Get on the Bus

Name: Get on the Bus
Director: Spike Lee
Released: 1996

Spike Lee

1996

Synopsis

Several Black men take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in 1995. On the bus are an eclectic set of characters including a laid-off aircraft worker, a man whose at-risk son is handcuffed to him, a black Republican, a former gangsta, a Hollywood actor, a cop who is of mixed racial background, and a white bus driver. All make the trek discussing issues surrounding the march, including manhood, religion, politics, and race.

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Recommendations

100
Chicago Sun-Times
What makes Get on the Bus extraordinary is the truth and feeling that go into its episodes. Spike Lee and his actors face one hard truth after another, in scenes of great power.
89
Austin Chronicle
With its complexity of viewpoints, Get on the Bus has to be seen as one of Spike Lee's most mature visions to date.
83
Entertainment Weekly
In Get on the Bus, director and material come together with perfect ease — one of those occasional confluences of subject and strengths that make a moviegoer go, ”Of course!” Of course Spike Lee throws all of his bravado, all his storytelling talents, and all his artistic chutzpah into a movie about last year’s Million Man March.
80
Newsweek
Like the march itself--which is only briefly glimpsed--Get On the Bus' is conceived as a challenge to black men to take accountability for their lives. A sermon wrapped in a road movie, at its best it can stir the soul.
75
ReelViews
Lee's primary objective is to reflect back and offer a uniquely personal perspective of that single day last October. This viewpoint, which ultimately transcends the movie's flaws, is one of the aspects that makes for a worthwhile two hours.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
By tossing out all these voices and opinions, Lee and screenwriter Reggie Rock Blythewood have created both a time capsule and a movie audiences will talk about.
75
Washington Post
Spike Lee's film is about a group of black men traveling from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., for last year's Million Man March. As in the real-life march one year ago today, this convergence of diverse black manhood is what is compelling about the film.
75
TV Guide Magazine
It all has an artless, ephemeral feel, and 20 years from now people will marvel at the fashions, the landscapes and the attitudes it captures like fragile bugs in amber.