Get on the Bus (1996)

87% of critics liked it
(39 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(4,867 ratings)

Released one year to the day after the 1995 Million Man March, in which a million African-American men marched peacefully in Washington, D.C. in a bid for greater unity and understanding, Spike Lee's Get On the Bus follows a group of black men who take a charter bus from Los Angeles to the rally in… More Released one year to the day after the 1995 Million Man March, in which a million African-American men marched peacefully in Washington, D.C. in a bid for greater unity and understanding, Spike Lee's Get On the Bus follows a group of black men who take a charter bus from Los Angeles to the rally in the nation's capital and watches as they interact and air their personal issues and concerns. George (Charles S. Dutton) is the organizer of the trip and de facto leader of the group. Evan Thomas (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) is a truck driver who travels to the march with his son (De'Aundre Bonds) chained to his belt by court order after the boy was arrested for petty theft. Kyle (Isaiah Washington) and Randall (Harry Lennix) are gay lovers who take no small amount of abuse from their fellow passengers. Gary (Roger Guenveur Smith) is the product of a mixed-race marriage who could pass for white but sees himself as black; he's also a cop, which does little to endear him to his peers. Flip (Andre Braugher) is an actor who seems more concerned with getting his next film role than the larger issues of the march. Jamal (Gabriel Casseus) is a good-natured young Muslim trying to lead a righteous life to make up for his violent past as a gang member. A film student (Hill Harper) is capturing the trip on videotape, and Jeremiah (Ossie Davis) sits in the back, reflecting on the struggles of African-Americans in the past and present. Financed by a private group of 15 black American men (among them Will Smith and Wesley Snipes), Get On the Bus speaks less of a single political goal than of the need for black men to set aside their differences to work for their common good. While the film falls short of openly criticizing Million Man March organizer Louis Farrakhan, it does present debate about Farrakhan's ideals and statements, ultimately coming to the conclusion that whoever brought this group together is less important than the fact that they came together in peace and brotherhood. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr.
Directed By: Spike Lee
Written By: Reginald Blythewood
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Oct 16, 1996 Wide
On DVD: Jan 30, 2001
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Todd McCarthy, Variety
A vital regeneration of a filmmaker's talent as well as a bracing and often very funny dramatization of urgent sociopolitical themes...
Janet Maslin, New York Times
While the film assembles a full array of black male stereotypes and conines them to what is essentially a talky one-set play, Mr. Lee stylistically jump-starts this small, earnest film in every way he can.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
It's two hours of men sitting on a bus talking, but the talk is alive. Lee keeps the scenes short, so that nothing ever resolves completely.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
It's successful at holding our interest -- at making us care, and believe.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
If the movie's central sadness is that we identify with our own group and suspect outsiders, the movie's message is that we have been given brains to learn to empathize.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
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.
, Film4
Bythewood's script offers sharp insights into the male psyche, and the fine actors play off one another with real assurance.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Though Lee's deft expertise keeps things pacy and (mostly) plausible, the material can't avoid a certain predictability and, in the end, a preachy sentimentality.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
A stirring, heartfelt entertainment from the first frame to the last.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Get on the Bus may well be the best film Spike Lee's made since Do the Right Thing.
Susan Tavernetti, Palo Alto Weekly
Enough lively banter and music, good humor and serious issues are aboard...to make the 3,000-mile journey worth joining.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
One of Lee's best -- save for the didactic opening credits, he's rarely been less preachy and more insightful

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

EightThirty .

A very interesting Drama story ^_^
Barry L

I thought this would be the ususal...oh how we are hard done by' sort of movie but I did laugh out load several times...