Press play when you start the movie. These notes follow along, minute by minute. Questions to think about are at the end.
It reads: "One out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime."
Source · AFI CatalogHe came up with the idea at the University of Southern California and wrote the script just after he finished. He was 23 when the movie came out.
Source · AP obituary via Boston.com (2019)Columbia Pictures liked the script but not the idea of a first-time director. Singleton refused to sell it unless he directed it himself.
Source · IMDb triviaThe film was shot in South Central, in the neighborhoods where he was raised.
Source · AP obituary via Boston.com (2019)Furious is strict and loving, and he's one of the few fathers in the film who is there for his son.
He was a guard on Pee-wee's Playhouse, where Fishburne acted, and showed him the script. That led to Fishburne's casting.
Source · IMDb triviaThe kids walking off to see a dead body echo Rob Reiner's 1986 film. The ending does too.
Source · IMDb triviaThe second part of the film takes place in the same year it was released.
Source · IMDb triviaDedrick D. Gobert sucked on pacifiers to help him quit smoking. Singleton liked it and put it in the film.
Source · IMDb triviaHe had recently left N.W.A. Singleton wrote the part with him in mind.
Source · IMDb triviaRegi Green was paralyzed by a stray bullet when he was six.
Source · IMDb triviaCuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Regina King and Angela Bassett all have early roles.
Source · IMDb triviaSingleton said you can see his camera work get better as the film goes on. He slipped a nod to that into Furious's line, "I'm not getting old, I'm getting better."
Source · IMDb triviaHe is less than six and a half years older than Cuba Gooding Jr.
Source · IMDb triviaA crowd gathers as he explains how a neighborhood's property values get pushed down so outsiders can buy it up cheap.
Source · Little White Lies, Increase the PeaceSingleton never warned the cast before a shot was fired, so their reactions are real.
Source · IMDb triviaWatch Ricky slip as he runs to Tre's car. Doughboy's Impala nearly ran over his leg, and Singleton kept the take.
Source · IMDb triviaThe film came out four months after video of police beating Rodney King was shown on TV. Audiences saw it right away.
Source · IMDb triviaShootings at or near theaters on opening weekend made national news. Singleton said the film was meant to speak against that violence.
Source · UPI (July 1991)He was also the first Black director nominated. The film joined the National Film Registry in 2002.
Source · AP obituary via Boston.com (2019)It cost about $6.5 million and earned $56.1 million, making it one of the most profitable films of 1991.
Source · IMDb triviaQuestions to think about on your own, or to talk through with whoever you watched with.
Furious gives his son rules to live by. What rules did the adults in your life give you? Which ones do you still follow?
Ricky's future depends on one test score. How much of a young person's future should depend on one test?
Doughboy says people don't know, don't show or don't care about what's going on in the hood. Who do you think he's talking to? Is it still true?
Times are matched to the film's subtitles, so they may be off by a minute on some versions. Each note links to its source. Still images will come from the studio's press materials.