 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Jim West, desperado
Rough rider, no you don't want nada
None of this, six-gunnin this, brother runnin this
Buffalo soldier, look it's like I told ya
Any damsel that's in distress
Be outta that dress when she meet Jim West
Rough neck so go check the law and abide
Watch your step or flex and get a hole in your side
Swallow your pride, don't let your lip react
You don't wanna see my hand where my hip be at
With Artemus, from the start of this, runnin the game
James West, tamin the West, so remember the name
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:00 AM on July 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: These 3 movies come to mind:
i, Robot: Will Smith (cop protagonist) and Bridget Moynahan (sidekick scientist).
Sister Act: Whoopi Goldberg (lounge singer protagonist) and Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, etc (nun sidekicks).
The Book of Eli: Denzel Washington (Eli the protagonist) and Mila Kunis (woman he rescues and mentors).
posted by AdagioCantabile at 4:57 PM on July 17, 2017
i, Robot: Will Smith (cop protagonist) and Bridget Moynahan (sidekick scientist).
Sister Act: Whoopi Goldberg (lounge singer protagonist) and Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, etc (nun sidekicks).
The Book of Eli: Denzel Washington (Eli the protagonist) and Mila Kunis (woman he rescues and mentors).
posted by AdagioCantabile at 4:57 PM on July 17, 2017
Best answer: Mike Milligan and the Kitchen brothers from season 2 of Fargo.
posted by moons in june at 5:40 PM on July 17, 2017
posted by moons in june at 5:40 PM on July 17, 2017
Best answer: Danny Glover is the boss of a diverse detective team in Predator 2, one of whom (Bill Paxton) is a white guy.
Further, Danny Glover plays Ahab to a white Ishmael in an adaptation of Moby Dick where the White Whale is a dragon and also their dragon hunting cart is a boat with wheels on it and it's TERRIBLE and I love it forever.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 6:29 PM on July 17, 2017
Further, Danny Glover plays Ahab to a white Ishmael in an adaptation of Moby Dick where the White Whale is a dragon and also their dragon hunting cart is a boat with wheels on it and it's TERRIBLE and I love it forever.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 6:29 PM on July 17, 2017
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posted by glasseyes at 6:47 AM on July 17, 2017 [4 favorites]