Episode 205: Ernest Dickerson

Show/Hide Search

Ernest Dickerson is a director, cinematographer, and writer who has played a key role in some of the best and most important film and television of the past four decades. He got his start in the mid-1980s as the cinematographer on movies by his NYU film school pal Spike Lee. Ernest show every one of Spike’s movies up through 1992’s Malcolm X—a historic run that included She’s Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, and Jungle Fever, just to name a few.

Ernest struck out on his own with a hip-hop cinema classic, 1992’s Juice. The film, about four Harlem teenagers who slowly get dragged into a perilous situation, featured Tupac Shakur in his first starring film role—and also had cameos from hip-hop figures of the time like Treach, Queen Latifah, Red Alert, and Yo! MTV Raps hosts Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover, and Doctor Dre. A 25th anniversary edition of the movie, with tons of never-before-seen extras including an alternate ending, is available now.

But that’s not nearly all of Ernest Dickerson’s story. He has directed other great films like Surviving the Game, Demon Knight, and the Snoop Dogg-starring Bones. And he has helmed notable episodes of great TV series like The Wire and The Walking Dead. His latest project, out now on the festival circuit, is Double Play.

Tracks featured in this episode:

1. Surviving The Game - Theatrical Trailer (Widescreen)(High Quality)
2. “When you’re eating the flesh from the pig, look into his little beady eyes…”
3. Body Count, “Cop Killer”
4. Surviving the Game
5. Burt Bacharach, “The Sundance Kid”
6. Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.”
7. The Wire, “Hamsterdam”
8. The Brother from Another Planet Trailer
9. Scandal 3x10 - You’re a boy (Legendado)
10. Tap
11. Spike Lee - First Works ( The Answer/Joes Bed Stuy)
12. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, “White Lines”
13. A Different World: Opening Theme
14. Enemy Territory
15. Family Opening Credits
16. Blind Faith
17. Judy Garland & Lucill Bremmer, “Meet Me in St Louis, Louis”
18. School Daze
19. Krush Groove Trailer 1985
20. City Across the River (1949) clip
21. John Williams, “Prologue”
22. Riverside - Nobody likes the records that you play
23. Tupac Shakur in Juice (1992) / Audition for Juice - Elevator Scene
24. 2Pac Juice - I dont Give A Fuck Part with Tupac and Omar Epps
25. Juice
26. Jungle Fever
27. Surviving the Game
28. It Came From Beneath the Sea Trailer
29. Masters of Horror (2005) - Trailer in 1080p
30. Fear Itself - “Something With Bite”
31. Original Trailer The Tingler - Vincent Price - Mad Scientist - WilliamCastle
32. The Tingler
33. Bernard Hermann, “The Cyclops”
34. Menace ll Society hospital scene
35. Tales From The Crypt - Demon Knight
36. Roy Ayers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wayne Garfield, “Coffy Is The Color”
37. Bones
38. Tom Waits, “Way Down in the Hole”
39. The Wire - Hamsterdam
40. The Wire, “Misgivings”
41. Ice Ice Baby … . The Black & Gold
42. Vanilla Ice, “Ice Ice Baby”

Show notes:

1. Spike Lee’s video for “White Lines”
2. New York Times, “FILM; Ernest Dickerson Would Rather Be Called Director”