Search - Ninth Street on DVD

KILLER LOOK

Martin J. Keenan | 01/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As an independent film, I am amazed at how well the Ninth Street team captured the essence of Junction City during the 60s. Black and white helps this along, but things were correct through and through. From a narrative standpoint, Ninth Street kept my interest with gritty reality and believable dialogue. Yet, overall I felt that I was there and was able to move on to enjoy the story... this is something Hollywood seems to miss over and over (see Titanic). Check out Ninth Street! You'll dig it!"

Ninth Street is a gem

Martin J. Keenan | Great Bend, KS USA | 08/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Ninth Street" is a real gem. Martin Sheen and Isaac Hayes are featured in Director Kevin Willmott's first feature-length film. The film deals poignantly and humorously with a whole litany of issues----race issues, the Vietnam War, the military/ industrial complex, Christianity, and other hot-button issues. Kevin Willmott brilliantly recreates life in his hometown of Junction City, Kansas in the late 1960's. In particular, the movie chronicles life on "Ninth Street," a notorious street known as "the Harlem of Kansas." This strip of black-owned taverns, pool halls and other businesses was wildly popular with G.I.'s at local Fort Riley. Soldiers around the world knew about life on Ninth Street. The plot revolves around on ongoing dialogue of two old-timers----Bebo and Hudie---who lament the fact that Ninth Street has declined from it's glory days when they were young G.I.'s. This movie will make you laugh and make you cry. It has layer after layer of symbolism and meaning. In the spirit of pioneer black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, Kevin Willmott portrays the lives of African-Americans with honesty and passion. Although the buildings on Ninth Street have been razed and are now only a memory, Willmott has preserved this unique time and place in a funny yet deeply serious film."

"Ninth Street" is a powerful film

Martin J. Keenan | 02/21/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Ninth Street" is the best first-time, low-budget film I have ever seen. It is even better than Spike Lee's first film--"She's Gotta Have It." The film portrays 1960s street life in Junction City, Kansas, home to Fort Riley. Soldiers on R & R visit Ninth Street for the girls, bars and gambling. Kevin Willmott, screenwriter, actor and producer, says it is autobiographical. Two winos who sit on a couch on the sidewalk philosophize and help maintain a sense of community and order (plus give people advice). Martin Sheen plays a Catholic Worker who ministers to the downtrodden and works against the Vietnam War. This film cost only $7,000 to make but looks like a Hollywood production. It is in black 'n' white, but that doesn't detract at all from the film. It should be in everyone's collection of classics."

I RATE IT GREAT

Berna Jeanne Crofton | KANSAS CITY, KANSAS | 12/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"EVERY ONCE AND A WHILE A GREAT FILM IS MADE. THIS ONE TOPS THE LIST FOR INDEPENDENT FILMS. HI , I'M B.J. AND I PLAY "WILD MARY SUE" IN THE MOVIE. THIS WAS MY DEBUT IN A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE. THIS PRODUCTION WAS ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG FOR THIS PRODUCTION TEAM. LOOK FOR MORE CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENT FROM ITS WRITER/DIRECTOR.

ALWAYS,
B.J."