She's Gotta Have It (1986)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Spike Lee

Writer:

Spike Lee (writer)

Release Date:

8 August 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A Seriously Sexy Comedy

Plot:

Story of a woman and her three lovers.

Plot Keywords:

Black Independent Film | Black & White To Color | African American | Infidelity | Human Relationship

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Tracy Camilla Johns	...	Nola Darling
Tommy Redmond Hicks	...	Jamie Overstreet
John Canada Terrell	...	Greer Childs
Spike Lee	...	Mars Blackmon
Raye Dowell	...	Opal Gilstrap
Joie Lee	...	Clorinda Bradford
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Doctor Jamison (as Epatha Merkinson)
Bill Lee	...	Sonny Darling
Cheryl Burr	...	Ava
Aaron Dugger	...	Noble
Stephanie Covington	...	Keva
Renata Cobbs	...	Shawn
Cheryl Singleton	...	Toby
Monty Ross	...	Dog 1
Tiziano Cortini	...	Dog 2 (as Lewis Jordan)
Erik Dellums	...	Dog 3
Reginald Hudlin	...	Dog 4 (as Reggie Hudlin)
Eric Payne	...	Dog 5
Marcus Turner	...	Dog 6
Gerard Brown	...	Dog 7
Ernest R. Dickerson	...	Dog 8 (as Ernest Dickerson)
Eric Wilkins	...	Dog 9
Fab 5 Freddy	...	Dog 10 (as Fab Five Freddy Braithwaite)
Scott Sillers	...	Dog 11
Geoffrey Garfield	...	Dog 12
Kathy Banks	...	Receptionist
Steve Nicks	...	Soundman
Pamm R. Jackson	...	Female Walk On (as Pamm Jackson)

Directed by
Spike Lee

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Spike Lee		writer

Produced by
Pamm R. Jackson	....	associate producer (as Pamm Jackson)
Spike Lee	....	producer (as Shelton J. Lee)

Original Music by
Bill Lee

Cinematography by
Ernest R. Dickerson		(as Ernest Dickerson)

Film Editing by
Spike Lee

Production Design by
Wynn Thomas

Art Direction by
Ron Paley

Costume Design by
John Michael Reefer

Production Management
Monty Ross	....	production supervisor

Art Department
Tom Gilmour	....	art department assistant
Clarence P. Jones Jr.	....	set dresser (as Clarence Jones)
Beth Kuhn	....	scenic artist
Naomi Weinstein	....	art department assistant

Sound Department
Barry Alexander Brown	....	sound designer
Robert Cardelli	....	sound effects editor (as Bob Cardelli)
Carol Everson	....	sound recordist
Eugene Gearty	....	sound effects editor
Athan Gigakos	....	sound mixer (as Athens Giggiakos)
Paul Holzman	....	sound recordist
Wayne Koehler	....	assistant sound engineer
Alan Mintz	....	foley artist
Steve Ning	....	sound recordist
Marcus Turner	....	boom operator
Walter Willemstad	....	adr engineer
Walter Willemstad	....	foley engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Roderick Giles	....	key grip
Ted Heys	....	second electric
Michael Hunold	....	gaffer (as Mike Hunold)
Frank Perl	....	first assistant camera
Dean Pollack	....	camera loader
Dean Pollack	....	second assistant camera
Frank Prinzi	....	first assistant camera
Daniel Shulman	....	key grip (as Dan Schulman)
Robert D. Tucker	....	key grip (as Robert Tucker)
Li-Shin Yu	....	first assistant camera (as Li Shin)

Music Department
Joe Chambers	....	musician: bell tree
Stanley Cowell	....	musician: piano, drums percussion and glockenspiel
Virgil Jones	....	musician: trumpet and flugelhorn
Bill Lee	....	musician: bass
Vince Traina	....	music engineer
Vince Traina	....	music mixer
Cedar Walton	....	musician: piano
Kenny Washington	....	musician: drums

Transportation Department
John Monroe	....	transportation

Other crew
Kathy Banks	....	production assistant
James Cheeseman	....	piano tuner
Chris David	....	production assistant
Geneva Francais	....	caterer: The African Brown Bag
Clark Grain	....	production assistant
Pamm R. Jackson	....	promotions (as Pamm Jackson)
Lisa Jones	....	production assistant
Loretha C. Jones	....	legal services (as Loreatha Jones)
Jay Kessel	....	production assistant
Sharon Langley	....	production assistant
Cinqué Lee	....	production assistant
David Lee	....	still photograph montages
Leslie Mentel	....	production assistant (as Leslie Mantel)
James Mitchell	....	production assistant
Magdalena Mitchell	....	key production assistant
John Pierson	....	producer's representative
Edward Pryor	....	production assistant
Mindy Rodman	....	continuity
Mindy Rodman	....	script supervisor
Cyril St. Aubyn	....	production assistant
Davis Taylor	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (1994) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Island Pictures
• MGM Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Lola Darling (Italy) [it]
Nola Darling (West Germany) [de]
Nola Darling (Spain) [es]
Nola Darling n'en fait qu'à sa tête (France) [fr]
Ona sie doigra (Poland) [pl]
Os bons Amantes (Portugal) [pt]

Runtime:

84 min | USA:88 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:16 | USA:R | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Canada:R

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Trivia:

The film originally was going to get an "X" rating due to its sexual content. However, after Lee edited some of the sex scenes it received an "R" rating.

Quotes:

Dog 7: Baby, you're so fine, I'd drink a tub of your bath water.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Frasier: Frasier Gotta Have It (#5.19)" (1998)

A funny, feminist view of sex from Spike Lee

This is a completely unique, humorous, sexy film from Spike Lee -- his first cinematic effort, using his friends from NYU film school as actors. He himself plays the role of eccentric Mars, one of heroine Nola darling's three lovers. Though I'm sure Lee wouldn't describe himself as a feminist, this film looks at so-called "promiscuity" from a distinctly liberated point of view. Perhaps women need more than one man, he wonders, because it takes several men to make up a complete person! The film is set in a rarely seen milieu, that of artistic, well-educated, middle-class, quirky urban African-Americans (like the view of black Chicago in "Love Jones"). It would be fascinating from that standpoint, even it if didn't display such ruefully witty characterizations of egotistical, clueless men.

You could spend an afternoon in far worse fashion than to rent this film, and view Lee's naked talent shining through in a film whose cost probably wouldn't pay the catering bill for one of his film projects these days. The fact that it is filmed almost entirely in black and white adds to its authenticity and charm.